China: a force fit for a superpower

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While other armies fret about their funding, China’s generals have unveiled three major new weapons that could challenge the military supremacy of the United States and provide the firepower to underline China’s superpower status.

In a dry dock in the northern city of Dalian, smoke has begun to billow from the chimneys of the Shi Lang, a hulking Soviet-era ship that China bought from Russia and has refitted to become its first aircraft carrier. Named after a Qing dynasty admiral, the carrier is slated to make its maiden voyage later this year, four years ahead of schedule. Five more aircraft carriers could bolster the Chinese fleet further over the next decade.

Meanwhile, at an air base in the central city of Chengdu, China’s first stealth fighter jet has been spotted taxiing along a runway. It has yet to take off, but American plane-spotters have already begun speculating that it might be able to beat an F-22 in a dogfight. Finally, at a command bunker in the north of Beijing, the Chinese Second Artillery Corps controls the jewel in the crown – a new missile that could sink a US aircraft carrier, the first such weapon in the world. The Dong Feng (or East Wind) 21D missile is now “operational”, according to Admiral Robert Willard of the US Pacific Command, which will now have to think twice before committing a $20 billion (£12.8 billion) aircraft carrier and its 6,000 crew anywhere within 900 miles of the Chinese coast.

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The transformation of the PLA ... began in the wake of the first Gulf War ... Ever since then, the PLA has been shedding troops, from some three million during the 1990s to 2.3 million currently.

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But while troop numbers have fallen, the quality of the soldiers has risen, said Mr Xu. Almost 80 per cent of officers are now graduates, and a full two-thirds of China’s defence budget is spent on salaries and training.

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According to the Pentagon, China has the world’s “most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile programme”.

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China’s submarine fleet now boasts 65 vessels, and by 2030, according to the Kokoda Foundation, an Australian think tank, the total could rise to between 85 and 100, more than the US.

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The army is behaving with more swagger, at least in its own backyard. China insists its only goal is to safeguard “regional peace and stability”, but it has dramatically increased its penetrations of Japanese airspace, resulting in Japanese fighter jets being scrambled 44 times in the past year, double the total for 2006, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

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Its biggest failing is that it cannot, yet, produce the reliable jet engines it needs for its fighters, having to rely on Russia.

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Meanwhile, the PLA’s Jin-class nuclear submarine is said, by the US Office of Naval Intelligence, to be noisier than the submarines built by the Soviets 30 years ago. China’s fighter pilots are no match for US Top Guns. A shortage of foreign naval bases makes it difficult for China to maintain ships on long missions. Sailors who took part in exercises against Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden were reported to have run short of water and fresh food.

And perhaps most reassuringly, the new Dong Feng “carrier killer” missile is impaired by China’s undeveloped missile guidance system. While Beijing can launch the deadly missile, it is not clear it can actually hit a ship.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8251307/China-a-force-fit-for-a-superpower.html

[Azzudiin 26]

Their fighter flew 15 minute test flight this morning.

This is all ####### and hype so the defense department can use it as an excuse to spend more money.

We wouldn't have a 14 trillion dollar debt if we didn't spend 1 trillion dollars every single year on our military. More then every other country in the world COMBINED.

And the PLA downsizing? Yes because you have to pay to join the PLA now. Its about patriotism, something being lost here in the US because we continue to try to police the world when we should be taking care of things here at home. How many soldiers would we have if every soldier had to pay $20,000 to sign up?

China has converted the PLA to an option equal to college in China so young people have more options for a career and it is working wonders.

They have no desire to fight anyone, China is all about its economic engine and spending some money on defense is seen as giving jobs and education to its young people.

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... spending some money on defense is seen as giving jobs and education to its young people.

Sounds like welfare.

[Azzudiin 26]

Sounds like welfare.

Read my whole post, not just one line. They have to pay to join PLA, same as you have to pay to go to college. Last time I checked you don't have to pay to get welfare benefits.

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... you don't have to pay to get welfare benefits.

Yeah not in the U.S.

But in China they make you pay to get welfare? Wow they're really taking this capitalist-communist hybrid thing a tad too far!

[alienlovechild 75]

Yes because you have to pay to join the PLA now. Its about patriotism, something being lost here in the US because we continue to try to police the world when we should be taking care of things here at home.

