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Thread: The Four Decommissioned U.S. Aircraft Carriers Are

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  1. #11
    Senior Member AirborneSapper7's Avatar
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    J-15 prototype was finished, China started the aircraft carrier pilot training



    According to 21, reported the latest issue of the Canadian “Chinese Defense Review” magazine, said China has launched aircraft personnel training project, training centers may be located in Huludao.
    The article said that as China’s first ship-borne fighter aircraft F -15 manufactured prototype, China will build test base for the Navy, similar to Ukraine’s Navy carrier fighter NITKA as test center. Reported that China’s naval pilot training center, carrier-based fighter aircraft flight test center is most likely located in Liaoning Huludao area.

    Huludao already have, “Chinese Navy Flight School,” which is the famous 91 065 troops. Navy helicopters, bombers, transport aircraft pilot training in this. Han and that the future China is likely to fly in the Naval Academy’s structure, the building of carrier-based fighter aircraft flight test center, there may be an independent building a new naval flight test center. But Huludao Xingcheng, Jiyuan Navy land-based aircraft carrier construction of the airport did not find signs of the runway test center.

    Han and the founder of Ping Kefu said, “building a new trial airport is very expensive, equal to land the aircraft carrier construction. At present, only Ukraine, United States, the existence of such a test center.” At the same time that the Chinese F -15 fighter flight carrier is facing difficulties because there is no Navy pilots in the flight test center where, in Shaanxi, the Air Force Flight Test Center Yanliang J -15 only testing flight control systems, radar, weapons use and so on.

    Tags: aircraft carrier, J-15, pilot training, prototype

    http://www.global-military.com/j-15-...-training.html
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    Shortage of RAF pilots for Libya as defence cuts bite

    The RAF risks running short of pilots for operations over Libya as cuts to the defence budget threaten to undermine front-line operations, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.


    http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/ho...ilots/web.html

    By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
    9:45PM BST 28 Mar 2011
    589 Comments


    Since the conflict began, a squadron of 18 RAF Typhoon pilots has enforced the Libya no-fly zone from an air base in southern Italy. However, a shortage of qualified fighter pilots means the RAF may not have enough to replace all of them when the squadron has to rotate in a few weeks.

    The situation is so serious that the RAF has halted the teaching of trainee Typhoon pilots so instructors can be drafted on to the front line, according to air force sources. The handful of pilots used for air shows will also be withdrawn from displays this summer.

    The shortage has arisen because cuts to the defence budget over the past decade have limited the number of pilots who have been trained to fly the new Typhoon.

    There are also fewer newly qualified pilots coming through after the RAF was forced to cut a quarter of its trainee places due to cuts announced in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review.

    The Government’s decision to decommission HMS Ark Royal, Harrier jump jets and the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft — all of which could have played a role in the Libya conflict — has exacerbated the problem. Serving RAF pilots contacted The Daily Telegraph to warn of the risks to the Libya operation. “We have a declining pool of pilots,” one said. “There’s less people to do twice as much work. If we are not training any more we are going to run out of personnel very soon.”

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    He added that halting Typhoon fighter pilot training was a “desperate measure” that could not go on “without making the Typhoon force unviable”.
    Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said: “There is a great concern in Parliament about the Government’s cuts to RAF pilots. We would be very worried if government cuts were to impede future operations.”
    Out of 69 qualified RAF Typhoon pilots, including instructors, 18 are in southern Italy flying missions over Libya. Of the rest, 24 are committed to the Quick Reaction Alert protecting Britain’s air space and six are in the Falklands in a similar role. A further six are being used to train Saudi Arabian air force pilots. That leaves only 15 to replace those currently based in Italy.
    Because of the intensity of flying on operations, pilots deploy for a maximum of two months at a time and the replacements for those currently enforcing the no-fly zone in Libya will be expected to deploy at the end of next month.
    The RAF faces losing 5,000 serving personnel from its total of 42,000 under the strategic review. In the past six months, the posts for 48 Harrier pilots and 30 Tornado F3 fighter pilots have been lost, although the Ministry of Defence insists that all will be transferred to other flying posts within the RAF.
    News of the Typhoon pilots shortage will come as a further embarrassment to the Government after it was forced to delay scrapping warships involved in the Libyan conflict.
    Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, a former RAF pilot who flew over Bosnia and Iraq, said the campaign in Libya could become “unsustainable”.
    “We should put a halt to all defence cuts,” he said. “It does not make sense. The world is getting less stable and if the Government cannot see that, we have a problem bordering on the irresponsible.”
    Air Marshal Dick Garwood, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Operations, said there was no shortage of pilots. “We have enough aircraft and people to carry out all the tasks placed on us,” he said.
    MoD sources suggested that the Libyan conflict vindicated the decision to retain the Tornado over the Harrier as there were more pilots in the pool and it had a greater reconnaissance and strike capability.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...cuts-bite.html

