Again, I understand the uses of an LPD ship,but I'm talking about a logistics fleet of about 1 or 2 freight ships for cross-SCS cargo runs only. I'm sure buying 1 or 2 ex-freighter ships and painting them grey won't take much the RMN's annual budget (a used 5,000-ton freight ship costs about $10-20 million USD on average, according to my research, although internal modifications for it to fit large military equipment will cost extra). As the issue of crew, a freighter usually only has 20-30 crew only & running a freighter doesn't need as high a training level as running a frigate. Also because of its use as a peacetime logistics run, the ship can be permanently based at a civilian port and the cargo distributed/loaded from there.

(Also how much does shipping companies charge for the military for renting their cargo ships? Anybody got any idea?)

Also, how is it buying 1-2 ex freighter ships makes it harder for RMN to buy LPD in the first place? The RMN annual budget as it stand nowadays, we probably can't afford LPDs anytime soon. I mean, it's not like the navy can keep away some money from the annual budget in a bank and then buy LPDs when they have enough money saved to afford them. AFAIK once you get the budget for the year, you have to spend all of it in that year. So unless the RMN gets a significant annual budget increase that makes it possible to buy LPDs for that particular year, i don't see how we can afford LPDs in the first place.

And how would buying 2 ex-freighters throw off this equation somehow that they make it hard for us to buy LPDs? Plus you and I are probably savvy enough to know even if it says $100 mil on the price tag, the end price will be much higher than that. Also factor in the cost of helicopters, landing craft & the troops deployed onboard, plus other 'hidden costs' I'd wager to say the total cost will run way,way more than that. But that's besides the question.

What I'm saying is it so ridiculous for RMN to buy 1 or 2 good condition used ex-freighters at reasonable price (probably no more than $30 mil USD for 2), send to shipyard for modifications for 6 months, train sufficient crew until they can run a freighter and then within half a year you can get dedicated Navy-owned cargo ships to go on cross-SCS transport runs every month at your pleasure. I'm pretty sure that is a worthwhile target.

Heck, If RMN is also that dirt poor, another option RMN can take some ships on long-term lease from MISC, paint them grey and hire civilian crews as reservists to man the ships on supply runs. As long as we have dedicated logistics fleet running regular supply runs that don't rely 100% on civilian contractors.

"Amateurs talk about tactics,professionals study logistics"- General Robert S. Barrow (US Marine Corps)

Holy blessing adds +10 accuracy for AA Gun

Huapang Shipyards launch Jiangkai II-class Type 054A FFG hull number 20



Huapang shipyards in Guangzhou have launched the 20th unit of the highly successful type 054A FFG back in July 2014 and are currently under fitting before undergoing sea trials at the end of 2014 or early 2015. It is hoped that this Type 054A will be ready for commissioning by 2016.The PLA Navy is said to be ending its serial production of the Type 054A at hull number 22, which is already under early stages of construction.

Reports say the PLA Navy is already designing an improved version of the Type 054A, called the Type 054B. The improved version, which will have improved detection & weapons systems and an electric propulsion engine, for slated for possible future production.

Well, the PLA Navy already has about 20 of them in service, with the current batch ending at hull no.22, so there are already a sizeable number of them in service. They started building these back in 2005, so at rate of 2 ships per year for 10 years is a good rate of production.

With the current batch's production winding down, the next step would probably be the PLA Navy having to decide whether to start production of the improved Type 054B or start production of a new design (said to be called type 057 FFG). Some people say these two are the same ship but most people say the Type 057 is a separate new design. Also there would be no reason for the PLA to re-designate an improved version of an existing design by assigning a new number (for example the improved Type 052C is designated Type 052D, because they are essentitally the same design descended from the original Type 052)


Proposed design layout of the Type 057 FFG

Various stages of the 5 Type 052D Guided-Missile Destroyer still under construction


2nd Type 052D under final fitting stage


3rd and 4th type 052D under fitting stage. Ship painted grey on the left is already in advanced stages of fitting.


5th Type 052D under initial fitting stage. Note empty radar tower and empty aft superstructure


6th Type 052D hull still under construction on the slipway

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 15 2014, 03:15 PM

A bit of eye candy...


Uighur Paramilitary SWAT police officer, Xinjiang region

Apprently it's not.

