ASIAN DEFENCE

A second visit by a sitting US president to India , the first time on record, has undoubtedly drawn wide attention from the international community. However, the tricky part of so much attention is that, as we watched Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greet US President Barack Obama with a bear hug at Delhi airport on Sunday, many eyes, naturally, have turned to a third party - China. Many reports by Western media have pointed out that the US, regardless of historical complications, is putting more efforts into soliciting India to act as a partner, even an ally, to support Washington's " pivot to Asia " strategy, which is mainly devised to counter China's rise . As for India, which has ambitions to be a major power, it needs US investment, technologies and political support so that its "Look East" foreign policy will better function to counterbalance China's growing influence. Through these reports, there seems to be only a fixed ...

The Ecuadorian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana: FAE) lost a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Dhruv utility helicopter to a training accident in late January, the second to be lost this month and the fourth since deliveries began in 2009. The accident, which is reported to have occurred on 27 January (the Ministry of Defence has yet to confirm it), happened near the town of Tena in the remote interior of the country. According to the reports, there were no casualties among the four personnel on board. Ecuador signed the agreement with HAL in 2008 for seven Dhruv helicopters at a cost of USD45 million. These were to be delivered in kit form and assembled in Ecuador, but this plan was later abandoned with the aircraft instead being manufactured in India. In FAE service the Dhruv is operated by 2211 Combat Squadron, 22 Combat Wing (221 Combat Group), based at Simón Bolivar Airbase. Dhruv Utility Helicopter With this ac...

China has installed new aerial listening stations on the coast of its Fujian Province , a military spokesman said yesterday, adding that are being taken to counter surveillance and enhance the security of important electronic communications . Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Major General David Lo said the military is monitoring the development closely and that Taiwan has its own surveillance system to deal with intelligence gathering by Chinese signal-snooping stations . The statement came one day after the Canada-based Kanwa Information Center reported that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had set up at least three large aerial listening stations, directly across the Strait from Taiwan. Lo said that the ministry has instructed its telecommunications units to strictly follow established regulations on frequency signals and radio data encryption to ensure the security of classified information. According to Kanwa, the PLA has been installi...

Russian/rebel troops in the area of Bakhmut road have used a new missile system against the Ukrainian army , Prava sprava NGO head Dmytro Snehiriov writes. Popasna was the town where the Russian tested their new weapon for the first time. New 220-mm missiles leave much bigger craters than Grad missiles or mortar mines. The new missile battery has completed testing in Russia, military design bureau Splav Mykola Makarovets confirmed.  After the testing in Russia, Moscow decided to use the new weapon in Donbas, the expert said. 

Satellite images provided by Google Maps indicated that China is apparently building a model aircraft carrier on land at an unknown place in Central China, according to China's nationalistic newspaper Global Times. Model of Aircraft Carrier in Central China The model of the aircraft carrier is 300 meters long and 80 meters wide. Aboard its flight deck, there is a large helicopter and a carrier-based fighter which looks to be a J-15 . Models of an unknown type of surface combat vessel can be seen right next to the aircraft carrier . By looking at the bridge of that model warship, military experts from China said that the vessel is very likely a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer designed to compete against US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers .

Uralvagonzavod, a Russian machine building company in Nizhny Tagil , recently rejected the idea of selling the Armata heavy vehicle platform to China despite the nation demonstrating great interest in the tank platform according to the Vzglyad, a Moscow-based newspaper. Oleg Bochkaryov, deputy chairman of the Military and Industrial Commission , said that the Armata Universal Combat Platform will be commissioned by the Russian army next month. After they take part in the military parade on May 9 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe , all Armata tanks are to be brought back to the plant for modifications before they enter regular service with the Russian military .   Russian Armata main battle tank After three years of tests with combat units, production of the Armata Universal Combat Platform will officially begin in 2018. China had already demonstrated great interest in purchasing the tanks from Russia even though t...

A social media post, published by Beijing’s municipal government yesterday, finally confirmed that China are to go ahead with plans to build a multi-billion dollar high-speed rail link between Beijing and Moscow. The line aims will provide super fast transport across Central Asia and will compete with the Trans-Siberian Railway , cutting travel time between the two countries from six days to two,according to the government’s post on social media website Weibo.   However, critics of the 1.5 trillion yuan ($242 billion) project fear that the investment will have to be shouldered mostly by China. Russian economy has floundered over the last few months due to the sanctions imposed by Europe and the U.S. over Russia’s role in the Ukrainian crisis. The severe drop in crude oil prices has also had a devastating effect on the strength of the rouble.    A Chinese blog has claimed that the rail link will have multiple long term benefits,...