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -bite.html
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  3. #13
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    Just a couple words because I am unbelievably PISSED

    1. Your Dirt Broke

    2. Your fighting a War in Iraq / Nation Building ..... draining the treasury

    3. Your Fighting a War in Afghanistan / Nation Building ..... draining the treasury

    4. Your now Neck deep in Libya / soon to be Nation Building ..... and draining the treasury even more

    While your Infrastructure is deteriorating; 44 million plus on Welfare and 32 - 48 Million Illegal Aliens rule the 50 states while you are forced to pay for it and to beat it all

    5. The Goof Balls in D.C. are Planning on Syria, Iran and any other Boogy Man they can Invent

    6. You Get Poorer

    7. China and Russia Get Stronger

    In Summery: Go Watch Dancing with the stars; take your medications and go back to sleep chanting USA USA ....

    if thats all ya got; go with whatcha know cause this train wreck is going to end badly and soon
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    Last edited by AirborneSapper7; 02-15-2012 at 02:15 PM.
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    on the plus side we have prisoners building Patriot Missles; maybe they can decommission the Aircraft Carriers at a reduced cost for the global elite to profit even more on the dismantling of America

    Why are Prisoners Building Patriot Missiles?


    By Justin Rohrlich Mar 07, 2011 12:30 pm
    Right now, federal prison inmates in correctional institutions across America are making Patriot missile components. Alarming? Sure. But it could also inform a larger debate currently underway in Washington.

    Right now, federal prison inmates in correctional institutions across America are making parts for Patriot missiles.

    They are paid $0.23 an hour to start, and can work their way up to a maximum of $1.15 to manufacture electronics that go into the propulsion, guidance, and targeting systems of Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) PAC-3 guided missile, originally made famous in the first Persian Gulf conflict.

    Surprised? Me too.

    Unicor, known as Federal Prison Industries until a 1977 re-branding, is a network of over 100 factories at 70 penitentiaries within the US; a self-sustaining, self-funding company owned wholly by the government, created by an act of Congress in 1934 to function as a rehabilitative tool to teach real-world work skills to federal inmates. Unicor’s mandate dictates that prison work programs not adversely affect private sector businesses.

    It has always been fairly well known that prisoners make everything from street signs, park benches -- and yes, license plates -- to office furniture for federal agencies like the VA and DoD (this last example being to the continuing consternation of Representative Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, whose district is home to Steelcase (SCS), Herman Miller (MLHR), and Haworth), but the Bureau of Prisons’ PAC-3 missile program has gone largely unnoticed -- until now.

    For the record, federal prisoners are making more than missile components. Inmates also make cable assemblies for the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s laser rangefinder.

    Despite repeated requests, Unicor would not disclose how many inmates are currently assigned to defense-related jobs, but public records show Unicor electronics factories located at no fewer than 14 federal correctional institutions.

    Here’s how the work is described on Unicor’s website:
    “Unicor supplies numerous electronic components and services for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile. We assemble and distribute the Intermediate Frequency Processor (IFP) for the PAC-3s seeker. The IFP receives and filters radio-frequency signals that guide the missile toward its target.

    “We are an important supplier of complex electrical harnesses that link initiators, primers and detonators in the guided missile warheads, and connect infrared, radar and electro-optical sensor data that provide essential threat discrimination in high-clutter environments.

    “Our RF cable assemblies connect and control antenna mast groups that communicate with remote missile launching stations. We supply grounding cables and shielding to protect antenna arrays from electro-magnetic interference and pulses. In addition, Unicor produces and distributes testing and repair kits that help to ensure that guided missiles and other critical ordnance are deployment ready.”
    As it turns out, this practice has been hiding in plain sight for two decades; detailed in Unicor’s annual report each year, highlighted in its brochures, and explained in depth -- although buried several pages deep -- on Unicor.gov. The missile components made by prisoners are needles in haystacks of thousands of parts, often contracted and subcontracted out endlessly. The organization’s annual reports aren’t exactly making any New York Times best-seller lists, and the Unicor.gov website receives so few visitors, Quantcast, the Internet metrics firm, is unable to provide traffic data.

    With that in mind, the Unicor/Patriot missile connection took some of the top defense analysts in America by surprise.

