East Pendulum Article on the "Blue Sword" Navy exercise held in the East China Sea. Interesting pics of Type 056 corvettes performing low-altitude intercepts of anti-ship cruise missile targets with HQ10 Short Range SAM's.
"Blue Sword", 40 warships and HQ-10
BY
HENRI KENHMANN
DECEMBER 13, 2017
The Chinese navy conducted last Thursday an important annual assessment exercise in the East China Sea. More than 40 warships from three major Chinese fleets competed together in different events, one of which was specifically highlighted by the official Chinese military journal, the use of
HQ-10 self
- defense missiles. by the
Type 056 corvettes to intercept the
YJ-83J's own Chinese anti-ship
missiles .
The objective of this exercise, dubbed "Blue Sword Cup", according to officers from the training department of the Chinese Naval Staff, is to assess the ability of the buildings to defend autonomously against low-level threats, whether anti-aircraft missiles or military aircraft, without any prior support of data and in a "special tactical context".
According to the article published on December 8, it is the 523
Putian frigate , class
Type 053H3 , which opened the lease by firing the first anti-ship missile. The 509
Huai'an corvette of the Eastern Fleet was then selected to intercept it alone, firing two HQ-10 missiles one after the other, about a second apart.
The Chinese TV channel CCTV-7's televised report shows that the two HQ-10s hit their flying target near the sea surface. The photos published by the Chinese navy suggest that at least four corvettes of the same model also fired afterwards, during which they had to assess the damage result alone and decide whether another wave of anti-aircraft missiles should be launched.
Assessment officers on each vessel participating in the exercise.
Target intercepted with HQ-10
The YJ-83J anti-ship missile serving as a target was intercepted by two HQ-10 missiles
Other Type 056 corvettes fired in their turn
The difference between FL-3000N and the HQ-10, these two are designed by two distinguished manufacturers (Image: East Pendulum)
The question then arises as to what is the so-called "tactical context" and why the other Chinese frigates and destroyers, who also participated in the exercise and yet more versatile in terms of capabilities and power, have not been put under the fire of the designers this time.
If we consider the latest maneuvers of the Air Force and the Chinese Navy in the direction of the East China Sea in November and December, we will notice that the island of Taiwan was directly or indirectly concerned. Next, the "Blue Sword Cup" exercise focuses not on the projection of forces but on the self-defense of ships and fleets, conducted by small escort ships. One can then assume, if these two events are related, that the Chinese Navy would like to simulate the coordinated protection of its landing fleets by the new corvettes, once the first-tier ships are deployed to defend the Anti-Access & Area line. Denial (A2 / AD) against all enemies who could come to the aid of the Taiwanese armed forces.
This explains why institutional media have instead focused on these Type 056 corvettes and their ways of coordinating their efforts only on "big" ones.
Of course this is one of the possible hypotheses and other explanations are also plausible, we should then wait for further exercises to look at all these maneuvers as a whole.
Henri K.
http://www.eastpendulum.com/blue-sword-40-navires-de-guerre-et-hq-10