Type 815G reconnaissance ship
The third generation 853 Uranus belongs to the 815G reconnaissance ship. Compared to the 815 type mast, it is replaced by a tower, and the bulwark wall has a fold line. The ship was only tested in the second half of 2010. It was built by Hudong Shipyard and served in the South China Sea Fleet in the same year. Compared with the 815 type mast, the ship is replaced by a tower, and the bulwark wall has a fold line. The ship was piloted in the second half of 2010 and was manufactured by Hudong Shipyard. In the same year, it served in the South China Sea Fleet. The ship is slightly longer and slightly wider than the 851 electronic reconnaissance ship in service at the end of the 20th century. The comparative analysis speculates that the total length of the 853 ship should be about 40 meters, about 7 meters wide, draught less than 7.5 meters, and tonnage 6000~7000 tons. The main tower is a two-story structure, located about 2/5 of the deck of the whole ship. This layout is conducive to stabilizing the center of gravity of the ship and improving stability.
Above the main tower is a navigation, observation, and radar control tower. The front end is a cylindrical spherical radar position, and the rear part is changed to the traditional square lattice main mast style of the 851 ship. The trapezoidal quadrangular column type closed type is used instead. Main mast. Both sides are equipped with a number of portholes, non-closed boat type. Two diesel engines, two-axis double rudder propulsion device, two sets of fin stabilizers are installed on both sides of the lower part of the hull to reduce the sway and improve the stability of the ship sailing under high sea conditions. The ship's maximum speed is about 21 knots, which is basically the same as the domestic large-scale landing ship, and its self-sustaining power is about 50 days. At the rear of the ship, there is a Z-19 or a Ka-28 carrier helicopter landing position.
The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned three vessels, including a Dongdiao-class general intelligence ship, into its South Sea Fleet in late December 2015. The vessels were commissioned 26 December 2015 in a ceremony held at an unspecified naval port, said to be in the South China Sea. Two of the ships inducted that day include a supply ship and a survey vessel.
A Dongdiao-class vessel named Neptune was launched at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group yard in Shanghai in March 2014. The Neptune is the third known Dongdiao-class vessel in service with the PLAN. The first, Beijixing, was based in the service's East Sea Fleet, while the second ship, Tianwangxing, is based in the South Sea Fleet.
The commissioning of the Neptune will further bolster the PLAN's sea-going intelligence collection and missile range instrumentation capabilities. Recent developments suggest that Beijing is stepping up its naval intelligence gathering operations amid a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
The North Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned another intelligence-gathering ship on 10 January 2017 at a ceremony in Qingdao. The 6,000-ton vessel, named Kaiyangxing, is the fourth of the Dongdiao class to be commissioned in the past two years, and was built at Shanghai’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. The CNS Kaiyangxing, or Mizar, with hull code 856, was delivered to a combat support flotilla of the North Sea Fleet on Tuesday morning in Qingdao, Shandong province.
On 03 February 2018, the latest electronic reconnaissance ship #859 was launched in Hudong. The People’s Navy’s eighth electronic reconnaissance ship (Model 815G) was launched at the shipyard.
The Kaiyangxing is capable of conducting all-weather, round-the-clock reconnaissance on multiple and different targets, the report said, adding that the ship is so sophisticated that only a few countries, such as the United States and Russia, are capable of developing it.
The Kaiyangxing is a Type 815A electronic reconnaissance ship, which has a full displacement of 6,000 metric tons and a maximum speed of 20 knots, or 37 kilometers per hour, according to the Modern Navy report, which added that it is equipped with three small-caliber naval guns.
An expert from China's shipbuilding industry who wished not to be named told China Daily that the US Navy deploys at least 15 intelligence collection ships, while China still lags behind in this regard. "The fact that we are facing an increasing number of difficulties when we safeguard our maritime interests means that we require more reconnaissance ships to support the PLA Navy's operations on the open sea," he said. "In addition, our future carrier battle groups also need such vessels that can provide various kinds of theater intelligence."
Six Dongdiao ships were then in service with PLAN, the first commissioned in 1999. They are classified as Type 815A, though each subsequent vessel had adjustments made for mass and structure. The ships are evenly distributed among the North, East and South Sea PLAN fleets. The ships' spherical domes, which shield dish antennas that collect and intercept radio signals, give the vessels a distinct profile. The Kaiyangxing differs in that it has a cylindrical radome with a flat top above the bridge.
Chinese Type 815G Dongdiao-class Auxiliary General Intelligence (AGI) ships have been sent out to monitor military exercises in the Pacific, such as the big Rim of the Pacific drills and previous iterations of the Talisman Saber exercises. Such activities are permitted in international waters by international law, although China routinely objects to such activities by other countries, the US in particular.
The Australian military's accusation that China sent a "spy ship" to gather intelligence on US-Australian naval exercises is nothing but an exaggeration and aims to hype the "China threat" theory, Chinese experts said on 07 July 2019. Instead of worrying about China's normal maritime activities, Australia and the international community should be more concerned with Japan, which sent its amphibious landing forces to participate in the exercises, a tendency of its aggressive military development which is against the country's "pure defense" policy, given its World War II history, experts said.
The experts' remarks came after Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on 07 July 2019 that a Chinese electronic surveillance ship is sailing toward Queensland to closely monitor the biennial joint US-Australian exercises known at Talisman Saber from just outside Australian territorial waters. Australian Chief of Defense Joint Operations Greg Bilton said at the launch of the exercises that the Chinese ship's destination is unknown, but is assumed to be heading south near the east coast of Queensland, ABC reported. "It is international waters, they have the right to sail there," he said.
Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the People's Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told the Global Times that the report and Australian military's remarks are more China threat theory rhetoric, exaggerating China's normal naval activities. "Since the Australian military acknowledges the Chinese ship has the right to sail in international waters, why would they hype the so-called 'spying' concerns?" Zhang said.
The exercises also marked the first time Japanese warships and the Japanese Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, which was formed just last year, has taken part in the Talisman Saber exercises, ABC report said. China is interested in Japan's capability and interoperability with Australia and the US, ABC quoted an anonymous military official as saying.
Zhang pointed out that Japan's military development should be the real concern of the international community. Developing an aggressive military force such as amphibious landing forces and helicopter carriers are not allowed under Japan's pacifist Constitution and "defense-only" policy, and such development has already caused concern in countries that were invaded by Japan during World War II, Zhang said. "Countries including Australia should be concerned about Japan's rapid development of its aggressive military power rather than making irresponsible comments about China's normal naval activities," Zhang said.
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