For years we’ve watched the frenzied growth of the People’s Liberation Army (Navy). In a time-frame no one expected, the Chinese Navy has overtaken the mighty US Navy in number of ships – although not in their capability. But how long can this remarkable growth last? There will soon be financial/economic, demographic and maintenance issues that will slow down the growth. The worry, of course, is that China is aware of this, sees the current disarray in the West, and decides it is better to act now rather than later to achieve key objectives. An article about the slowing growth of the PLAN has just been published. It’s written by Captain (ret’d) Christopher P. Carlson, USN, entitled “China Maritime Report No. 10: PLAN Force Structure Projection Concept, A Methodology for Looking Down Range,” and published by the China Maritime Studies Institute.
Boring title, but interesting article. Available at https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=cmsi-maritime-reports
