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China hopes the United States will take an objective, rational and just view towards China’s national defense policy and the development of its armed forces, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang in Beijing on Thursday. Qin’s comment came in response to a question on China’s attitude towards a U.S. military officer’s remarks on China’s military development. The Chairman of the U.S. Joint …
By english.people.com.cn

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Strained ties between the U.S. and Chinese militaries are holding back a more robust discussion of how to plan for a possible collapse of the North Korean regime, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said.
By businessweek.com

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SINGAPORE – China’s military is a roadblock to better overall relations between the United States and China, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
By news.therecord.com

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June.04 (China Military News cited from Xinhua) — The development of China’s national defense capabilities is not aimed at challenging, threatening or invading any other country, but to maintain its own security, a senior Chinese military official said here on Saturday.

Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army pointed out at the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asian Security Summit that some people still view China’s development with suspicion, worrying that China will seek expansion and hegemony when it becomes strong, as some western countries did.

Chinese Stealth Fighter’s Imagination Picture

“The development of China’s national defense capabilities is not aimed at challenging, threatening or invading any other country, but at, first and foremost, maintaining its own security, ” Ma said.

Ma noted that every country should combine its own interests of its own people with shared interests of people around the world, and its own national security with the common security with the international community.

Only common development can guarantee sustainable development for all, and only common security is truly sustainable security, which has been implemented by China in the practice of foreign strategy, Ma said.

“We believe maintaining security in the Asia-Pacific region serves China’s interest, and it is also China’s responsibility,” Ma said, adding that China has the responsibility to make greater contribution to regional peace and prosperity and it is willing to do so.

The 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asian Security Summit, the Shangri-La Dialogue, is held in Singapore from June 4-6. Delegations from 28 countries and regions, with more than 300 delegates including defense ministers, chiefs of defense staff, and other senior security policy-makers, attended the summit.

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By admin

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In testimony presented before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Jeff Hagen evaluates the balance between observed Chinese capabilities and U.S. forces in light of China’s continued modernization of its military.
By rand.org

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In testimony presented before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Roger Cliff reviews the capabilities of China’s air forces as part of understanding the nature of the military challenge China is presenting to the United States.
By rand.org

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The U.S. and its allies scored a long-sought victory Wednesday by pushing through new U.N. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, punishments Tehran dismissed as “annoying flies, like a used tissue.”
By news.yahoo.com

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Chinese Jet Gets Boost From Obama

One of the few concrete signs of cooperation to emerge from this week’s U.S.-China summit could boost Beijing’s drive to become a global aircraft maker.

President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to push for closer technical collaboration and eventual U.S. safety approval for China’s ARJ21 commuter jet. That amounts to both a symbolic and practical step to counter Beijing’s growing frustration with U.S. aviation policy and U.S. restrictions on the purchase of certain technologies.

The high-profile U.S. initiative is especially significant because China’s own safety regulators are still a year or more away from approving the 70-to-100-passenger aircraft being developed by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., or Comac.

But signaling Washington’s desire to provide technical support and regulatory certainty down the road also raises questions about both the overseas role and the independence of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which has taken more of an arm’s-length approach toward certifying the safety of China’s future airliners.

Over the years, the FAA has forged close ties with Chinese carriers and aviation regulators through a multitude of joint safety efforts, data sharing and training programs. Hundreds of Beijing officials, airline managers, pilots and controllers have visited their U.S. counterparts. Partly as a result, the country’s commercial-aviation accident rate—China has gone nearly five years without a major fatal crash—is by some measures better than that of the U.S.

But when it comes to regulatory approval, the FAA has tried to maintain greater distance. Before Mr. Obama’s announcement, for example, FAA representatives in China pulled back from helping Comac teams developing the ARJ21 because of concern that such assistance might be considered a conflict of interest when other parts of the agency gear up to determine whether the plane meets U.S. safety standards. Nearly half the plane’s parts come from the U.S. An FAA spokeswoman declined to comment on President Obama’s announcement or what it means for future FAA steps.

So far, Western interest in buying the ARJ21 has been limited. At the Zhuhai air show in southern China last year, Comac announced that its first overseas order had come from General Electric Co. GE, which is supplying the engines, agreed to buy five of the regional jets with an option for 20 more, in a deal that could amount to $750 million. But GE also said that it planned to lease all the planes inside China. FAA certification is critical if Beijing hopes to attract other foreign buyers, and some U.S. officials predict it could take as long as two years. Currently undergoing flight tests, the plane has taken about twice as long to develop as its backers initially projected.