    “It’s kind of mind-boggling and hair-raising to find out a major component of a national security system is being made in prisons,” says William Hartung, PhD, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, member of the Sustainable Defense Task Force, and author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2010).

    “For one thing, just the symbolism of it, God forbid, the global publicity -- I don’t think using prison labor to build missiles reflects very well not just on Lockheed Martin, but on the United States,” he says. “We’re supposed to be a beacon of freedom and holding up the values of the free market. I can’t think of an example that contrasts that more starkly than doing this kind of thing.”

    While sourcing components from prisons is perfectly legal, the idea makes Hartung more than a little uncomfortable.

    “It just doesn’t smell right to me,” he continues. “It’s really on the cutting-edge of questionable practices. The fact that it does an end-run around organized labor is a problem. There’s no greater restriction on a worker’s rights than being stuck in prison.”

    The actual logistical arrangement between Lockheed, Unicor, and the Pentagon is murky. In response to a request for details, Craig Vanbebber, of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division, “did quite a bit of research into… FPI/Unicor’s role on the PAC-3 missile system,” and it “appears that they are a supplier to the US Government, not a direct supplier to Lockheed Martin.” However it shakes out in the Byzantine system of federal procurement, PAC-3s rely on systems made by prisoners.

    Christopher Preble, PhD, a former commissioned officer in the US Navy, author of The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous and Less Free (Cornell University Press, 2009), and current director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, was also unaware that prisoners were being used to build weapons parts. For him, the practice raises questions about a much larger policy issue currently being fiercely debated in Washington, DC -- that of maintaining the so-called “defense industrial base.”

    As Preble explains, the defense industry insists keeping a highly-trained, highly-skilled workforce “warm” is vital to its very existence. But if prisoners are performing apparently vital, mission-critical tasks, it casts some doubt as to the supposed delicacy of the defense industrial base. It also may further the case that a large defense budget is, as former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote in an August, 2010 editorial, “an insane way to keep Americans employed.”

    It echoed many of the same points laid out by Preble and Hartung in a 2009 Washington Times op-ed, which argued, “The defense budget is not a jobs program, nor should it be. Decisions on how many Humvees to buy, or how many bases to refurbish, should rest on military necessity, not economic expedience subject to political chicanery. When military procurement becomes nothing more than a series of thinly veiled pork- barrel projects, it risks exposing our troops to unnecessary risks, and ultimately undermines our security.”

    Preble says, “When you talk about reductions in defense spending -- and I encounter this almost daily -- you have a certain set of people with a vested interest in making the argument that there is a unique defense industrial base that will be destroyed if any funding is cut; that there will be structural damage, it will not rebuild, that it must be subsidized at extremely high cost, ad infinitum, or it will disappear forever. It comes up in the context, oftentimes, when a particular weapons system is nearing the end of its previously agreed-to production cycle.”

    Hartung wonders if maintaining an “efficient” industrial base by keeping production levels high for systems we do not need now but one day might; isn’t, by definition, inefficient?

    “How does one square building missile components using prison labor with the notion that you need to keep a large, very expensive workforce at the ready at all times,” he says. “Maybe this means you keep technical teams together, scientists, engineers working on R&D, but that the assembly process is perhaps more fungible. It calls into question the entire industrial base argument.”

    Preble says the theory “never really sat well with me” and that “the globaleconomy is such that US manufacturers have capitalized on our comparative advantages, which are design and marketing -- the beginning of the process and the end of it, which is the hard part. Everything in the middle is where we don’t have that advantage, which is why things get made elsewhere.”

    “You tend to assume that weapons manufacturing requires a certain set of specialized skills,” he says. “When I hear about PAC-3 components being built by prisoners, for a guy who was always skeptical about ‘preserving the industrial base,’ it certainly doesn’t do much to assuage my doubts. If anything, it feeds into them. If you can train inmates to put together wiring harnesses for Patriot missiles, you can probably train people to do other, related jobs -- and fairly quickly. When you need people, you go get them.”

    John O. Noonan, defense policy advisor at the Foreign Policy Initiative and former US Air Force nuclear missile combat crew commander, sees little, if any, downside to procuring military hardware from prisons. He wrote in an email message:

    “As long as proper security protocols are followed, [it] looks fine. If using prison labor helps keep defense systems costs down, with minimal security risk and a clean bill of ethical health, then more power to Lockheed and sub-contracting agencies.”

    There is no lack of debate among the various interested parties on the ethics of prison labor; no consensus has ever been reached on what constitutes “ethical” regarding FPI since it opened for business almost 80 years ago.

