The Jeff Head 2008 PLAN Review

Always an interesting read, Jeff Head has posted his 2007 annual review of the PLAN, and posted several of the recent images to come out of China of the latest platforms. Always a good read, well at least once a year. This piece of commentary specifically caught my attention.

the PLAN has built and launched over 80 new major surface combatants for its fleet. In that same time period, they have not decommissioned any major surface combatants, meaning they have added over 80 major surface combatant vessels to their inventory. In that same period, the US Navy has built 46 new major surface combatants. At the same time, the US Navy has decommissioned 49 major surface combatants, many of them with 10-15 years of service life remaining, meaning a net loss of three major surface combatants in this period.

While he doesn't make it clear how long that period of time is, it is accurate to say the US Navy is reducing its ship numbers and it is also accurate the PLAN hasn't decommissioned a major surface combatant in at least a decade.

According to the last published 5 year plan, the US Navy is expected to build 16 major surface combatants, and 18 LCS over that time. At the current build rate of Type022s, submarines, frigates, and destroyers; China could build almost 100 combatants over the next 5 years, which is almost three times as many combatants as the US.

For China, quantity has a quality all its own.