In some ways, however, the current discussions may be more of a prelude to broader commercial and regulatory cooperation on a larger Comac-designed jet, the more than 160-seat C919. Slated for certification no earlier than 2016, that model would compete directly with the two leading global airliner suppliers, Boeing Co and Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. Though still in early design, Chinese officials have said the C919 should have operating costs 10% below those of comparable Western jetliners

Safety and business considerations aren’t the only reason for U.S.-Chinese friction over aerospace collaboration. Honeywell International Inc. has struck a tentative deal to provide avionics and terrain-avoidance warning systems to Chinese customers. But one glitch, according to Honeywell officials, is that Chinese authorities insist that the updated digital maps Honeywell sells outside China can’t include data about sensitive facilities and man-made obstacles throughout the country.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704204304574544043310821078.html

By polaris

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China has the resources and technology–some of it obtained quasi-legally and illegally–to build a fifth-generation fighter, say U.S. Air Force and intelligence officials. But Beijing’s aerospace industry may be missing key skills needed for it to match the performance of advanced, Western-built combat aircraft.

What neither Beijing nor the Western defense community yet knows is whether Chinese technicians can generate the systems engineering and integration capabilities required to actually build in large production numbers and arm advanced aircraft with features similar to those of the aging B-2 and F-22 or the newer but less stealthy F-35 (AW&ST Nov.16, p. 26).

“You need a combination of the right shape, structural design, surface coatings, aerodynamic performance and flight control system,” says a U.S. Air Force official. “It’s not magic, but there’s still a lot of art in it.”

It remains to be determined if the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (Plaaf) will pursue a fighter design optimized for low observability or how much it will be willing to trade in terms of performance, supportability and delivery schedule.

The requirement–dubbed J-XX by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence in 1997–may well seek a more “balanced” approach to stealth, likely focusing on front-quadrant radar-cross-section reduction and the use of reapplicable coatings, rather than pursuing an all-aspect design. A twin-engine delta-canard concept has previously been suggested to be the general design approach.

While China is unlikely to field a platform with F-22-like capabilities within 10 years–as claimed by the Plaaf’s deputy chief, Gen. He Weirong–a new fighter is in development and may soon make its first flight, say Chinese aerospace industry and U.S. intelligence officials.

The U.S. intelligence official, a veteran analyst of China’s airpower, summarizes his view of the nation’s access to advanced technologies. “Between legal, quasi-legal [diverted] and espionage-based tech transfer, I’m sure China has obtained most of the data available on how we build our stealthy aircraft structures and the materials involved,” he says. “They also have taken full advantage of our open patent system, our open engineering undergrad and grad schools, our publish-or-perish academic promotion process and the ease with which an integrated, centralized [government] can thwart artificial, social-democratic distinctions between military, police, civil and commercial data.”

Aging F-22 and B-2 designs are another factor. They have given Chinese researchers more than 20 years to chase down those technologies. The B-2 has already gone through its first service-life-extension program.

“[With] what they’ve gotten from us, Japan, [South Korea], Russia and the European Union, they have access to all they need data-wise,” the intelligence official says. “Their only limitations are investment cash and the ability to work out production process engineering and integration, which we still do better than anyone. [Those skills] really reflect corporate culture and learning curve more than anything readily documented, although ISO 9000/9001/9002 and similar software documentation standardization are making that easier to steal, too.”

China’s J-10 strike fighter, which has an F-16-like capability, is considered the country’s best indigenous effort so far in terms of engines, avionics and aerodynamic performance. It began large-scale service in 2006. China’s military aircraft are profiting from knowledge about commercial composite-structure production garnered from building components for Boeing airliners and space materials.

The original J-10 work drew heavily on the Israeli Lavi program–Tel Aviv has generally proved a valuable source of technology for Beijing–and has benefited from Russian support.

Beijing also has used the J-11B development of the Russian Su-27 Flanker as the platform to introduce indigenous avionics, fire-control radar, weapons and powerplant. Further iterations of the systems produced for the J-11B may be earmarked for the J-XX.

The J-11B is designed to carry the PL-12 medium-range active radar-guided missile, rather than the export model of the Russian R-77 (AA-12 Adder). The PL-12 development reflects the overall improvement in China’s national guided-weapons technology base, even if the program had significant Russian input.

“Right now, the only arms race China is really facing is with India, and [Beijing is] winning,” the intelligence official says.

While that contest has no direct impact on the U.S., at least some Pentagon planners believe it will accelerate China’s large-force, war-making capability, while the U.S. is focusing its spending and technology development on limited-war and insurgency-type conflicts.

“In my view, we’re wasting billions on slow- and low-flying MC-12s [surveillance aircraft], MQ-1/-9 [remotely piloted aircraft], C-27J [light transports] and less-than-world-class, lowest-common-denominator, design-to-price [F-35] JSF,” the intelligence official says.

