A talk was given at China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University on Dec. 9. The speaker was reported to be Li Zhonghua who is said to have participated in Exercise Falcon Strike 2015 in Thailand. One of the slides showed the score during each day of the exercise and during the first day, the Thais flying the Gripen were beaten 16-0.
China's latest J-20 stealth fighter has been officially commissioned into military service, according to Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday.
During a 1-7 June technology innovation exhibition in Beijing, an official from the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) told the People's Daily newspaper that China required "more than 1,000" Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) Y-20 heavy strategic transport aircraft and that the country also plans to build transport aircraft comparable in size to that of the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
"More than 1,000 Y-20s will be needed," Zhu Qian, head of AVIC's Large Aircraft Development Office, told reporters, referring to the 200-tonne, 50- to 60-tonne cargo capacity, four turbofan-powered transport aircraft that first flew in January 2013.
While Zhu stated that this estimate "was based on the experience of the United States and Russia", he did not provide any further details. In 2014 the People's Liberation Army (PLA) National Defence University issued a report stating that China might require up to 400 Y-20 transport aircraft.
Beijing’s stealthy Chengdu J-20 fifth-generation combat aircraft, pictured above in an artist’s rendering, may have entered low rate initial production according to state-owned Chinese media.
Xinhua — Beijing’s official news agency — published photos of the newest J-20 aircraft, which is still coated in primer paint, earlier this week. An editorial accompanying the photos suggests that the new stealth warplane has entered initial production.
Xinhua noted that the serial number is an indication of that fact, having changed from the 20XX designation of earlier iterations to 2101. But the news agency is careful not to definitively state the stealthy warplane has entered full production.
A possible new electronic warfare (EW) variant of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) J-16 twin-seat strike fighter made its first flight on 18 December, according to Chinese sources, potentially adding a significant offensive capability to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Images of the new variant have emerged on several Chinese military web pages, including a 21 December 2015 video report on the popular Ifeng web page. The most salient modifications are two new wingtip pods similar to the Northrop Grumman AN/ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming Receiver, leading to comparisons with the E/A-18G Growler electronic attack variant of Boeing's Super Hornet.
This possible J-16 EW prototype appears to lack the usual fuselage-mounted gun and the infrared search and tracking system (IRST) also appears to be missing, but the J-16, which resembles the Russian Sukhoi Su-30, would have up to 10 wing and fuselage hardpoints for ordnance and active jamming pods.
The announcement on 19 November that China would buy 24 Sukhoi Su-35 combat aircraft is being viewed as a clear signal that Beijing is still dependent on Russian-made hardware for its primary defence requirements.
The contract came after years of negotiations - and only after interventions by what has been described as "the highest levels within the Kremlin".
Russia will implement the contract for delivery of 24 Su-35 fighters to China in three years, TASS reports with reference to a source close to the military-technical cooperation system.
“All the contract liabilities of the Russian part will be fulfilled in three years,” the source said answering the corresponding question. The first Su-35 fighters will be delivered to China in 2016, the source noted.
The first batch of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets will be supplied to China in 2016, a source in the system of military and technical cooperation told TASS on Friday.
"The first fighter jets will arrive for China in 2016," the source said.
It was reported on Thursday that Russia had signed a contract on the delivery of 24 Su-35 fighter jets to China. The deal is estimated at no less than $2 billion and also envisages the delivery of ground support equipment and reserve aircraft engines.
On September 10, People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) spokesman Shen Jinke stated that some PLAAF systems displayed to the public during the “9-3” military parade, including the H-6K bomber, the KJ-500 airborne early warning and control plane, and the H-9 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system testified to the quickening pace of China’s drive to transform the PLAAF into a “strategic service” (战略性军种) (Liberation Daily, September 10). Once dismissed by many outside observers, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has undergone an impressive transformation over the past two decades, emerging as one of the world’s premier air forces. As it continues to modernize, it is focused on becoming a “strategic air force” (战略空军). PLAAF strategists suggest this means the air force should play a decisive role in protecting Chinese national interests, field modern capabilities commensurate with China’s standing as a major power and enjoy the institutional status befitting its role as a “strategic service,” an important consideration given the historical dominance of ground forces in China’s military.