'Peace Ark' hospital ship help China gain soft power


The PLA Navy 'Peace Ark' hospital ship in Zhoushan port

The Type 920 hospital ship, better known as Peace Ark returns to its home port of Zhoushan on 13.10.2014 after a four-week tour of the Pacific islands of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

The tour proved to be a big hit from local residents with Chinese medical officers treated up to 1000 patients per day free of charge, and provided a range of services including pediatrics, ophthalmology, dental, surgery, obstetrics and traditional Chinese medicine. Health services in the region are often poor, particularly in rural or remote areas away from island capitals. Major surgeries require trips to Australia, New Zealand or Singapore, or else go untreated. So it was of no surprise to see reports of people lining up from 3 a.m. to take advantage of the services.

Local medical officers in each country worked on board alongside Chinese PLAN personnel. The Peace Ark mission even provided the opportunity for cooperation with Australia, with two Australian Defence Force medical officers joining their Chinese counterparts for the Vanuatu and PNG legs.

Nice! sometimes dreams really do come true

From the article, seems like they will be designed & built by local shipyard,yes?

Yeah, I think so too. The UAV is perfect for extending the detection range of the vessel but in view of the size of the patrol vessel, something like a double-mount .50 cal M2 HMG shielded mount on the forward and rear decks may sufficiently be heavy enough for its use.

The APMM are still a law-enforcement agency, not a military unit. Weapons are for self-defence against armed pirates or infiltrators, not for shootouts with other patrol boats.

I just hope PM can give good allocation to APMM each annual budget, so can buy new modern patrol ships each year.

People most of the time complain APMM not doing job in Esszone, but I think they are actually very overstretched covering all peninsular, sarawak and sabah coasts after taking over offshore patrols from marine police. Having forced to use old boats don't help one bit also.

If one see Malaysian map, we can see Malaysia has 2,700km of land borders but 4,650 km of coastline. That's nearly double the land borders. Perhaps this can make people realize how long the Malaysian sea borders are. That's not counting how big the EEZ that projects from the coastline also.



Wikipedia: Geography of Malaysia

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 16 2014, 11:32 AM

Adding new boats in phases should help. Obviously right now we can't replace on 1:1 basis, but introducing new boats and retiring old boats at a lower rate should help keep a sufficient number without losing too many boats, for example for every 2 boats introduced, APMM should retire 1 old boat. This should be reasonable.

Having too large a number of boats can be a drag on APMM because of increased servicing/upkeep time and cost, especially the older boats.

Biggest problem here is the possible overlapping of jurisdiction with Marine Police. Is this still a major problem?

Don't forget APMM will need more air assets as well to do a thorough job, especially patrol aircraft. Now 3 Dauphin helicopters & 2 Bombardier flying boat good for basic duties only. Need good aircraft for patrolling & SAR, right now no need big one like C-130, small light/medium aircraft should be ok for the time being.



This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 16 2014, 02:36 PM

Hahaha RMN also never get maritime patrol aircraft, suddenly APMM can get medium twin-engine patrol aircraft?
If Malaysian gov do that, Admiral Aziz Jaafar would explode.

Right now I'd settle for a bunch of small single or twin engine prop planes and rely on visual recon, not much but better than nothing.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 16 2014, 03:25 PM

Dafuq, people at work now only show?

The government very slow in replacing everything

PRC kata jangan!

Island stations only act as trip wires. If PLA have aircraft that already reach our shores, then it's already too late.

Production run of the Jiangkai II-class Type 064A FFG


PLA Navy Type 054A FFG Huangshan

The PLA Navy currently has 20 Type 054A FFGs in service. The remaining 2 ships of the batch currently under construction is expected to be commissioned by 2016.
List refers to pennant number, Ship name, Shipyard and date of commission.

530 Xuzhou Huangpu 30 September 2006
529 Zhoushan Hudong 21 December 2006
570 Huangshan Huangpu 18 March 2007
568 Hengyang Hudong 23 May 2007.
571 Yuncheng Huangpu 8 February 2009
569 Yulin Hudong 28 April 2009
548 Yiyang Huangpu 17 November 2009
549 Changzhou Hudong 21 May 2010
538 Yantai Huangpu 24 August 2010
546 Yancheng Hudong 27 April 2011
572 Hengshui Huangpu 21 May 2011
573 Liuzhou Hudong 10 December 2011
547 Linyi Huangpu 13 December 2011
575 Yueyang Huangpu 9 May 2012
550 Weifang Hudong 9 July 2012
574 Sanya Hudong 30 November 2012
578 Yangzhou Hudong 28 April 2013
576 Huangshi Huangpu 28 September 2013
579 Sanmenxia Hudong 30 September 2013
577 Huanggang Huangpu 25 July 2014