Article and Pictures by Rob Nispeling

January 2015 brought China’s PLA Navy, or Chinese Navy as they have started calling themselves, to European waters. After having spent several months in the Gulf of Aden, the 18th Escort Task Group of the Chinese Navy made courtesy visits to the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and France. The Chinese Navy’s presence to support counter-piracy operations has brought them into a military co-operation with countries they usually don’t work with, such as the U.S., U.K. or The Netherlands.

From Salalah in Oman, the three ships, led by the landing platform dock (LPD) Chang Bai Shan, together with frigate Yun Cheng and the replenishment ship Chaohu, sailed to Portsmouth for a five day visit to their Royal Navy counterparts. After this first visit, they continued on to Kiel in Germany and then on to Rotterdam. Followers of naval exercises and ‘interceptions’ have been keeping track of Russian movements in the English Channel and North sea for months, but this Chinese flotilla was in fact the first visit of Chinese naval vessels to The Netherlands. The duty watch ship Zr. Ms. ‘Groningen’ welcomed the Chinese delegation on their way back from Kiel on the North sea.

As the ships entered the Port of Rotterdam, the attention of airplane enthusiasts shifted towards the embarked helicopters of the 26th Air Regiment of the Chinese Navy. The two main operating types for ship deployment are the Z-8 (based upon the French Super Frelon) and the Z-9 (a locally assembled AS565 Panther). While the Chang Bai Shan LPD was said to be able to contain up to 6 Z-8 helicopters in the hangar, the two that were spotted in Portsmouth were in fact the only two on board. The frigate Yun Cheng carried a single Z-9 helicopter when entering the harbour.

From mooring on Monday 26th January at the Wilhelminakade, close to the city center, the helicopters were photographed whenever they were outside, however the Z-9 was a little shy. The ships attracted a lot of attention from Dutch citizens of Chinese origin and on Wednesday 28th January, the vessels were open to the general public, allowing for some photography on deck, mostly in abysmal winter weather..
 

As mentioned, the Z-8 is based upon the development of the French Super Frelon helicopter. An early series of 17 Super Frelons were bought in the late seventies and licence production was taken up by Change Aircraft, producing both Army and Navy versions. The Z-8J versions as embarked upon the LPD had construction numbers Z8J-002 and Z8J-006, making them part of the second navy series, produced from 2002. Z8J-002 carries code ‘9517’, with the first ‘9’ representing the fact that the aircraft is part of the 9th Naval Aviation Division. The other Z-8J carries the code ‘9557’.
Harbin Aircraft locally produces the Z-9 helicopter, based upon the French AS565 Panther, itself based upon the well-known civil Dauphin series. The current series for Chinese Naval Aviation is the Z-9C, the variant embarked upon the frigate Yun Cheng. This Z-9 carried the construction number Z9-0280 with code ‘9317’. Several Z-9C’s that have been in use with the anti-piracy mission have been converted to the (unofficial) Z-9CG standard, which allows for a gun-pod to be carried on the starboard side and a rocket launcher on the port side. The attachment point for the 12.7mm PC-1A gun pod could clearly be seen on ‘9317’ although the pod itself was not carried.

The Task Group left Port of Rotterdam on Friday 30th January to Toulon in France. Obviously a Chinese military presence is a welcome addition to keep the world’s trade lanes free from piracy, but in the world of geopolitics the growing size and worldwide presence of the PRC fleet is a concern to some, for most of us it was an interesting visit allowing for pictures of ships and helicopters almost never seen In Europe.