China Arming Venezuelan Navy With Ship-to-Ship Missiles

Venezuela’s propaganda videos are showing off warships armed with new Chinese-made anti-ship missiles. The C-802A missile, supplied by Beijing to the Venezuelan Navy, is designed to take out surface ships at ranges of over 100 nautical miles. The sea-skimming missile is generally analogous to the Harpoon. This arms deal should greatly increase the reach and potency of President Nicolás Maduro’s navy.

The acquisition was revealed on Sept. 25 by the Venezuelan Navy (formally known as the Armada Bolivariana de Venezuela). Footage of one test firing is now being used in propaganda videos posted online, including by Maduro’s official Twitter account (in Spanish).

The video footage is not actually of a Venezuelan Navy ship. It is taken from a Royal Thai Navy test launch of the C-802A missile. That launch, from the Thai Navy’s frigate HTMS Kraburi, can be viewed on YouTube.

But this does not mean that China has not supplied the system. Misleading images are part and parcel of Venezuelan Navy propaganda. For example, the same video shows a Venezuelan Type-209 submarine, when in fact their boats have not been to sea in years. But the lack of images of it aboard a Venezuelan Navy ship does suggest that they have not yet equipped their own ships with the missile.

According to open sources, the missiles are likely to equip Venezuela’s Guaiquerí-class patrol boats. These are Spanish built Avante 2200 combatants and were delivered without anti-ship missiles. This makes sense because in June 2017 the Venezuelan Navy was taking steps to equip two unspecified offshore patrol vessels with the missile at the sum of $2.9 million. The Venezuelan Navy has three Guaiquerí class ships, so it is possible that one will be left without missiles.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s two remaining Italian built Lupo-class frigates are fitted for Otomat Mk 2 missiles, as are some missile boats. The Lupos are the most capable warships in the Venezuelan lineup, but are increasingly dated. The other modern warship, the Guaicamacuto-class patrol boats, are optimized for littoral operations and do not have a missile armament. It was one of these ships, Naiguatá (GC-23), which was lost on March 23, 2020. She was attempting to stop the ice-hardened cruise liner RCGS Resolute when the two ships collided. The warship lost the encounter and sank. RCGS Resolute suffered some scratches.

Venezuela’s armed forces have been hit hard by the country’s economic woes, and by international sanctions. They have, however, been able to source advanced weapons from Russia and now China. As well as the C-802A anti-ship missiles, China has been supplying small arms and general equipment. This acquisition is a reminder that despite their economic and internal challenges, they are still focusing on weapons to take on [defend from] external adversaries.

Source: Forbes

32 Comments
  1. thomas malthaus says
  2. Gerard says

    Not “international sanctions”, american sanctions.

  3. ke4ram says

    Let’s see,,, Venezuela elected a communist,,, they defy US government edicts,,, and unable to rob the masses, their wealthy millionaires/billionaires and US corporations are losing money. They are trying to go their own way and they are of no threat to the US. And for that, the indispensable democracy sanctions them for acts of being a sovereign nation.

    1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

      Are you completely ignorant of the economic sanctions that the American government has had against them since Hugo Chávez’s time?
      Then there are the three Venezuelan refineries that we commandeered in this country.

      1. Bill Jackson says

        Commandeered? Stole,,US,,the largest criminal element on the planet.

        1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

          How does one steal what one cannot carry away?

          1. Bill Jackson says

            Tell that rhetoric to native Americans. Nobody “carried away”” the land stolen from them.

            1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

              Native Americans never expressed an interest in owning the land they occupied.

  4. James Willy says

    Thank YOU China. Now please build a couple of bases in the country. Then wait for another gringo attack. Then you can FINALLY retaliate. Great news. CHINA IS GOING TO WIN!!!!!!!!!

  5. didactic1 says

    Trump will nuke Venezuela.

    1. voza0db says

      mininukes! But they need to wait for the WINDS not to be blowing in their direction!

      1. didactic1 says

        Good point. Dont want to ruin Trinidad or “our “heroes” on US Navy ships.

    2. Bonard Maciel says

      Não vai não.

      1. didactic1 says

        But it does. Tao.

    3. ke4ram says

      As stupid as it sounds,,, it wouldn’t surprise me!

      1. didactic1 says

        He wont damage oil facolities. Just slums and hospitals.

        1. Pablo says

          And Wedding receptions.

    4. Tom Turek says

      Dumb commen … No nukes allowed. Et has told us so, theyfly.com. Shown us by a Spacex rocket on a launch pad with a mysterious military sat on board getting zapped by a UFO. search. ”YouTube. SpaceX UFO Explosion – Slow Motion!” and search..” Larry King CNN. UFOs shut down missile silos in US, UK and Soviet Union”.

  6. Pablo says

    If the US War Machine wants to sell arms to Taiwan, China can sell Anti-Ship missiles to Venezuela. This is China’s answer to what the US War Machine is doing with Taiwan. China is saying “Two can play that Game.”

    1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

      Is everything a game to you?

      1. Pablo says

        Are you a complete idiot? WTF part of my comment has you confused?

        1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

          The fact that you think everything is tit for tat.

          1. Pablo says

            You’re a TROLL and too stupid for words. Of course China is retaliating. It happens all the time.

            1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

              You must be more Chinese than your screen name reflects.

            2. Pablo says

              I eat Sweet and Sour chicken every damn day.

            3. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

              Must get pretty boring.

  7. cechas vodobenikov says

    amerikans love their fascist corporate tyranny—where the median income is now $34,000 annually…Venezuela has reduced poverty by half in 20 years; their oligarchs now live in Miami; if only the primitive amerikans could possess universal health care and a real democracy like Venezuela

    1. Pablo says

      They hate us for our Freedoms.

      1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

        That is pretty easy when we appear to hate our freedoms just as much.

        1. Pablo says

          Listen you sleazy despicable KHAZARIAN TROLL. Deflection isn’t gonna work here. The issue is the murderous way the US War Machine brings “Freedom and Democracy” to the world. By bombing water purification plants, and wedding receptions–or anyplace that has a concentration of people. They even use white phosphorous like you Khazarians do.

          1. disqus_3BrONUAJno says

            Last time I checked, none of my half Welsh or quarter German genes were Khazarian, although there might be some remnants in the mongrel quarter.
            How is taking something for granted not the same functionally as hating it?
            Americans lack the knowledge of the foundations of their freedoms to be able to truly love them, so taking them for granted is the shameful position they have adopted, from which they are giving them up to domestic tyrants.
            The MICIMATT has never brought anything but death and destruction to the world by its pursuit of hegemonic profits. I have no bosses in that treasonous house. Your ad hominem is getting too thin to stand up by itself.

            1. Pablo says

              HaHaHaHa!!!!! You keep saying that. Is that what your script says! LOL. You obviously are a PAID TROLL. You guys always tip your hand by the volume of your responses and how quickly you respond with your False Narratives. Pathetic, really.

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