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For long time readers of this blog; the fact that most of China’s helicopters are powered by European / Canada engines should come as no surprise. China To Fit Attack Helo With European EngineBy wendell minnick and pierre tranPublished: 7 February 2010http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4489192&c=FEA&s=CVSSINGAPORE and PARIS – China is outfitting a new attack helicopter with a European engine
By Coatepeque

originally published at china-defense-mashup.com

Jan.11 (China Military News reporting by Johnathan Weng) – Beijing local time PM 9:00 Januray 11 on 2010, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that China has successfully finished a ground-Based midcourse missile interception test in the territory of China.

The ministry says that the test has reached the technological purpose and this behavior is purely defensive and not directed at any third country or bloc of countries.

According to some Chinese resources, the designation number of Chinese ground-based interception missile is HQ-19, which has been finished the trial test in 2003. Chinese Government has made the ballistic missile defense technology as the part of “863 National Advanced Defense Project”. The initiation of HQ-19 project is believed to start in 1995. HQ-19’s warhead is a 35-kg Kinetic Kill Vehicle (KKV). In 1999, HQ-19’s KKV successfully passed its first “hovering test” and it let China become the second country except U.S., which realizes the milestone in Kinetic killing vehicle development.

The HQ-19’s warhead is a light KKV with Three-axial Stabilization. The interceptor has 4 orbital maneuver propulsion thrusters and 6 attitude control thrusters, controlled by DACS (Digital Attitude Control System).

Besides, some Chinese people believe that the HQ-19 is a variant of KT series rocket.

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Chinese Missile Defense Test Witness:

Time: a few minutes to PM 8:00

Location: Jiuquan, Gansu Province (GPS Position: 39.646411,98.347893)

Witness Description: From the elevation of about 45 degrees in the north-west sky, I found a positive white circular Clumps about the size of dozens of moons. My first judge was the moon created a very personalized style halo. My colleagues and I immediately look for the moon, while preparing the camera and prepared to dial a news hotline.

But soon we discovered there is no moon on that position, while the white Clumps is rapidly expanding. In the tens of seconds of time, it quickly expanded to a half of the sky, and gradually fades. I suddenly think if it will be some nuclear explosions. Subsequently, the flashes appeared in the center of white Clumps. The flashes were not very strong, when it felt as if a mass of white fog.

My colleagues and I have guessed that it maybe a alien trip from another planet. But the flash and fog-like clumps have quickly dimmed. We do not have warned others, nor photograph the whole progress by the camera. We even didn’t have time to report to news media. This odd scene just lasted 2-3 minutes.

I analyzed that the whole process looks more like an explosion. But it is rather strange is that why there have no even the slightest sound before and after. Because here is a military zone, so I have heard the voices of a variety of artillery shells exploded. And it is is really puzzling that the strong shock wave in the sky did not bring any sounds. 

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One picture of this missile defense test, photoed by one Chinese people’s cellphone

Time: UTC+8 PM 7:45, Jan.11, 2010     Location: some place near the Urumqi City, the captial city of Xinjiang

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China Air and Naval Power

via The state of China/Russia military cooperation.

Today, I read this article by a Russian paper regarding the military cooperation between China and Russia. I think it really does a great job of explaining why there haven’t been a major deal recently and why it probably would not happen anytime soon. The important point is that this article didn’t dwell on the so called pirating efforts of China against Russian hardware, so it was able to explore some of the major reasons why nothing is going on. It clearly identifies IL-76 and S-400 as the 2 major items that China would most likely want from Russia at the current time and why they are not coming through.

With respect to the last paragraph, I think the idea of pirating will be a problem for a while, because the two sides really can’t agree on what constitute pirating. The copyright laws in the two countries are actually not the same. So even though they signed an agreement, I’m not sure it will work out as the Russians want.

The crisis in the Russian defence industry is hindering the
development of military-technical cooperation with the Middle Kingdom.

Military cooperation between Russia and China in the weapons business
sphere, it appears, is experiencing a severe crisis. This is shown by
the results of the visit to Russia by the Chinese government
delegation headed by Colonel General Guo Boxiong, deputy chairman of
the PRC’s Central Military Commission, that concluded last Friday [27
November].

General Guo Boxiong (on the left) rubbed shoulders with Dmitriy
Medvedev but apparently left Moscow empty handed.

