The Chinese Liaoning Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is still in the Philippine Sea as of Thursday, according to a Friday release by Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO). Meanwhile on Friday, the PLA Daily reported that the Shandong CSG has completed its deployment and returned to its homeport.
The JSO release gave the daily location and composition of the Liaoning CSG from Sept. 20 to Thursday, and stated that carrier CNS Liaoning (16) carried out 250 launches and recoveries of its fighter aircraft and 160 take-offs and landings of its helicopters during that period. The location is given as relative to distance from Okinotorishima, an atoll in the Philippine Sea that is administered by Japan located midway between Taiwan and Guam. The release also stated that Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Asahi (DD-119) shadowed the PLAN CSG. The details on the Liaoning CSG’s location and composition are as follows:
Date: Friday, Sept. 20
Position: 497 miles southwest of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyer: CNS Huainan (123)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 21
Position: 173 miles southwest of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyer: CNS Chengdu (120)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 22
Position: 173 miles southwest of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyers: CNS Urumqi (118) and Chengdu
Date: Monday, Sept. 23
Position: 254 miles southwest of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyers: Urumqi and Chengdu
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 24
Position: 254 miles west of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyer: Chengdu
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 25
Position: 434 miles west of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyers: Chengdu and Huainan
Fast Combat Support Ship: CNS Hulunhu (901)
Date: Thursday, Sept. 26
Position: 633 miles southwest of Okinotorishima
Carrier: Liaoning
Destroyers: Chengdu and Huainan
On Friday PLA Daily reported that the Shandong CSG had recently completed its combat training mission and had returned to a military port. The report did not state the date of the CSG’s return, the composition of the CSG and the port to which it returned, though carrier CNS Shandong (17) is homeported at Yulin Naval Base on Hainan Island. PLA Daily reported that Shandong carried out a variety of training that simulated combat conditions while deployed to the South China Sea, western Pacific and other waters.
Meanwhile, the PLAN and Russian Navy are carrying out the second phase of the Northern-Joint 2024 exercise. The first phase involved PLAN ships participating in the Russian Navy’s Ocean 2024 fleet drills held from Sept. 10-16, with the PLAN ships then docking into Vladivostok on Sept. 18 for a port visit. Subsequently, ships from both navies departed Vladivostok together on Sept. 21 to begin the exercise.
On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) issued a release stating that the joint Russian Navy Pacific Fleet–PLAN detachment trained in the Sea of Okhotsk to maneuver and organize ships in a movement order, performed air-defense tasks and secured and defended the detachment during anchorage in an unsafe zone. The release also stated that Ka-27 ship-borne helicopters and Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft of the Pacific Fleet Naval Aviation acted as the mock enemy aircraft.
As per the exercise plan, the joint detachment anchored off the coast of Russia’s Sakhalin Island, where the ships secured and defended the detachment on an unsafe zone and also performed anti-submarine tasks and repelled an attack of the mock enemy’s unmanned surface vehicle group, according to the release.
The release stated that the joint detachment was made up of Russian Navy destroyers RFS Admiral Panteleyev (548) and RFS Admiral Tributs (564) and corvettes RFS MPK-107 (332), RFS MPK-82 (375) and RFS Smerch (423) and PLAN cruiser CNS Wuxi (104), destroyer CNS Xining (117), frigate CNS Linyi (547) and fleet oiler CNS Taihu (889).
During the Chinese Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) monthly press conference on Thursday, spokesperson Snr. Col Zhang Xiaogang stated that after completing the exercise, the Chinese and Russian ships will proceed to the relevant waters in the Pacific to organize joint maritime patrols. He did not state when the training will be completed.
Meanwhile, the JSO issued several releases this week on the movements of Russian ships around Japan. On Tuesday, the JSO issued a release stating that on Sunday at 3 a.m., Russian Navy surveillance ship Kurily (208) was sighted sailing west in an area 43 miles northeast of Cape Soya on the main island of Hokkaido and subsequently sailed west through La Perouse Strait to enter the Sea of Japan. The release noted that Kurily sailed east through La Perouse Strait on Jul. 18 and also stated that fast attack craft JS Kumataka (PG-827) and a JMSDF P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) of Fleet Air Wing 2 based at JMSDF Hachinohe Air Base on the main island of Honshu monitored the Russian ship.
A Thursday release stated that on Wednesday at 11 a.m, Russian Navy destroyer RFS Marshal Shaposhnikov (543) and missile range instrumentation ship Marshal Krylov (331) were sighted sailing northeast in an area 211 miles southwest of Rebun Island, which lies 31 miles off the northwest tip of the main island of Hokkaido. Subsequently, on Thursday, the two Russian ships sailed east through La Perouse Strait. Fast-attack craft JS Wakataka (PG-825) and a JMSDF P-3C Orion MPA of Fleet Air Wing 2 shadowed the Russian ships, according to the release.
On Friday, the JSO issued a release stating that at 9 a.m. that day, Russian Navy corvette RFS Gremyashchiy (337) was sighted sailing west in an area 55 miles northeast of Cape Soya and then sailed west through La Perouse Strait. Kumataka (PG-827) and a JMSDF P-3C Orion MPA of Fleet Air Wing 2 shadowed the Russian corvette, according to the release.