    Regarding cost, the current Unicor “Electronic Capabilities” brochure claims that the prison labor can reduce certain expenditures by as much as 40%. “These cost savings have saved the Navy more than a million dollars,” says one statement [PDF].

    The security protocols Noonan mentions don’t bother the Heritage Foundation’s Mackenzie Eaglen, a policy expert with a focus on the defense industrial base and the size and structure of the nation’s armed forces.

    “Building one piece of one part of one missile is not going to give away the nation’s crown jewels,” she says.

    However, Eaglen dismisses the idea that the defense industry may be overplaying its need to avoid budget cuts by any means necessary.

    “My assumption is, this program is confined to basic manufacturing. There’s a big difference between a highly-skilled worker and someone who inserts a widget,” she says.

    In fact, it appears that prison labor capabilities are becoming, if anything, more and more advanced. Unicor literature points out:

    • Our in-house prototyping, engineering, manufacturing and distribution capabilities allow us to streamline the entire design-through-delivery process, providing highly integrated services and overall time and cost savings for our customers.
    • Our team of electrical engineers and technicians are skilled in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and can produce production-ready designs and high-quality prototypes to exacting military and commercial specifications. We recently designed, prototyped and engineered specialized lighting kits for the Army and Air Force and land mine sweepers for use in the Middle East.
    • Our engineering services include developing mechanical designs and documentation, machining and fabrication requirements, and quality assurance specifications. Our leading-edge coordinate measuring systems allow us to perform fast, accurate tolerance-checking to ensure the precision of our prototyping services.
    As the very definition of war continues to evolve, Chris Preble wonders how to even accurately define “the defense industry.”

    “What exactly are we talking about in preserving our ‘unique’ industrial base,” Preble says. “What exactly is that set of unique skills that, as a matter of national security, we continue to subsidize and absolutely must maintain at all costs -- including the opportunity cost -- of dictating that certain people be employed in certain areas, short-circuiting the market for presumably long-term objectives?

    “Our ability to design militarily relevant, even revolutionary, technologies is the best in the world. Does that make every engineering school in America part of the military industrial base? Michael Dell (DELL) and Bill Gates (MSFT) dropped out of college. Where in the value chain, or as they call it in the military, the ‘development cycle,’ do you draw the line?”

    On a more philosophical level, Preble is concerned that all the panic over maintaining the defense industrial base indicates a deeper problem.

    “Our strength as a country is our ingenuity, our dynamism,” he says. “I get the feeling that there is a sort of lack of confidence in America’s adaptability and flexibility. I worry about locking in to a certain concept, maintaining certain platforms, certain people, certain jobs, because we somehow know for certain that those pieces of metal and electronics will the determinant factor in warfare 20 years from now. We have no idea what will be happening in the world 20 years from now. I’m concerned that we will preclude what has always been our real strong suit -- our ability to succeed.”

    http://www.minyanville.com/businessmark ... 1/id/33198
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    China Closer to Deploying Anti-Carrier Missile http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/28 ... r-missile/

    Chinese 'Carrier-Killer' Missile Could Reshape Sea Combat
    http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/ ... pert-says/

    China Developing Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles
    http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3307277

    Last edited by AirborneSapper7; 02-15-2012 at 02:19 PM.
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    China's Carrier Killers http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/04/u-s- ... siles.html


    Images of china anti carrier missile







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    Carrier HMS Ark Royal put up for auction on MoD website

    Many people, especially in Portsmouth, are sad to see Ark Royal decommissioned
    Continue reading the main story Related Stories


    The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is up for sale on the Ministry of Defence's auction website.
    The Royal Navy's former flagship was decommissioned two weeks ago after 25 years in service as part of the government's defence budget review.
    Proposals for it include turning it into a commercial heliport, a base for security personnel during the London Olympics, or a school and nightclub.
    But it could also be sold for scrap like its sister ship HMS Invincible.
    Ark Royal's operations have included leading the UK's naval forces during the invasion of Iraq.
    The current ship is the fifth vessel to carry the name - the first saw battle in 1588 against the Spanish Armada.
    Destroyers
    Interested bidders are being invited to view Ark Royal at her home port, Portsmouth Naval Base, on 3 and 4 May.
    Before they can attend, they must submit an outline of their "intentions regarding the vessel" to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
    The aircraft carrier is listed on the edisposals.com website, which is run by the MoD's Defence Equipment and Support arm.
    Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

