This isn't much more than a couple of good old boys on the weekend dynamite fishing after a few beers.

The Chinese military has had a number of claimed achievements in the past week or so, such as the hypersonic missile test which seems to have leapfrogged our expectations of their technological capabilities.

But you always have to be careful with Chinese military claims.  The term Paper Tiger leaps to mind.  No doubt they have a huge army and spend a lot on it.  But it is unclear what the actual capabilities are.  A few years ago, there was much concern expressed about China's aircraft carrier program.

They have rehabbed one old Soviet model aircraft carrier and have built a small new one of their own design and construction.

However, a point made by Western defense experts is that there is much more to an aircraft carrier program than building the ships.  They are effectively their own socio-economic-technological systems with recruiting/training/supplying/maintaining challenges for whomever is operating them.

And so it has seemed.  All the news accounts I have seen seem to indicate ongoing challenges keeping these two capital ships operational and out of harbor.  

But the Chinese are smart and committed competitors and we cannot assume that travails at the bottom of the experience J-curve will be indicative of future performance.

With this as context, I was somewhat alarmed to see the headline The Chinese military is thinking about how to stealthily destroy enemy ports and just set off a big explosion to see how it might work by Ryan Pickrell.  

The Chinese military is thinking about how to stealthily destroy a naval port to cripple an adversary's capabilities and hinder its ability to fight, a People's Liberation Army Navy officer explained to state media after a recent explosive test that was reportedly meant to simulate an attack on a port.

The Chinese military, through a PLA Naval Research Academy institute, recently detonated underwater explosives at an unidentified port.

Sensors set up at important structural points gathered data on the damage the port sustained. Chinese media said the data "will provide scientific support to attack hostile ports in a real war."

The test was the first of its kind for the Chinese military, according to CCTV, a state-run broadcaster which aired its report on the testing over the weekend. Chinese media did not say when the test was carried out, only noting that it happened recently.

Ruh roh.

Sounds ominous.  

 
Then I see the documentary video accompanying the news report from China.

Double click to enlarge.

Not to be disparaging but this isn't much more than a couple of good-old-boys on the weekend dynamite fishing after a few beers.  

Never underestimate your competitor.  I imagine that the Chinese will have learned something important in this exercise.  But never underestimate Leroy and Bubba.

And I am glad Leroy and Bubba are on our side.  

UPDATE:  From Oops! China's 'Stealth Ships' Aren’t So Stealthy After All: It turns out that China's Type-022 missile boats aren't resistant to radar detection. by Kyle Mizokami

The Houbei-class fast-attack boats, which bristle with anti-ship missiles, are easily seen in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that remote sensing companies use, according to naval authority H.I. Sutton, author of the Covert Shores blog. He has uncovered convincing evidence that the Type-022’s radar-evading design is a myth. This calls into serious question whether other forms of radar can detect the boats, too, and whether or not their stealthy lines are actually just for show.