U.S. military officials are pushing back against a claim that National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden made last week about China stealing top-secret data on a pricey warplane program. Snowden , a former contractor who fled the United States after exposing NSA spy secrets , shared documents with German magazine Der Spiegel that appear to show that China stole sensitive data about the warplane, including engine schematics and radar design. The magazine made public a report on China’s intelligence theft earlier this month. But on Tuesday, the F-35 fighter jet program office told Reuters that the documents released by Der Spiegel only show non-classified data about the jet. “Classified F-35 information is protected and remains secure,” the program office told Reuters in a statement. In the statement, Pentagon officials said they continue to take all potential cyberattacks seriously, and that the incident in question was not expected to negatively im...

Russia is to offer Brazil joint development of the S ukhoi T-50 (PAK-FA) fifth-generation fighter in a bid to secure an order for its Su-35S “Flanker-E” combat aircraft . A military delegation is expected to make the offer when it visits the South American country in the coming days, according to RIA Novosti . "During the talks in Brazil, we are ready to offer deliveries of ready-for-sale advanced aircraft like the Su-35, but also joint development of a next-generation [combat] aircraft of the T-50 type," the publication quoted a delegation source as saying. The Brazilian Air Force's (Força Aérea Brasileira - FAB) is in the middle of its F-X2 fighter competition to find a replacement for its ageing Dassault Mirage 2000 aircraft . Along with the Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon , the Sukhoi Su-35 has already been axed from the proceedings, leaving the Saab JAS 39 Gripen E, Dassault Rafale, and Boeing FA-18E/F Super Horn...

For over a decade, academics, policymakers, and government officials have been engaged in a relentless debate about Chinese military capabilities and intentions. To some, China is likely an expansionist country akin to Germany before WWI. Others argue that China’s assertive behavior in its regional offshore island disputes is simply a manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party’s focus on domestic stability, which precludes any broader global ambitions. Mastro photo Contrary to the extremes of the current debate, the Chinese military will be neither hollow nor a juggernaut. While the Chinese leadership would prefer to stay focused on internal development and regional issues, I argue in a recent article in The National Interest that facts on the ground will increasingly compel the Party to develop some global operational capabilities. Specifically, the burgeoning need to protect commercial assets and Chinese nationals abroad will inevitably shape modernization of the...

China is completing the project of the planet’s longest, 2,000-kilometer quantum communication network from Beijing to Shanghai . The network is considered “ unhackable ” and is set to start operating in 2016. The “unhackability” is due to the most secure encryption technology ever, the South China Morning Post reported.   By 2030, the network is expected to stretch all over the globe, Xinhua news agency said. For now, the service is to be used by the Chinese government, the military and key business institutions such as banks.  The plans were disclosed by Professor Pan Jianwei, a quantum physicist with the University of Science and Technology of China and a lead scientist behind the project.  China Quantum Communication Network "China's quantum information science and technology is developing very fast and China leads in some areas in this field. Any city in China, as long they want to, can start to buil...

The issue of finding adequate and reliable engine has always been an issue for china's PLA . The navy seems to be getting by with license building advanced diesel engines, which are not under embargo, for most of its ships and some copied or home developed gas turbines for shipping class that need them. The air force has always seen delays due to problems in local production of engines for a series or waiting for Russian engine options. Shenyang AC has been quite unfortunate in having 2 of its recent aircraft programs (J-8F and J-11B) delayed due to issues with production of a new class domestic engine. I've talked in the past about the state of engine production in China, but was overly optimistic over the program in those cases. So, this entry will attempt to look at some of the domestic engine programs and their import programs. FWS-10 Turbofan Engine First, the FWS-10 program is probably the most relevant to the current well being of PLA. We...

Pakistan to Get Z-10 Gunship Chopper from China

Veteran nuclear physicist Yu Min - dubbed the "father of China's hydrogen bomb" - has received the country's top science award. Yu, 89, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Sciences who has been involved in research into nuclear weapons since the 1960s , was presented with the National Highest Science and Technology Award by President Xi Jinping at a ceremony yesterday, mainland media reported. The award comes with a 5 million yuan (HK$6.3 million) cash prize. Yu was a leading scientist in designing the country's hydrogen bomb , winning a medal for his contribution to "two bombs, one satellite" - China's self-reliant national defence programme - in 1999. China detonated its first hydrogen bomb in 1967, a little more than two-and-a-half years after the country's first atomic bomb test - much less time than the seven years and three months the United States took to develop a hydrogen bomb after its first atomic test. Nucl...