The military leader from China came to discuss prospects for military-
technical cooperation (VTS) between the two countries. President
Vladimir Medvedev received Gou Boxiong. He noted that “a firm
partnership is developing between the two countries, and it is based
upon a coincidence of our basic interests.” The day before, in the
presence of Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov and Federal Service
for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) Director Mikhail Dmitriyev,
Russia’s leader met for a long time behind closed doors in Barvikha
with the Chinese guests. On 24 November the delegation from China was
at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in Astrakhan Oblast where new
developments in prospective armament models were demonstrated for it.
And the next day [25 November] the 14th session of the Russian-Chinese
Joint Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (SMK) was held in
Moscow under the chairmanship of Anatoliy Serdyukov. According to
Irina Kovalchuk, the defence minister’s press secretary, at the
session “the sides expressed satisfaction with the state of bilateral
military-technical cooperation.”

Nevertheless, it is striking that neither the Russian nor the Chinese
sides expected the present meeting to end in the signing of any sort
of documents about weapons purchases. Foreshadowing the SMK session,
Mikhail Dmitriyev stated that all areas of bilateral collaboration
“will be examined” at it: aircraft building, engines, ships, PVO [air
defence] systems, and armoured equipment. Although “the adoption of
any breakthrough decisions or the signing of any contracts is not
expected.” Why it is “not expected” is completely understandable.
Beijing already has bought everything that is possible in Moscow, and
it will produce the greater share of weapons by itself. And all of the
new types of weapons that the PRC needs are only at the development
stage in Russia, or else there are problems in producing them.

For example, the last “breakthrough contract” between Moscow and
Beijing was concluded as far back as 2005 in Sochi. At issue were
deliveries to the PRC by 2010 of 34 Il-76 military-transport airplanes
and four Il-78 refueling airplanes, at a total cost of more than one
billion dollars. But, as is well known, the Chkalov Tashkent Aircraft
Production Association (TAPOiCH, Uzbekistan), where the airplanes
mentioned are produced, defaulted and the contract was broken. As
sources in the FSVTS reported to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the question of
buying heavy military transport airplanes also was raised during the
present round of Russian- Chinese contracts, but Moscow was not able
to make the Chinese comrades happy in any way.

We would note that during the time of Guo Boxiong’s visit to the
Russian Federation President Medvedev visited Ulyanovsk. The media
paid attention to the dressing down that the president gave to the
military in that city in connection with the explosions at the Navy’s
No 31 Arsenal. Meanwhile, having arrived in Ulyanovsk Dmitriy Medvedev
immediately left the airport and headed first of all to the Aviatstar
SP [joint venture] aircraft-building plant, to which the production of
the Il-76 will be transferred from Tashkent. Together with others of
the aviation enterprise’s innovations, they also showed him the plans
for a new aircraft (Il-476) based on the Il-76 airplane, where the
newest aviation navigation and control systems are used and where in
addition to everything the configuration of the wing is changed.

On the same day in Ulyanovsk, in addition to a session of the State
Council for Nanoinnovation [Gossovet po nanonovatsiyam: According to
the Kremlin website, Medvedev participated in a session of the State
Committee for Questions of Innovative Development of Russia's
Transportation System in Ulyanovsk on 24 November], a session of the
board of directors of the Amalgamated Aircraft Manufacturing
Corporation (OAK) was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Premier
Sergey Ivanov to determine plans for Russian aviation. Notable among
these is a plan for “the programme for producing the Il-476 to be set
in motion at the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant: the airplane is expected to
be rolled out in 2010 and will be tested in 2011.” Thus it was
demonstrated to the PRC that Russia is developing modern aviation
technology, but the Chinese still will not see the new military
transport airplane very soon. Judging from present Russian experience,
testing the airplane will take a long time.

Besides this, the Russian Air Force is in great need of these
airplanes. The same thing could be said about other new Russian
defence industry developments. Let us say that on 24 November at the
Russian Air Force’s Kapustin Yar proving ground the Chinese admired
the S-400 surface-to-air missile (ZRS) system. But it was hinted to
them that they are unlikely to that soon either. In the first place,
the Russian armed forces will have to be equipped with it, and in the
second place – and perhaps this is the most essential point – the
shortcomings that the S-400 has must be eliminated. Air Force
Commander in Chief Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin unambiguously
hinted at this on 26 November. According to him, the tactical-
technical characteristics that are set for this surface-to-air missile
system “still have not been completely obtained”. Therefore, the
general says, together with the PVO Almaz-Antey concern it is still
necessary to carry out a great deal of work in order for “the
necessary results to be achieved”.

The Chinese were shown other new types of weapons, but Russia does not
want to sell them “simply for the sake of selling them”. From all
accounts, Moscow wants to establish gentlemen’s agreements with
Beijing in the area of military-technical cooperation in order to
avoid pirate copying of our technology. In this connection one can
recall the scandal fanned by the media about the fact that Moscow is
thinking about refusing to sell Beijing a major part of the SU-33
fighter out of fears that the Chinese will illegally copy this
airplane as they had done earlier with the Su-27. Vyacheslav Dzirkaln,
deputy director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military- Technical
Cooperation, thinks that the problem is a real one: “Last year we
signed an agreement on the protection of intellectual property, and I
hope that it will help us solve problems in disputes connected with
the illegal copying of our weapons.”