A veteran combat pilot with insight into the F-22 program says building an advanced fighter, even if it did not match the F-22′s or F-35′s performance, could be a serious threat to the U.S. stealth fleet if the new aircraft are built in large enough numbers to overcome an allied force through sheer attrition.

“Those fourth-generation fighters, when pitted against 187 F22s in large numbers, will eventually wear [the stealth fighters] down,” says an aerospace industry official. “They only carry eight air-to-air missiles. They don’t have to match Raptor capabilities if they build an advanced fighter in F-35 numbers.”

It would not be considered an impossible technological leap for China to build an F-35-like fighter with some stealth capabilities in 10 years. “They could throw a lot of resources at it,” a senior U.S. Air Force official says. “But we’ve yet to see a real organic design from China. So far, they’ve leveraged Russian or Israeli technology. They don’t have a lot of radar engineering capability, nor experience in integrating a complete structure. That’s the big question.

“You can paste on some [signature-lowering] capabilities, but changing a very large target to a large target doesn’t buy you too much operational advantage,” the Air Force official says. “You need very small stealth-signature numbers.”

The F-22 had an all-aspect requirement of -40 dBsm., while the F-35 came in at -30 dBsm. with some gaps in coverage.

The idea that the J-10 will serve as a technological springboard is considered unlikely.

“I believe the Chinese have a difficult road if their design is tied to the J-10,” he says. “As you know, significantly reduced signature requires more then coatings. The J-10 has many features which may produce the desired aerodynamic effects but would be a negative for signature reduction. I am sure they can somewhat reduce the signature with a few design tweaks and coatings, but the operational relevance would be questionable.

“They can certainly refine their composite-structure competency, and basic [stealth] coatings are widely known and available,” the Air Force official says. “The milestone will be when we see more refined shaping.”

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/CHFIGHT112409.xml&headline=China%20Promises%20New,%20Advanced%20Fighter

By polaris

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The Chinese Air Force has announced that it has a F-22 type aircraft ready to make its first flight within a year. The Chinese believe this aircraft will enter service within ten years. U.S. intelligence believes the Chinese are nowhere near this kind of capability. But given the quantity and quality of data Chinese hackers have been stealing in the past five years, it’s possible that they have much of the American technology that makes the F-22 and F-35 possible. Some believe that the Chinese also have a F-35 type design in the works as well.

American intel analysts believe that Chinese aviation technology (both design and manufacturing) is not yet capable of producing F-22/F-35 class aircraft. Given the experience with the first two Chinese designed and manufactured jet fighters (J-10 and JF-17), there is much doubt that China is capable of making the leap to F-22 class fighters. The big bottleneck is jet engine technology.

For two decades now, China has been developing the manufacturing technology for aircraft engines, the key component of any high performance aircraft. So far, China has been unable to create the manufacturing technology and personnel skills that are needed to make the engines for their most advanced jet fighters. For example, China is a major customer for Russian RD93 engines (originally designed for the MiG-29), and has bought over a thousand of them. The RD93 engines currently cost about $2.5 million each.

China has been developing a similar (apparently identical) engine to the RD93, the WS-13. Actually, this effort is being aided by Russia, which is selling China technology needed for the manufacture of key engine components. Russia isn’t happy about this, because they don’t want competition in the low cost jet engine market. Then again, China has a history of stealing technology it cannot buy, so the Russians are making the best of a bad situation. China says the WS-13 is nearly ready for service. Maybe, maybe not. Recently, China ordered another hundred RD93s. Building high performance military jet engines is difficult, and China has had problems mastering this kind of stuff. Not that they will not eventually acquire the skills, but until they do, they need the Russian made RD93s. Officially, more RD93 are being bought because China cannot produce enough of their WS-13s.

Chinese engineers also thought they had managed to master the manufacturing techniques needed to make a Chinese copy of the Russian AL31F engine. This Chinese copy, the WS10A, was meant for the Chinese J-10 fighter, which entered service two years ago. But the Chinese Air Force was not satisfied with the reliability or performance of the WS10A, and have ordered another hundred AL31Fs from Russia, in order to continue building J-10s. Meanwhile, Russian efforts to build an improved AL31 for their own F-22 competitor, have run into serious problems. Will the Chinese suddenly do better than their tutors?

The J-10 is the first modern jet fighter designed and built in China. The aircraft is an attempt to create a modern fighter-bomber that could compete with foreign designs. The experiment was not completely successful. Work on the J-10 began over twenty years ago, in an attempt to develop an aircraft that could compete with the Russian MiG-29s and Su-27s, and the American F-16. But the first prototype did not fly until 1998. There were problems, and it wasn’t until 2000 that the basic design flaws were fixed. By 2002, nine prototypes had been built, and flight testing was going forward to find, and fix, hundreds of smaller problems. It was a great learning experience for Chinese engineers, but it was becoming apparent that the J-10 was not going to be competitive with the Su-27s/30s China was buying from Russia. The J-10 looks something like the American F-16, and weighs about the same (19 tons). Like the F-16, and unlike the Su-27, the J-10 has only one engine.