China has completed a 10,000 foot runway on a reclaimed island in the South China Sea, according to a new round of satellite photos released Friday.
The completed runway on Fiery Cross Reef could soon be operational and accelerate additional construction on the reclaimed island, according to a Friday report in Jane’s Defence Weekly.
The island in the Spratly chain is in a central location in the South China Sea about 400 miles from Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines and a likely key component of the China’s South China Sea strategy.
Russia and China’s pursuit of modern, long-range bombers is essentially an endorsement of the US Long-Range Strike Bomber, and not the start of some Cold War-era bomber race. That’s the view of retired US Air Force Lt Gen David Deptula, now dean of the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute.
In an interview with reporters this week ahead of his “Beyond the Bomber” report launch in September, Deptula said LRS-B should be viewed as a national asset and budget priority, because the air force’s “capable but eroding” inventory of nuclear-capable bombers is aging out.
“I wouldn’t characterise it as a bomber race, but their interest in those kinds of capabilities underlies the significance and value of that kind of a capability for nations who want to compete with us as a superpower,” he says. “By virtue of the fact they’re trying to procure those aircraft, they make my point.”
China needs to develop a long-range strategic bomber to strike adversaries farther away from its coast in the event of conflict, state media reported Tuesday, quoting defense experts.
Beijing has been steadily beefing up its military through years of double-digit increases in defense spending, rapidly expanding its naval power, commissioning its first aircraft carrier and adding to its submarine and surface fleets.
But the government-run China Daily newspaper said in a full-page article that a recent military meeting had deemed the country's air force a "strategic force," citing the latest issues of Kanwa Defense Review, a Canada-based defense and weapons technology publication.
The title had previously been reserved for the military's Second Artillery Corps, which the paper described as China's "de facto strategic missile force."
The meeting agreed that a long-range strategic bomber would enable the air force to attack farther out into the Pacific Ocean, the paper quoted Kanwa Defense Review as reporting, as far as the "second island chain." Chinese strategists conceive of the "first island chain" as the arc stretching from Japan to Taiwan, which includes numerous US military bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
The second chain refers to islands farther east in the Pacific, including the Marianas, the Carolines, and the US territory of Guam with its Andersen Air Force Base. A third "island chain" encompassing Hawaii is also sometimes mentioned.
China's increased military posture has come as Beijing asserts its territorial claims in the East and South China Seas, where it has disputes with several Asian neighbours including Japan and the Philippines. Its moves have raised tensions with the United States, still the region's top military power.
A capacity to strike the second island chain would hinder foreign militaries from intervening in "an emergency or conflict," the China Daily said, citing the report.
The J-20 combat aircraft, a new generation of combat aircraft, is currently engaged in intensive trial flights. According to photos circulating online, a newly designed J-20 coded 2013 carried out a series of low altitude maneuvers that demonstrated its relatively advanced performance.
Concerning the question of when the aircraft will be on active service, military expert Song Xinzhi said in a Beijing Television broadcast that J-20 is still using an prototype engine and it would be optimistic to expect it to come into service within one or two years.
From the photo we can clearly see features of the nose including the radome layout, the cockpit, and the canards.
An online report from Russia indicated that the maiden flight of the first prototype was made in January 2011, that China has already tested the sixth prototype of J-20, and that the J-20 at its initial stage is already an aircraft carrier killer.
According to the report, it takes five to six years for a new fighter to enter service. Therefore, it is very likely that this fighter will be equipped with a full set of avionics and arms in 2017.
Could the J-20 be operational within two years? Song Xinzhi points out that J-20 is still using a prototype engine which can only meet the demands of trial flights. A better engine is needed to unleash its full performance potential.
