Archive for the ‘China’ Category
China’s Navy Gets Its Act Together, and Gets Aggressive
Abe Denmark directs the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. This is his first post for Danger Room.
China’s decades-long military modernization effort is paying off. After assembling a revamped arsenal of new ships, subs, planes, and missiles, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is showing that they can use all those assets together, in an operation far from its shores. This display of improved military capabilities have occurred in conjunction with messages to the U.S. indicating a more aggressive approach from Beijing on China’s claims over disputed waters of the South China Seas. The United States must respond to this emerging challenge with a responsible approach that keeps tensions low while sending a clear message to Beijing that the U.S. will not accept China’s efforts to unilaterally control Southeast Asia’s maritime commons.
The South China Morning Post recently reported that destroyers, frigates, and auxiliary ships from the North Sea Fleet (based in Qingdao) passed through the Bashi Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan to conduct a major “confrontation exercise” in the South China Sea. A few days later, Sovremenny guided missile destroyers, frigates, and submarines from the East Sea Fleet (based in Ningbo) passed through Japan’s Miyako Strait without warning Tokyo and conducted anti-submarine warfare exercises in the Pacific waters southeast of Japan. There have also been reports of naval aviators from several bases in the Nanjing and Guangzhou military regions conducting long-range exercises that incorporated radar jamming, night flying, mid-air refueling, and simulated bombing runs in the South China Sea.
While provocative in their own right, these exercises are a sign that China’s Navy has taken a major step forward. The SCMP article quotes an unnamed Asian defense attaché: “We’ve never seen anything on this scale before – they are finally showing us they can put it all together.”
The implications of “putting it all together” are significant. The U.S. military’s ability to dominate the skies over any battlefield is not just due to its technological superiority, but its ability to incorporate capabilities together to support one another. Anti-submarine warfare and mid-air refueling are very difficult and complex operations to undertake, requiring good technology, effective command and control, and highly skilled operators. China’s ability to conduct these operations demonstrates a significantly increased prowess in complex military operations.
Continue Reading “China’s Navy Gets Its Act Together, and Gets Aggressive” »
Dogfighting over the Taiwan Strait
- By Nathan Hodge
- March 19, 2010 |
- 4:17 pm |
- Categories: China
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For national-security dorks who like to read the Defense Department’s 36(b) arms sale notifications, watching the back-and-forth over weapons sales to Taiwan is pure entertainment. It’s partly a question of political spin, but it’s also an interesting look at how the Pentagon sizes up the military balance between China and Taiwan.
Back in January, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a stark assessment of Taiwan’s air power: Without a serious upgrade, the report said, Taiwan’s air defenses would not be able to fight off an attack by China. The Pentagon report — which was sent to Congress in January, but only became public last month — noted the growing obsolescence of Taiwan’s fighter inventory, which includes F-5 Tigers, Mirage 2000-5s and some older F-16A/Bs. “Taiwan recognizes that it needs a sustainable replacement for obsolete and problematic airframes,” the unclassified version of the report said.
That came as welcome news to Taiwan, which has been lobbying to buy more advanced F-16s, the F-16C/D model, from the United States. (China, predictably, is opposed to the plan.)
But here’s the catch: The F-16 production line is eventually going to shut down as the United States and its allies switch to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Now members of Congress are now stepping up pressure on the administration to sell the aircraft, in part to keep a production line in Fort Worth, Texas, open.
Is China Winning the Global War on Terror?
- By Noah Shachtman
- December 30, 2009 |
- 9:37 am |
- Categories: China
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That’s the thought that ran through my head, as I read about China’s $3.4 billion copper-mining effort southeast of Kabul. It’s “by far the largest foreign investment project in war-torn Afghanistan,” according to the New York Times. And it’s hardly China’s only investment in an American battlefield. Earlier this month, a consortium led by China National Petroleum Company won an auction to develop Iraq’s Halfiya oil field, which is believed to hold 4.1 billion barrels of black gold.
“CNPC already has the rights to develop Rumaila, Iraq’s largest oilfield, alongside BP,” as the Times of London notes. “It is also helping to restore production at al-Ahdab field. Sinopec, another Chinese oil group, has a strong position in northern Iraq, after its $7.9 billion acquisition of the London-listed Addax Petroleum, which has been exploring for oil in the autonomous Kurdish region.”
At the end of the Cold War, there was a joke about the Germans and the Japanese emerging as the winners; its commercial rivals in America and Russia had spent themselves into the drink. Fortunately, the dot-com decade was kind to the U.S., and the darkly comic prophecy never materialized. So maybe my worries about China capitalizing on our trillion-dollar war campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan won’t come true, either.