The 13 ton JF-17, which uses the RD93, is meant to be a low cost alternative to the American F-16. It was developed in cooperation with Pakistan. The JF-17 is considered the equal to earlier versions of the F-16, but only 80 percent as effective as more recent F-16 models. The JF-17 design is based on a cancelled Russian project, the MiG-33. Most of the JF-17 electronics (in the Pakistani version) are Western, with Italian firms being major suppliers. The JF-17 can carry 3.6 tons of weapons and use radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It has max speed of nearly 2,000 kilometers an hour, an operating range of 1,300 kilometers and a max altitude of 55,000 feet. China has not yet decided on whether it will use the FC-1/JF-17 itself. This is apparently because China believes its own J-10 (another local design) and J-11 (a license built Russian Su-27) are adequate for their needs. The J-10, like the JF-17, did not work out as well as was hoped.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20091117.aspx

By polaris

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May.25 (China Military News cited from Reuters) —  The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said Tuesday that military ties with China are lagging behind the two countries’ other dealings in maturity and sophistication.

Admiral Robert Willard told People’s Liberation Army deputy chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, that it was regretful that military ties were so far behind the “other very mature engagements that occur between our two countries.”

Willard made the comment during the first high-level military talks between the sides since Beijing suspended military exchanges earlier this year in anger over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its own territory.

PLA Navy’s Ka-27 Helicopter imported from Russia

Ma voiced his own frustration, saying Chinese plans for military exchanges with the United States in 2010 had been “seriously disrupted” by the Obama administration’s announcement in January. Washington said Jan. 30 that it would go ahead with a sale of $6.4 billion in military hardware to Taiwan — including helicopters, missiles and other weapons.

Willard is in Beijing as part of a second round of strategic talks, termed the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, that began last year in Washington. The gathering brings together dozens of Cabinet officials from both sides, the chiefs of both central banks and military officers.

“It has been a great pleasure to attend the Strategic Economic Dialogue. I’ve been struck by the maturity and sophistication in the level of exchange between the United States in China in a wide variety of areas,” Willard told Ma. “Regretfully, the military to military relationship, we think, lags far behind these other very mature engagements that occur between our two countries.”

Reporters were ushered out of the room shortly after Willard’s comments and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing was not immediately able to confirm what else was discussed.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing continues to claim the island as part of its territory and has threatened to invade if Taiwan moves to make its de facto independence permanent.

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The U.S. and China blamed each other for a freeze in military ties sparked this year by American plans to sell arms to Taiwan, highlighting a divide thats hampering efforts to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula.
By businessweek.com

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China successfully launched the 4th Beidou navigational satellite into the pre-designated orbit with the “Long March 3C” carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, symbolizing that China has made another important step forward in building the Beidou satellite navigational system.

According to introduction, the building of China’s Beidou satellite navigational system is being steadily pushed forward in accordance with the “three-step” development strategy.

The first step is basically realized. China launched 3 Beidou experimental navigation satellites from 2000 to 2003, established a sound Beidou experimental navigation system and thus became the third country possessing an independent satellite navigation system following the U.S. and Russia.

In the second step, the Beidou satellite navigational system will possess the capacity to provide position, navigation, time and short message communication service in the Asia-Pacific region by 2012. So far, China has successfully launched 3 Beidou navigational satellites and got into the stage of building a network for frequent satellite launches.

In the third step, the Beidou satellite navigational system consisting of 5 geostationary satellites and 30 non-geostationary satellites which covers the whole globe will be established around 2020.

http://www.defpro.com/news/details/15720/

By polaris

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SINGAPORE (AP) China’s military is a roadblock to better overall relations between the United States and China, U.S….
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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had hoped to visit China to discuss cooperation between the U.S. and Chinese militaries
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Our financial columnist on the financial crisis, the China connection and more Liz Peek | 05/28/2010 1:10 pm Actually, baseball cards caused the financial crisis. Or maybe Beanie Babies remember them? Heres why: Many observers blame the near-collapse of the global banking system on the lack of savings in the U.S. and commensurate build-up of reserves elsewhere mainly in China. Because of …
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Meanwhile, the U.S. reports no progress in persuading China to support a U.N. reaction to the ship sinking.
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Suicidal states are threatening to blow up the world economy. What if China gets mad at the U.S. the way Germany is at Greece?
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May 25 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Japanese counterpart agreed to work together to watch movements by Chinas navy after recent military exercises raised concerns.
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A senior Chinese military official said Tuesday that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan remain the biggest obstacle to China-U.S. military ties.
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