ASIAN DEFENCE

In the year 2013 many of China's new military aviation projects appeared, so it was very exciting for all the   followers  of the PLAAF . Although there weren't as many news coming out this year about J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters, many other projects really came out and took center stage. Y-20 - Although we started see pictures of Y-20 performing low speed taxiing late last year, it did not make it's maiden flight until late January of this year. The second Y-20 prototype made its maiden flight very recently. It looks like this program is progressing well so far. PLAAF is desperate for something like Y-20 to not only do the role of strategic transport but also as the platform for next generation AWACS (and other C4ISR roles), large aerial tanker and airborne laser platform. It has been forced to purchase a number of refurbished IL-76s from Russia in the past couple of years as a stop gap until Y-20 comes into service in 3 to 5 years. I think there is a chance that they...

The J-10B fighter jet — the upgrade version of China's J-10A fighter — recently entered service with the People's Liberation Army Air Force(PLAAF), while its designer Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is already working on the more advanced version J-10C. Equipped with an active electronically scanned array radar, the J-10B has the capability to take out Japan's F-15J fighters if an aerial confrontation were to occur over the disputed Diaoyutai islands (called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China) in the East China Sea. The fighter is also built with radar absorbent material and better diverterless supersonic inlet(DSI), while its stealth capability has also been increased compared to its predecessor, the J-10A. J-10B Fighter Jet China is the only nation in the world which has the ability to build its own diverterless supersonic inlet(DSI) other than the United States of America, the report said. With this technology, the J-10B is believed to be the best 4.5 gener...

The J-20 and J-31, China's first two stealth fighter Designs, are still in the developmental stages, however secrets regarding the nation's other two fifth generation fighters, the J-23 and J-25, have been revealed on Chinese military websites(Chinese Internet). The J-23 fighter, designed by the Shenyang Aviation Corporation, is no longer an aircraft based on Russian technology, the report said. Shenyang Aviation Corporation has instead chosen to model the J-23 based on the F-22 Raptor of the United States Air Force as it will provide the People's Liberation Army Air Force or Navy Air Force a better chance to combat American fighters in a potential or a future conflict with America(USA). According to the leaked news report, the J-23 has a longer fuselage and two v-shape vertical tails which look very similar to the ones used by the F-22 Raptor. If China is able to introduce a 117-S thrust vector control engine from Russia or develop it by itself, the maneuverability o...

 China Conducts First Successful Test Flight OF Z-20 Helicopter.Z-20 is a new general purpose transport helicopter in 10+ ton  class developed for the People Liberation Army. It was speculated to be based on American  S-70C  currently still in service with PLA but also shares some common features with  Z-10 . Z-20 Helicopter

China’s military conducts the second flight test firing of its newest long-range missile(DF-41) that is capable of hitting targets in the United States with a nuclear warhead, according to defense officials. The flight test of the new Dong Feng-41, or DF-41, took place Friday from the Wuzhai missile launch center in Shanxi province to an impact range in western China, said officials familiar with details of the tests. It was the second test of the new, road-mobile, long-range ICBM that U.S. intelligence agencies assess will be outfitted with up to 10 multiple, independently-targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs. Prior to Friday’s flight test, the last DF-41 flight test took place in mid of 2012. Pentagon spokesmen did not return emails seeking comment on the missile test. The most recent test indicates that China’s long-range missile development is continuing, and the missile is raising new concerns about China’s professed nuclear doctrine of not being the first to use ...

The Pentagon wants to put high-powered lasers on its fleet of fighter jets in the not-so-distant future to ensure that enemies of the United States don’t stand a chance against America’s state-of-the-art arsenal. A request for information document posted by the US Air Force on the Federal Business Opportunities website last week indicates that the Department of Defense is already interested in acquiring weaponry that would be used on next-generation aircraft years down the road in anti-access and area denial, or A2/AD, environments in order to safeguard certain interests. 6th generation fighter “The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) is requesting information describing concepts for airborne laser systems for future air dominance platforms,” the request begins. “The emphasis of this effort is to identify potential laser systems that could be integrated into a platform that will provide air dominance in the 2030+ highly contested Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environment.” A...

