Russian sources have confirmed that the Russian heavy missile cruiser Moskva has been sent to the eastern Mediterranean. China, for its part, is sending its amphibious dock landing warship, the 19,000 metric ton Jinggangshan, a 689-foot-long warship can carry 1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft.
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| Moskva |
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| Jinggangshan |
Officially, the mission of the Jinggangshan is to “observe” the activities of the Russian and US navies. According to unidentified Syrian sources, however, the Jinggangshan is carrying air defense systems.
The eastern Mediterranean is rapidly becoming a very crowded place indeed.
The Saker
Please can you tell us more of Chinese capabilities like you did previously with russia’s radar etc.
Thank you! :)
@Anonymous:Please can you tell us more of Chinese capabilities
Alas no. My specialty was always the Soviet and now Russian military and I never studied China at all. I can give you some basic pointers though:
One Chinese warship will never be comparable to an entire naval task force, which only the US and Russia have deployed right now. But this begs the question of whether the Chinese warship has to be look at independently or as a potential partner for the Russian Navy. I would think the latter. In this case this ship can bring three things: more soldiers, more hardware and more intelligence/monitoring capabilities. It is also a symbolic move to stand together with Russia and Syria. But can one ship do something very useful other than to “show the flag”? No, probably not.
Sorry for the lame answer, but this is the best I can do.
Kind regards,
The Saker