Chinese intercept Navy Unmanned vehicle

MemberLG said:
Let me guess, the highest ranking officer that got relieved was 05 or below. It happens in all branhes, but general officers and admirals usually don't get held accountable. In a CNN article, a commentator made a comment that he didn't understand why those two boats were making a 300 mile trip. Perhaps in the Navy, an O5 could make a decision to make a 300 miles trip in a very sensitive area, but fact that it was allowed to happen in the first place with "poorly planned and executed and their unit training was not up to standards" makes me believe the issue is a lot higher than O5 level.

Why were thr riverbine force deployed in the first place? Perhaps, strategically they didn't neeed to be there but tactically someone wanted their medals and ribbons.
Click to expand...

I'm an aviator not a black shoe, so my knowledge is limited to what was released publicly. I am not sure if the group commander (O-6) was relieved or not. The echelon command responsible to man, train and equip them is NECC. That would be the first flag level that would be held accountable. You are correct, usually the O-5 in command makes the cover of Navy Times, the flag goes away quietly. The 5th Fleet/NAVCENT commander in this case doesn't suffer fools, the discipline applied was more than likely justified and fair.

Since 9/11, the Coastal Riverine Force, has been renamed, reorganized, up sized, down sized, relocated and the mission changed so many times I don't know how they keep up...they are deployed now to Bahrain and Kuwait for maritime and port security operations. As far as improving their training goes, I would start with SERE and navigation in a GPS denied environment....

Back to the Chinese seizing the underwater "drone" from the MSC oceanographic research ship, I hope we inserted a virus when the PLA-Navy downloaded the data...STUXNET anyone?
 
So the real question is, why do you need Coastal riverine forces when you have a Coast Guard already trained and competent?
 
I have very limited knowledge of Riverine vs CG. You're right, LITS. The article supports overlapping equipment and skill sets.

My layperson's guess is that Riverine has been (in modern times) an offensive force (e.g. Vietnam Mekong operations) whereas CG has been traditionally defensive border (drug/smuggling interdiciton) plus S & R?

Of course, this does not explain the 300 mile voyage near Iranian waters.

Interesting discussion, LITS and I'm sure politics between branches is involved.
 
AROTC-dad said:
I have very limited knowledge of Riverine vs CG.
My layperson's guess is that Riverine has been (in modern times) an offensive force (e.g. Vietnam Mekong operations) whereas CG has been traditionally defensive border (drug/smuggling interdiciton) plus S & R?

Of course, this does not explain the 300 mile voyage near Iranian waters.
Click to expand...

I think, in reality, the Navy saw some kind of benefit, whether real or imaginary, in trying to develop a "brown water" presence. The LCS is an extension of that move to coastal work.

The problem is... they're not good at it.

We talk about maritime operations, port security, boardings?

That's already done by the Coast Guard (often where there are US Navy assets). The expertise already exists (and works for the US).

This would be like the Coast Guard building a carrier fleet (that expertise also already exists, with the Navy).

Maybe the blue water stuff just got boring?
 
Too bad @Spud hasn't been around much on the forum lately (last post in April of 2016).

If I recall, he was a USNA grad and a Riverine guy during Vietnam.
 
MemberLG said:
Yes and only time will tell if Trump will be better or worse than Obama. Some China experts believe that Chinese are pretty clear about what they want, rather we, US, are bad at reading and understanding Chinese messages. If someone asked me, I will say Chinese will make unofficial concessions in the South China Sea if we allowed them to save their face. In a bigger scheme of things, fishing rights and natural resources in the South China Sea might not be the worth resource expanded to obtain them. However, China can't seen to be back down. So if US reached an understanding with Chinese that we will stay neutral, the Chinese might have been less aggressive in the South China Sea.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The Chinese government counts on two magics to stay supported and they are called the economy growth and territory integrity. With the economy growth slowing down dramatically, the Chinese government doesn't really have other choices. They can't back down. That being said, the Chinese government isn't actually trying to pick a fight with the US. If the US gives China some face(sorry I don't know how to properly express this in English), China will be considerably less aggressive on the South China Sea. Honestly, the majority of resources in SCS, especially the oils, are useless to China at this moment and near future because they are hidden 1000m below surface. It would probably be more cost-effective for the Chinese government to invade the entire middle east than digging out the oils in SCS.
 
spaike97 said:
Honestly, the majority of resources in SCS, especially the oils, are useless to China at this moment and near future because they are hidden 1000m below surface.
Click to expand...

Ever heard of the subsalt deposits off the coast of Brazil located under of 2500m of water, where there is drilling as we speak? The Chinese have and are invested in their exploration? Ever heard of the Gulf of Mexico? Ever heard of the DEEPWATER Horizon?

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-Ton-Increase-In-Crude-Oil-Production-By.html

spaike97 said:
It would probably be more cost-effective for the Chinese government to invade the entire middle east than digging out the oils in SCS.
Click to expand...

No doubt the Chinese would do it more cost effectively with child and prison labor instead of contractors, but would they have Starbucks, Subway and Pizza Huts at their military installations?
 
cb7893 said:
Ever heard of the subsalt deposits off the coast of Brazil located under of 2500m of water, where there is drilling as we speak? The Chinese have and are invested in their exploration? Ever heard of the Gulf of Mexico? Ever heard of the DEEPWATER Horizon?

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-Ton-Increase-In-Crude-Oil-Production-By.html



No doubt the Chinese would do it more cost effectively with child and prison labor instead of contractors, but would they have Starbucks, Subway and Pizza Huts at their military installations?
Click to expand...

I have to admit I personally don't have much knowledge on this subject. I have some friends in the industry and all I know is what they told me. The Chinese government has been investing in deepwater horizons for over ten years and they are still incapable of covering the entire SCS, not to mention in a cost-effective manner.(The deepest water they can go is 3000m meaning they can't really get too far away from China's coastline) They just don't see the cost going down in the next 20 years. I'm not saying those resources are useless, they sure will become available at some point but not anywhere near now. There are Chinese horizons operating in SCS but all of them are really close to Chinese coastline.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top