Y-20 Second Prototype

PLAAF J-10B  PLAAF J-10B 

China will construct two conventionally powered aircraft carriers in Dalian and Shanghai between 2014 and 2015, a source from China's Central Military Commission has told. Under the Commission's Project 048, China aims to establish three carrier battle groups by 2020 so that all three major fleets of the PLA Navy will be able to carry out missions with the full support of an aircraft carrier. The two new Type 001A indigenous carriers will be updated versions of China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was originally a Soviet-era Admiral Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine in 1998. They will also likely be designed with a ski-jump ramp. Sources said that the General Equipment Department of the PLA has already signed a contract with the Beijing-based China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to build the two carriers. The price of the two vessels is estimated to be worth US$9 billion.

After China's first stealth combat drone, the Lijian, completed its first test flight on Nov. 21, the Moscow-based "Military Parade" stated that the drone — designed jointly by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and Hongdu Aviation Industry Group — is in fact a copy of a Russian design. The Lijian's 20-minute test flight was completed at an unknown test center located in southwestern China. Photos of the new drone first appeared on the Chinese military website in May this year, with the US-based Strategy Page reporting that the People's Liberation Army may have released the images to demonstrate its military muscle. China Lijian stealth combat drone China is catching up slowly with the United States and Israel in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the US-based Aviation Week said. Taking the Lijian, Wing Loong and CH-4 as examples, the report stated China is able to design and produce various types of drones including hand-launched minia...

Taiwan's military is developing a weapons-capable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with some stealth capabilities at the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, an official at the institute said This will be the first armed UAV from the military-run research center, which has developed various tactical drones for surveillance and reconnaissance that cannot carry weapons, according to the source familiar with the institute's project, who requested anonymity. Unlike previous models, the drone under development boasts short wings, stealth features and a weapons cabin that can carry missiles and bombs, the official said. "The new UAV would be able to evade radar detection as its body is made from radar-absorbent materials," the official added. Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology The revelation came on the sidelines of a defense technology exhibition at Taoyuan County Stadium. A dazzling array of high-tech devices and equipment developed i...

Scientists on the mainland say they are increasingly confident of developing the world’s first practical invisibility cloak, using technology to hide objects from view and make them “disappear’’. At least 40 research teams have been funded by the central government over the past three years to develop the idea, which in recent decades has largely been the stuff of science fiction and fantasy novels like the Harry Potter series than science fact. The technology would have obvious military uses, such as developing stealth aircraft, but Beijing believes the research could lead to wider technological breakthroughs with broader uses, scientists involved in the research said. The teams involved include researchers at Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The main approaches are developing materials that guide light away from an object; creating electromagnetic fields to bend light away from what you are trying to hide, plus copying nature to make high-tec...

The unmanned drone, dubbed RQ-180, is currently in the testing phase at the top secret Groom Lake air base in Nevada -- the infamous "Area 51" where the Air Force tested the U2 spy planes in the late 1950s, Aviation Week said. The Air Force refused to comment when contacted by AFP. The new aircraft was reportedly built by Northrop Grumann, the company behind the Global Hawk and the X-47B drones, which landed on air craft carriers for the first time this summer. The US company may have obtained in 2008 a secret contract on the order of $2 billion to develop the latest drone, according to Aviation Week. An artistic rendering of the RQ-180 on the cover of the magazine shows a craft with striking resemblance to the X-47B, in particular in lack of rear stabilizer and its so-called "batwing" shape. It was developed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, but "could also be capable of electronic attack missions," the m...

  A FC-1/JF-17 fighter with its weapons, which is the result of a joint China-Pakistan development programme, is seen during the Dubai Airshow in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.               

The US Navy has deployed sophisticated surveillance aircraft to Japan, officials said Monday, amid rising tension over China's territorial claims in the region. Two P-8A Poseidon patrol jets departed Jacksonville, Florida on Friday and arrived later at Kadena air base in Okinawa, in a move that was planned before Beijing declared an air defense zone last month covering disputed islands in the East China Sea, a navy official told AFP. "This was scheduled for a long time," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's a rotational deployment." Four more Poseidon aircraft are due to deploy at Okinawa later this month, the official said. The assignment to Japan marks the first mission for the new plane, which is replacing the propeller-driven P-3 Orion aircraft that dates back to the 1960s. US Navy P-8A The P-8A planes, converted Boeing 737s equipped with advanced radar and anti-ship missiles, are designed to hunt submarines and t...