Photo of the day: Nuclear Submarine Base, North Sea Fleet, PLAN

Just your everyday staged People's Liberation Army Navy SSBN base visit.

 Just in case you want to know, that is a Type 092 Xia class SSBN.

Make out like a pundit

While the impact of a Chinese aircraft carrier is still subject to speculation, much remains unknown about its Roles and Capabilities. However, that does not prevent profiteering pundits (both in and out of China) from selling books and memorabilia to the public that stoke nationalist sentiment. If anything, they are the clear winners of China’s military buildup, and good for them.



Pundit Zhang Zhaozhong’s book signing is August 20th 2011 in Guangzhou Book Center 6th Floor, Shang Wen Hall.



“The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

Anti-riot....with comfort.

Polytech recently unveiled YLGA01 8x8 wheeled SWAT (Civilian Variant of the Type 07P) APC. Among its amenities are water cooler, central air and carpet -- can't let those pesky rioters cramp my style, man.

Photo of the day: J-10B rolling

Talk of the Day -- Taiwan develops new precision-guided missile

Talk of the Day -- Taiwan develops new precision-guided missile 2011/08/22 21:55:02 Major local newspapers cited a ruling Kuomintang legislator as reporting Monday that the military has budgeted NT$30 million (US$1.03 million) this year for the development a long-range precision-guided missile which would be able to hit military bases in coastal southeastern China in the event of war. A same amount would also be budgeted next year for the precision-guided missile development plan, code-named the Hsiangyang Project. Meanwhile, a media report said the ratio of defense spending to the government's overall budget has been on a steady decline, set to drop to a mere 15.96 percent in 2012. The following are excerpts from local media coverage of defense-related issues: United Daily News: The missile system to be developed under the Hsiangyang Project is not a ballistic missile, but a new long-distance precision-guided one, said Legislator Lin Yu-fang. The military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been developing the new missile for some time, but there were still few details available on the new weapon, Lin said. In the coming two years, he said, the Missile Command will design and build bases and safety systems for this new type of missile, scheduled to come online by 2013. According to Lin, the new missile, coupled with other indigenously developed weapons such as the Hsiungfeng 2E cruise missile, Hsiungfeng III supersonic anti-ship missile and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bomb, would be used as effective deterrents should China launch attacks on Taiwan. "In the event of war, our military would be able to use the new homemade missile to strike ballistic missile bases deployed along China's southeastern coast, without the need to send jet fighters near mainland targets," Lin said. (Aug. 22, 2011). Liberty Times: According to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the country's defense spending is projected at NT$309.6 billion for the coming year, accounting for 15.966 percent of total government expenditures. The figure was lower than 16.048 percent in 2011, 16.639 percent in 2010 and 17.224 percent in 2009. In contrast, China's defense budget has continued double-digit growth over the past two decades. In March this year, China said its military spending for this year would post 12.7 percent growth, totaling about 600 billion Chinese yuan. Most military observers said they believe China's hidden defense spending is probably much bigger than the revealed amount. (Aug. 22, 2011) (By Sofia Wu) enditem/ls

http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201108220033&Type=aTOD

Hand-launched ASN-15 UAV in action.

In addition to the aircraft carrier program, the Chinese UAV is also making a stir in the blogger sphere recently.   Here is a CCTV report on an ASN-15 UAV team in action serving as "eyes and ears" for a newly formed Type 99A MBT unit.

 

 

PLAN Gets Serious About Airborne Early Warning

Until recently, the idea of People's Liberation Army Navy air assets (PLANAF) making a serious contribution to coastal or fleet air defense was somewhat doubtful due to a complete deficit of airborne early warning radars (AEW). With the acquisition of three new systems PLANAF has rapidly and exponentially increased it's air defense potential.

In January of this year the first AEW systems were seen in PLANAF colors: Kamov Ka-31 AEW helos purchased from Russia. The Ka-31 (NATO: Helix) features a belly-mounted retractable radar array capable of tracking both air and sea targets. Negotiations for these aircraft were first reported in April 2006, delivery was announced by Rosoboronexport at the Zhuhai Airshow in November 2010. When first seen many observers predicted these aircraft would be a part of any future PLANAF carrier air wing, however, indigenous AEW developments bring this into question.

The day prior to the maiden cruise of the refurbished ex-Soviet carrier EX-VARYAG, a new AEW variant of the Changhe Z-8 helicopter was seen landing on the newly painted flight deck. The Z-8, itself a Chinese-produced variant of the Aerospatiale Sa-321j, has been the workhorse of PLANAF rotary-wing aviation for over two decades and has been produced in many sub-variants. The Z-8 AEW features a retractable radar array positioned below rear loading ramp door, once airborne the rotating array is lowered vertically and presumably can provide 360° coverage like the Ka-31. Photos of the prototype Z-8 AEW variant were first seen in October 2009, with the first seen in PLANAF colors in April 2011.


Now that two AEW helos have been identified in PLANAF service, it's not clear if the Ka-31s were purchased solely as a hedge against delays in the Z-8AEW program, or if they are intended to fly from destroyers or other ships smaller than EX-VARYAG perhaps in a surface warfare targeting role. What is certain is that both the mockup of the EX-VARYAG at Wuhan and the actual ship have only been seen with Z-8.

Today the first clear image was seen on the Chinese internet of a fixed wing AEW aircraft in PLANAF colors, the Y-8WH "High New 5" AEW. The Y-8W has been in PLAAF service for at least three years, and was featured in the 2009 PRC 60th Anniversary Military Parade. PLAN's new Y-8WH variant apparently uses the same KJ-200 "Balance Beam" radar as the Y-8W, presumably with some radios or other C2 avionics unique to PLAN. Although the serial number in the image is partially obliterated, enough remains to identify the aircraft as belonging to the PLANAF 1st Independent Regiment at Leiyang, a subordinate unit of PLAN's North Sea Fleet.


With these three new types PLANAF seems poised to fully exploit the fleet air defense potential of the EX-VARYAG and her expected complement of J-15 navalized Flankers, as well as provide a credible air defense capability beyond the reach of ground-based radar installations.

At this point, the only thing PLANAF "needs" is a carrier-based fixed wing AEW platform...wait...what's this? (Hint: not an E-2 Hawkeye)

Chinese military headline generator.

"Look out! China's got drones…..Forget about China's first aircraft carrier, the U.S. military has a whole new reason to be scared." wrote today's GlobalPost (Here)

After seeing yet another alarmist article by people with only a passing interest, I have been contemplating about writing a small computer program that can cut-and-paste keywords on the Chinese military development.

Forget about China’s anti-satellite test, China got anti ship ballistic missile.
Forget about China’s anti ship ballistic missile, China got J-20 stealth fighter.
Forget about China’s J-20 stealth fighter, China got an aircraft carrier
Forget about China’s drones, China got Tie-fighters.
Forget about China’s Tie-Fighters, China got Star Destroyers
Forget about China’s Star Destroyers, China got Death Star.

Poor J-20, you were media's darling only 6 months ago and now you are completely forgotten. What happened?