China's aviation industry is working on the development of aircraft with short takeoff and vertical landing capabilities needed for an important role in the Chinese navy's future operations, military experts said.
"Research and development on components of STOVL aircraft, such as the engine, have started," Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told China Daily.
"The aircraft's principles are not new. They have been known for more than 40 years, so our aircraft designers should be able to develop the plane on their own," Wang said.
In late March, the Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft maker, announced on its website that two of its subsidiaries - AVIC Chengdu Engine Group and China Aviation Engine Establishment - have signed a cooperation agreement on the development of the STOVL aircraft's engine. The statement said the STOVL aircraft project aims to strengthen the People's Liberation Army navy's amphibious combat capability and address the absence of such a weapon in the PLA's arsenal.
Compared with conventional fixed-wing aircraft, a STOVL plane can be readied for action in a shorter period of time and occupies less space in a hangar bay or on the deck of a ship. These features have made it a popular choice for naval powers since late 1960s, when Britain's subsonic Hawker Siddeley Harrier became the first STOVL aircraft to be put in service.
Almost all STOVL aircraft in active service are based on the Harrier design, and they form the backbone of the naval forces of India and Spain.
This move is not the first time China has aimed to build a STOVL aircraft. In the late 1960s, the PLA asked the aircraft institutes to develop a fixed-wing plane capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The project was later abandoned due to technical difficulties.
The PLA also tried to buy the Hawker Siddeley Harrier in the late 1970s, but dropped the attempt because of cost, according to Western military observers.
This time, AVIC appears to have made the right decision at the right time as the PLA navy now needs a STOVL aircraft because it will "significantly supplement and improve its amphibious capabilities", Wang said.
"Though the PLA navy now has an aircraft carrier - the CNS Liaoning - it still lacks the experience of developing and manufacturing such a sophisticated naval platform, so there won't be more carriers in the short term," Wang said. "Let's assume that a conflict breaks out between China and another nation in the near future; the PLA navy's limited number of carrier-borne fighter jets, the J-15s, would have to engage in long-distance strikes as well as air defense for the carrier battle group, and they would have to be divided into small groups to perform these tasks simultaneously."
If China had STOVL aircraft, they could be deployed on the CNS Liaoning and other ships to defend against incoming enemy aircraft, relieving the burden on the J-15s, which could then focus on long-range operations, Wang said.
"Actually, in the foreseeable future, I don't see a high probability of China's involvement in a war far from its shores. Being dragged into limited amphibious conflicts in or near our territorial waters would be more likely. The STOVL aircraft will be the best choice for air support in such conflicts," Wang said, noting that it would be a perfect match for China's future amphibious assault ships.
The Pentagon thinks China will prioritise development of stealthy unmanned aircraft for air-to-ground combat along with its pursuit of fifth-generation fighter aircraft like the J-20 and J-31 to rival the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
According to a report by the US Defense Department on military developments in China, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force views stealth technology as “integral to unmanned aircraft”, particularly for striking well-defended ground targets.
“Some estimates indicate China plans to produce upwards of 41,800 land- and sea-based unmanned systems, worth about $10.5 billion, between 2014 and 2023,” the report says. “In 2013, China unveiled details of four UAVs under development—the Xianglong, Yilong, Sky Saber, and Lijian—the last three of which are designed to carry precision-strike capable weapons.”
China’s first stealthy UAV, the Lijian, conducted its maiden test flight November 2013.
In November and December 2014 two additional prototypes of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation's (CAC) J-20 fifth-generation fighter emerged, advancing its development towards a possible initial operational capability (IOC) of 2017-18.
The J-20 programme currently features six known prototypes. Two are early technology development articles (serial numbers 2001 and 2002) that emerged in 2009 and 2010, while four are modified versions closer to operational prototypes (serial numbers 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015) that all emerged in 2014.
No prototype numbered 2014 has yet to appear and may not, given the traditional Chinese view that four is an unlucky number.
