PAK-FA’s AESA radar

August 20, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

Steve Trimble has a video of the presentation of the PAK-FA’s AESA radar:

The modern Great Leaps Forward for China

August 15, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

Feng has a very interesting list of military systems that recently joined the Chinese navy or air force, and constitute significant improvements in the capabilities of the Chinese military:

I’ve ranked these systems based on their importance to China’s national security, their quantitative and qualitative value and their significance to China’s overall military aviation and naval industry. […] I’ve also omitted high profile projects like J-10B, Z-15, H-6K, the large transport, CAC UAV (the one that looks like global hawk), because they are only in early stage of development, although they have a couple of prototypes in certain cases. I have also omitted high profile space missions from my list like Project 921 (the manned space mission), Tian-Lian (data link satellite), YaoGan series (the EO satellites) and the moon mission, because it’s hard to determine how much military value they really have.

The list features the usual high-profile suspects (ASBMs, DF-31, Type 094 SSBN, KJ-200/2000 AWACS) but there are also items that don’t often get mentioned when one discusses new Chinese capabilities: The Chinese GPS-equivalent, Type 022 FACs, the immensely important EW variants of the Y-8, the Z-10 attack helo etc. Definitely a worthy read.

Tags: China

New H-6K/DH-10 photos

August 11, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

Ares has a report on new photos appearing on web forums depicting the H-6K missile bomber, armed with DH-10 cruise missiles.

One such photo:

Tags: China, SD-10, Tu-16

MiG-35 to be procured by the VVS

August 7, 2009 · Posted in Blogroll, Uncategorized · Comment

Ares reports that the VVS has pledged to procure both the Su-35S (no surprise) and the MiG-35S (surprise!) in the following years:

This is the first official confirmation of interest in the MiG-35, an updated version of the MiG-29 with extended range, increased combat payload and AESA radar. It boosts Russia’s chances in India’s 126-aircraft Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition. Two MiG-35 prototypes are to start customer evaluation trials for India in September. The first phase will take place in Russia, after which one aircraft will continue trials in India.

Upgraded versions of the classic MiG-29 so far haven’t shared the Flanker family’s phenomenal export success, so this may signal a turn of fortunes for the design bureau.

Tags: MiG-35, Russia

RAND: China has the upper hand in Taiwan

August 5, 2009 · Posted in Blogroll, Uncategorized · Comment

This is going to cause some ruckus…

Steve Trimble reports on a new RAND study that presents China as being far more capable of theater-level combat operations (and with regards to Taiwan in particular) than was the case just 10 years ago:

[…] the cross-strait military balance is shifting in ways that are problematic for Taiwan’s defense: The growing size and quality of China’s missile arsenal, along with other advances in Chinese military capabilities, call into question the United States’ and Taiwan’s ability to defend the island against a large-scale Chinese attack.

Blog/forum regulars are already punching holes through the report for inaccuracies, simplistic assumptions etc. but it is hard to deny the fact of growing Chinese abilities in the theater. Plus the RAND cachet will ensure that this report makes the rounds and gets attention regardless of validity; so worth a read in any case.

Tags: China, Taiwan

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