By Jack Detsch
A new report reveals China’s plans for 1,000,000 ton battle stations in the South China Sea.
China’s pursuit of construction projects to assert its claims to disputed territory in the South China Sea is intensifying. As Victor Robert Lee reported in The Diplomat last week, land reclamation and buildups have expanded from the Spratly Islands, where China is pursuing military installations, including radar towers, gun emplacements, port facilities, and airstrips, to the Paracel Islands, just 400 kilometers off of the Vietnamese coast. According to satellite imagery, Beijing is looking into major expansions of runway and airport facilities there.
Now, per a report from Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer in Popular Science released Monday, China will have a new tool to pursue their ambitions further into the oil-rich sea: 1,000,000 ton floating islands, mobile battle stations that can be converted for civilian and military use, allowing for resupplying forces in the region, aircraft landing, hangar storage, and providing a naval base for amphibious vehicles. The largest model of the vessel, proposed by Tangshan-based Jidang Development Group, would measure out at 900 meters in length by 120 meters in width, and around 300 meters by 90 meters for the smallest design. JDG’s models are built from semi-submersible hull components that can be attached to one another, making the battle stations potentially scalable to much greater sizes.
Read the full story at The Diplomat