Not without German agreement. And the German government is a bit more critical of Pakistan than the US when it comes to FMS.If Aster or ESSM are too expensive, the US could certainly have provided a couple of RAMs ...
Not without German agreement. And the German government is a bit more critical of Pakistan than the US when it comes to FMS.If Aster or ESSM are too expensive, the US could certainly have provided a couple of RAMs ...
Perhaps that was meant to placate the overseas Chinese who are the buying the tickets. Honestly if they're really that superstitious, you would have to preferred to use the 8th day of the 8th month of the Lunar calendar instead.Actually there is nothing secular about the Chinese government when it comes to superstition. In fact, they are as superstitious as rulers were a few thousand years ago.
Winning the 2008 Olympics meant a great deal to all Chinese people because 2008 is considered to be a very auspicious year.
And if China isn't superstitious, why is the Olympics starting on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008: 08082008?
Of course, 2008 had so far been a really bad year ironically. The torch relay is disrupted. Tibet riot. Stock markets fell.:shudder
probably cost concerns, you already have HH-7 basically mature with Jiangwei II hull with that set of air defense combat system. Integrating a new system would require different sensors and integration with the combat system. If we are talking about Aster, I just don't see how it can fit on F-22P.Not without German agreement. And the German government is a bit more critical of Pakistan than the US when it comes to FMS.
True. May be though Sylver VLS with MICA would do the job.probably cost concerns, you already have HH-7 basically mature with Jiangwei II hull with that set of air defense combat system. Integrating a new system would require different sensors and integration with the combat system. If we are talking about Aster, I just don't see how it can fit on F-22P.
There's a CPA on RAM production between Raytheon and RAMSYS, under which each company gets 50% production from contracts. If Germany doesn't agree to an export, RAMSYS wouldn't be able to export systems (and components); a pure one-sided Raytheon sale would make the whole agreement rather shaky, and at minimum would require a "counter" procurement by "approved" customers (read USN in this case) for an equal number of missiles. A number of non-critical RAM components are also sole-sourced from Germany (and a number of others sole-sourced from the US).@ Kato : I wasn't aware Germany could influence exports of RAM. Interesting...
4 is "si" not "shi", where "si" is also the sound for "death"."4" in Chinese sounds like "shi" which also means "death". In contrast "8" is the lucky number because it sounds like the word for "prosperity". "0" can mean emptiness which implies poverty.
However superstitious beliefs have no place in the highly secular Chinese government and the PLA, where units frequently use the number "4". Neither are ships being numbered based on lucky numbers. DDG 168 can be considered to be a very lucky number for a pennant because "68" stands for "road to prosperity", given that "6" in Chinese sounds similar to the word for "road" or "path". But you can be sure that DDG 168 wasn't numbered because of luck, but because of an existing numbering system. 1 for Destroyer, 6 means deployment in the South Seas Fleet, and 8 because it follows the destroyer 167 Shenzhen in order.
May be it explains why the Han class is so unlucky with its very high noise levels and its inability to go about undetected...A ship or a sub getting numbered "404" must have been awful for the superstitious then. Which by the way, is an actual pennant number for a Han class nuclear submarine still in service.
Well would we find out if something happened to a Han other than what a spy satellite can see ? I remember reading about a lot of rumours on the fact that the Xia SSBN actually had a sistership which sunk.Its more of a technology prover, and like all early nuclear submarines, noisy. But in its final upgraded form, it should be a lot quieter than its original form, useful enough to deploy flank sonars. As a technology prover, the Hans did manage to avoid any serious catastrophe. Besides noise does not have anything to do with luck; catastrophe is. Despite facing a situation that is ripe for a catastrophe, being first time nuclear subs, with a navy and crews that never maintained and operated one before, the fact they never had a serious catastrophe can be considered quite lucky.
All the Jins and Shangs continue the 4xx pennant numbers. Maybe some time in the future, a future Chinese nuclear sub might get the awful sounding pennant of 444.
That certainly is not true. Cannot presume rumors are a fact unless proven and that is true of Chinese developments also, not given the double standard of being guilty until proven otherwise. I can remember old reports that suggest that as of 1999, the second Xia remains a still born project. The PLAN don't keep their accidents secret either, like what happened to Ming pennant 361 in 2003.Well would we find out if something happened to a Han other than what a spy satellite can see ? I remember reading about a lot of rumours on the fact that the Xia SSBN actually had a sistership which sunk.
cheers
I agree with you, I was referring to rumours. But even apparent facts in China can be interpreted in different ways. Think of the Varyag carrier - is it being refitted to operate with PLAN ? Will it be a training asset ? Will it be turned over for some casino project as initially claimed ? In the meanwhile we are all staring at pictures of the Varyag wondering what will happen...That certainly is not true. Cannot presume rumors are a fact unless proven and that is true of Chinese developments also, not given the double standard of being guilty until proven otherwise. I can remember old reports that suggest that as of 1999, the second Xia remains a still born project. The PLAN don't keep their accidents secret either, like what happened to Ming pennant 361 in 2003.
Besides, the spy sats could account for the Hans; there is three right there in Google Earth, which matches 5 - 2 scrapped = 3. That image has been dated circa 2005, and same image to the Xia in a dock being refitted. Since then at least one or two of the Hans have been refitted to an improved configuration and has been redeployed to Hainan, and another Han has recently began refit.