China’s Capacity for Cyberwarfare with the U.S. (Time Magazine): “Obama may want to bring up allegations that China is using proxies toinfiltrate U.S. computer networks. But Beijing won’t even acknowledge that aproblem exists”

US and China, locked in equal embrace | John Gittings: “

Obama’s trip comes at a time when the US needs China as much as China needs it – and neither nation can afford to let go

When President Obama arrives in Shanghai tomorrow he will be carrying the baggage of a relationship between communist China and capitalist America that dates back more than 60 years.

‘There is no such thing as America not intervening in China,’ Mao Zedong told a US diplomat in 1945 – and offered to fly to Washington to talk about the future with President Roosevelt. Mao’s proposal, made a year before the Chinese civil war in which the US backed Chiang Kai-shek’s rule, never reached Roosevelt. What might have happened if they had met is a fascinating counter-factual question of history.

After the communist victory in 1949, two decades of hostility ended with Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972 when China became a useful ally for Washington against the Soviet Union. Since then the relationship has fluctuated but has always been seen on the Chinese side as essential – less consistently so by the US.

What is different today, and what takes the Obama administration into new territory, is that it is at last a relationship of equals: the US now needs China as much as China needs the US.

The contrast with the last presidential state visit to China, by Bill Clinton in 1998, is striking. That event was more show than substance, carefully choreographed to give the president a much-needed boost after the Monica Lewinsky affair. Clinton urged the virtues of democracy upon President Jiang Zemin and offered to act as a go-between for him and the Dalai Lama. It looked good at the time but the Tibetan offer came predictably to nothing and six months later Jiang launched a crackdown on the Chinese democracy movement.

Within another six months, the US air force bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, provoking a wave of genuine anger across China. George Bush, in his presidential campaign, would label China as a potential strategic threat, not as a partner.

It was the shock of 9/11 that gave China a grim golden chance to make itself more useful to the US (and target its own Muslim dissidents in Xinjiang province) by signing up to the war on terror. Yet in spite of Chinese entry into the World Trade Organisation, Beijing knew that the relationship remained less than equal: in the wry expression of a senior Chinese diplomat ‘we think it is better to remain number two’.

Today’s relationship occupies a completely different world in which there is talk of a Sino-US G2, and even suggestions that China might become No 1. The past rhetoric of both sides – ‘empty cannons’ as Chairman Mao once called them – seems dated. China is not going to make too much fuss about continued US arms sales to Taiwan (when was that island last in the headlines?). Human rights in China – never a huge concern to Washington (only a month after the Beijing massacre in 1989, a secret US envoy was sent to Beijing to maintain relations) – will be mentioned for form’s sake by Obama. But the priorities identified by Obama earlier this week are the only ones that really matter: ‘climate change, economic recovery, nuclear non-proliferation’.

The US says it seeks a ‘comprehensive partnership’ with China in what Jon Huntsman, new US ambassador to Beijing, calls ‘the most important bilateral relationship in the world’. This is music to the ears of Chinese foreign policy advisers in Beijing who have often worried about the underlying ‘inequality’ in US-China relations.

The presidents whom they advised, Jiang and now Hu Jintao, can privately tell internal critics that their long-term strategic policy of putting the relationship with the US first has paid off.

More openly, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has warned the US military establishment that China should be regarded as a partner, not an adversary.

Does China perhaps have the upper hand in this relationship, as it measures another 8% growth in GDP against the limping US economy? Hardly so, if we consider the real implication of the familiar statistic that China now holds $800bn in US Treasury bonds.

Obama may ask Beijing to revalue the Renminbi; Hu may ask Washington to ‘focus on its own financial deficit’, but the Chinese surplus rides on the American debt as if on the back of the Old Man of the Sea: neither can let go of the other.

And China’s extensive growth over almost two decades is not only unhealthily dependent on foreign markets, but has been bought at the expense of a deteriorating environment and a worsening rich-poor divide.

US presidential visits to China have always had a showbiz element – ever since Richard Nixon stood on the Great Wall and declared that it was truly a great wall. We may expect a wave of Obama-fever in the Chinese media: every tabloid paper – and there are a lot of them now – will want to have Michelle on the front page. Yet the widely read Huanqiu Bao (Global Times) says that the Obama visit ‘won’t shake the world’ and that most Chinese people have ‘neither strong concerns nor high expectations’. In a more equal Sino-US partnership, fewer heads may actually turn for the presidential motorcade.