    The UK continues to have access to a range of international bases which allow us to project our air power”
    End Quote Spokesman Ministry of Defence
    It has a budget of £14bn to equip the UK's armed forces with everything from aircraft to clothing, and in order to supplement that, it regularly sells off kit that is no longer needed.
    Also on sale currently are three Type-42 destroyers - HMS Exeter, HMS Southampton and HMS Nottingham.
    The decision to bring forward Ark Royal's decommissioning by several years has been criticised because it leaves the Navy without the capacity to launch fixed-wing aircraft until replacements come into service at the end of the decade.
    But the MoD said scrapping the vessel early would ensure "an enhanced carrier strike capability in the future".
    "Until then, the UK continues to have access to a range of international bases which allow us to project our air power around the world," a spokesman added.
    He also said the MoD was determined to ensure the best possible return for the taxpayer when disposing of equipment.
    HMS Invincible, which saw action during the Falklands War, was towed away last week to a scrapyard in Turkey.
    Bidders have until 1000 BST on 13 June to put their tenders forward for Ark Royal.
    More on This Story

    Related Stories

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12883511



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    Britain And France To Share An Aircraft Carrier


    Ageing vessel ... HMS Ark Royal

    Published: 30 Aug 2010

    BRITAIN and France are preparing to reveal unprecedented plans to share the use of their aircraft carriers in a controversial step to maintain military power in an era of cost-cutting. In a potential threat to thousands of shipyard jobs, the move would make it easier for Britain to scrap or downgrade one of the two replacement carriers which are already under construction at a cost of £5.2billion.

    David Cameron and President Sarkozy are expected to outline the proposal in a November summit, which will lead to British and French flagships working together and protecting the interests of both countries.

    The arrangement, expected to come into force soon after the announcement, would ensure that one of three ships — one French, two British — was always on duty patrolling the seas. At present, there are periods when both ageing British vessels — HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious — are in dock.

    Critics questioned the viability of such a partnership, noting British and French interests historically differ. Gwyn Prins, a research professor at the London School of Economics, said: "At first glance it may seem sensible to pool aircraft carriers with the French. But a moment's reflection in the light of past history and of modern geopolitics shows why that is unwise."

    The plan comes as the Armed Forces are under pressure to cut costs and continue to protect Britain's national interests, as part of the defence review. A final decision on the future of the replacement carriers will come in October in the Comprehensive Spending Review. One carrier could be scrapped, built to a lower specification, or even sold to another nation.

    Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, meets French counterparts on Friday, having repeatedly visited Paris for discussions before the election.

    A Whitehall source said: "Liam has made it clear that we want more co-operation as we have to face up to the world we are living in. The advantage is that if we are going to have one carrier, then at least we can project our power on the sea even if we go down to a single carrier."

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-carriers.html
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    Chinese army forces chief - confirms first China aircraft carrier

    A top Chinese military official has confirmed that Beijing is building an aircraft carrier, marking the first formal acknowledgement of the ships existence from Chinas secretive armed forces.


    Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People?s Liberation Army Photo: AP

    9:34AM BST 08 Jun 2011
    Video at the page link

    Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told the Hong Kong Commercial Daily that the 990-ft refurbished Soviet carrier “is being built, but it has not been completed”.

    He declined to elaborate although there has been wide speculation that the vessel was nearly finished after the ship, then called the Varyag, was reportedly purchased in 1998.


    It is currently based in the northeast port city of Dalian, where it can be seen clearly from the bedroom furnishings department of the local branch of IKEA home furnishings store.


    The ship, which an expert on China’s military has said would be used for training and as a model for a future indigenously-built ship, was originally built for the Soviet navy. Construction was interrupted by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.


    The Hong Kong paper quoted anonymous sources as saying the carrier will be launched by the end of June at the earliest.


    Related Content
    Qi Jianguo, assistant to the chief of the PLA’s general staff, told the newspaper that the carrier would not enter other nations’ territories, in accordance with Beijing’s defensive military strategy.

    “All of the great nations in the world own aircraft carriers - they are symbols of a great nation,” he was quoted as saying.

    But China is involved in a number of simmering marine territorial disputes.

    China has claimed mineral rights around the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and argued that foreign navies cannot sail through the area without Beijing’s permission.

    In September, Japan and China clashed over the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, located in the East China Sea.

    In April, Admiral Robert Willard, head of US Pacific Command, said China’s navy had adopted a less aggressive stance in the Pacific after protests from Washington and other nations in the region.

    However in recent weeks China has clashed verbally with both the Philippine and Vietnam governments over territorial issues in the South China Sea where patrol and marine exploration vessels have also faced off in recent weeks.

    The PLA - the largest army in the world - is hugely secretive about its defence programmes, which benefit from a big military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...t-carrier.html
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