[Photo: Gov.cn]
Is This China’s Anti-Satellite Laser Weapon Site?
- By Noah Shachtman
- November 3, 2009 |
- 6:46 pm |
- Categories: China
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A well-regarded website devoted to “open source military analysis” believes that the picture, above, is of a Chinese anti-satellite laser weapon. Space security experts aren’t so sure. And besides, they say, the lines between laser research lab, stargazing facility, range finder, and full-on weapon site are really, really blurry.
In recent years, China’s military has made no secret of its interest in developing space weapons. Back in 2006, China fired lasers at U.S. satellites, possibly blinding the spacecraft for a bit. The following year, Beijing used to a missile to destroy an old weather satellite in orbit. And just this week, the head of China’s air force pledged to militiarize space “in order to protect peace.”
“They certainly are on a fast track to improve their capabilities,” Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of U.S. Strategic Command, tells the Associated Press.
In a post today, the IMINT & Analysis blog asserted that these rectangular buildings in the Tian Shan mountain range of Xinjiang province could be hiding the next phase of the Chinese arsenal. The Tian Shan facility looks a lot like known Chinese laser research centers, the blog states. Plus, the “camouflaged buildings and robust security measures mark it as a military facility.” All which makes it likely that “some form of high-energy laser system is being deployed” — one that could “dazzle, blind, or destroy a satellite.”
Yousaf Butt, a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, examined the same images — and reached a different conclusion. “I see no evidence for any high-energy destructive laser ASAT [anti-satellite] facility in what the author has posted, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” he tells Danger Room.
Continue Reading “Is This China’s Anti-Satellite Laser Weapon Site?” »
China’s Unmanned, Knock-Off Air Force
- By Noah Shachtman
- October 15, 2009 |
- 8:13 am |
- Categories: China, Drones
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America’s robotic air force gets all the attention — especially with U.S. drones continuing to blast suspected militants in Pakistan. But China is developing its own fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. High-flying spy drones, unmanned attackers, and handheld mini-bots are in Beijing’s arsenal.
DefPro has a rundown of China’s UAV programs. Many of them appear to be knock-offs of U.S. drones. The Xianglong (“Sour Dragon”) is shaped like the American Global Hawk, and is supposed to fly almost as high: 60,000 feet. The Yilong looks awfully like one of those Predators the U.S. is now flying over Pakistan.
“China’s copycat tradition goes back to the 1960s,” Defense News notes. “Recovered U.S. AQM-34N Firebee drones lost over China and North Vietnam led to the production of the WZ-5 Chang Hong, which ironically may have seen service during China’s 1979 invasion of Vietnam.” Continue Reading “China’s Unmanned, Knock-Off Air Force” »
Picture This: China’s Miniskirted Militia
- By Nathan Hodge
- October 1, 2009 |
- 9:23 am |
- Categories: China, Military Life
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China’s official Xinhua news agency has a photo gallery from today’s big military parade, and it’s pretty sweet. In addition to this Austin Powers-inspired ensemble, you can also check out the latest in Chinese military hardware.
Today’s parade, which marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, featured more than 8,000 servicemen and women, nearly 500 tanks, missiles and other military vehicles and a flyover by Chinese warplanes.
Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, general director of the parade, told Xinhua the parade was supposed to showcase the transformation of the PLA from a low-tech, manpower-intensive force to a high-tech, 21st-century one. And nothing says futuristic! like white go-go boots.
[PHOTO: Xinhuanet]
Continue Reading “Picture This: China’s Miniskirted Militia” »
The Big ‘Made in China’ Military Parade
- By Nathan Hodge
- September 28, 2009 |
- 7:58 am |
- Categories: China, Drones, Miscellaneous
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Oct. 1 will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and Beijing is gearing up for a display of military might. Calum MacLeod, reporting for USA Today, offers a preview of the big parade.
This year’s event, he writes, will feature China’s home-grown military technology, including missiles, fighter jets and radar systems. And there’s more: 8,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army will lead the parade, followed by 180,000 marchers and 60 floats.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reports that 52 types of new weapon systems developed by China will be showcased at the parade, including an airborne early warning and control aircraft. PLA Lt. Gen. Fang Fenghui, the director general of the parade, told the agency that other hardware would include unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite communication gear.
“Fang did not identify the specific models of the weapon systems but said all of the weapons are tagged: ‘Made in China,’” the agency reported.
For a closer look at some of the rigorous military preparations for the big day, check out the China Digital Times
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