They have no desire to fight anyone, China is all about its economic engine and spending some money on defense is seen as giving jobs and education to its young people.

Pay to join PLA? Where's the link to back that claim? The pay is probably a joke by western standards.

No desire to fight anymore? Do you know what the new Chinese aircraft carrier is for?

[Pooky 3,825]

Meanwhile, at an air base in the central city of Chengdu, China’s first stealth fighter jet has been spotted taxiing along a runway. It has yet to take off, but American plane-spotters have already begun speculating that it might be able to beat an F-22 in a dogfight.

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Its biggest failing is that it cannot, yet, produce the reliable jet engines it needs for its fighters, having to rely on Russia.

Sticking with what I know something about ...

The Chengdu J20 is nowhere near a stealth fighter. It's way too big for a fighter, has too many non-stealthed surfaces and very big, very exposed tailpipes for the motors. It's a bus, the main wing surfaces are too small for the size of plane, the canards are badly placed, both for manoeuvrability and for stealth, and it's chances of taking an F-22 Raptor in a dogfight, or any other kind of fight, can be counted on the fingers of one foot.

This is not something the USAF is even remotely scared of and "American plane-spotters" may have speculated for 30 seconds, or so, before they saw the thing, laughed and moved on to the next beer.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I think China may be preparing to invade Australia to get the natural resources it needs. There is quite a supply of uranium there. They need it to develop a nuclear powered jet fighter.

[Pooky 3,825]

I think China may be preparing to invade Australia to get the natural resources it needs. There is quite a supply of uranium there. They need it to develop a nuclear powered jet fighter.

Now you're just being a nerd.

There won't be a nuclear-powered jet fighter for a while. Consolidated Aircraft Corporation actually built a plane with a nuclear reactor in it, the NB-36H Crusader, back in the 1950's. The amount of lead shielding needed around the crew compartment kind of counts against it ever being used in something that needs to change direction fast than an airliner.

And anyway, China would never get close to invading Australia. If they did, they'd have to learn how to play cricket.

[luckytxn 2,265]

The only ones that need to worry about China militarily is the neighbors and only land based at that. When they get the balls to take Taiwan then I will give them an attaboy because until they can go take an island that is right next to them and isn't land based then they are nothing but wussies to the rest of the world.

[TigerTeddyBear 26]

You would give them an attaboy for invading a democratic, sovereign country? What about the Taiwanese people? You sound like a playground bully... And a moron. Don't we usually support democracies over socialist nations? Didn't we start the Vietnam war to stop the socialists from spreading? Don't you personally foam at the mouth about how socialists are taking over the country? Hypocrite.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Sticking with what I know something about ...

The Chengdu J20 is nowhere near a stealth fighter. It's way too big for a fighter, has too many non-stealthed surfaces and very big, very exposed tailpipes for the motors. It's a bus, the main wing surfaces are too small for the size of plane, the canards are badly placed, both for manoeuvrability and for stealth, and it's chances of taking an F-22 Raptor in a dogfight, or any other kind of fight, can be counted on the fingers of one foot.

This is not something the USAF is even remotely scared of and "American plane-spotters" may have speculated for 30 seconds, or so, before they saw the thing, laughed and moved on to the next beer.

Yeah just noticed thats its roughly 20% bigger and maybe twice as heavy as the F22 and its rear end looks like most 4th gen.

[Pooky 3,825]

Yeah just noticed thats its roughly 20% bigger and maybe twice as heavy as the F22 and its rear end looks like most 4th gen.

From the plan view, it looks a lot like the MiG 1.44 project from the late 1990's, with the intakes moved to the sides of the fuselage.

There is speculation that the MiG Company has assisted the Chinese with the J-20. How much help they might have given and how much of it is stalling by the Russians to keep the Chinese buying Russian kit is debatable, as a 2018 in-service date would put the Chinese plane behind the F-22 by 20 years at a still-inferior technology level.

Military Today link

The most likely reason for the Chinese flying this when they did was to show off while Secretary Gates was visiting. Problem is, anyone with any knowledge of military aviation would see the Chinese plane as a joke, when compared to the F-22 Raptor. Reaction to the images and the short vid will only serve to dent Chinese pride.