Factbox: China's military modernization
(Reuters) - China has caused alarm around the region and in Washington because of its ambitious military modernization program.
China says it needs to upgrade its outmoded forces and its plans are not a threat to any country. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged firmer ties on a visit on Monday.
Here are some facts about China's military modernization and some of the weapons systems that have attracted attention:
NAVY:
- President Hu Jintao has made the navy's modernization a priority. It is upgrading its destroyers and frigates to range further and strike harder.
- China could launch its first aircraft carrier this year, according to Chinese military and political sources, a year earlier than U.S. military analysts had expected, underscoring its growing maritime power and assertiveness.
- The cost of building a medium-sized conventionally powered, 60,000-tonne carrier similar to the Russian Kuznetsov class is likely to be more than $2 billion. China is likely to acquire at least two.
- China is building new "Jin-class" ballistic missile submarines, capable of launching nuclear warheads while at sea. It has built a naval base on Hainan, the island-province in the south, that can serve submarines.
AIR FORCE:
- Along with the development of its aeronautics industry, China has developed a more formidable design capacity. Its most advanced aircraft in service, and for the United States the potentially most threatening, are Russian Su-30 and Su-27 fighters. China is developing its fourth-generation J-11.
- Modernization has included developing an inflight refueling capacity, to give its fighters a greater reach, and early warning aircraft.
- Images have appeared on the internet of what the Pentagon says appears to show a Chinese J-20 stealth fighter prototype making a high-speed taxi test. Some analysts say that the photos, if authentic, are a strong indicator that China is making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor, the world's only operational stealth fighter designed to evade detection by radar.
- However, deployment is likely to be years away and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said ahead of a visit to China this week that he thought there was some question as to "just how stealthy" it really was.
MISSILES:
- U.S. officials have taken note of disclosures in recent weeks of advances in China's capabilities, including in its anti-ship ballistic missile program, which could challenge U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific.
- The successful missile "kill" of an old satellite in early 2007 represented a new level of ability for the Chinese military, and last January China successfully tested emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air.
ARMY:
- China is trying to transform the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army into a smaller, sleeker modern force capable of short, high-intensity conflicts against high-tech adversaries.
(Sources: Reuters, International Institute for Strategic Studies. here; U.S. Department of Defense) (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
i. Each major category of aircrafts and the numbers possesed;
ii. Each major category of misiles and numbers possessed;
iii. Each major category of warships/submarines/aircraft carriers and the number possessed;
iv. Each major category of armoured vehicles/tanks and the number possessed;
V. Ability (time required) to contruct aircraft carriers, nuclear misiles, aircrafts, armoured vehicles and tanks as and when needed;
v. Each major war entered into as saviour, victim or prepetrator.
You can get fairly accurate information online. You will not get complete information like the Intel boys have, but you can get a fairly close idea.
They have the same plague of contractors doing their work as the USA, but the Chinese get even more screwed then the USA does. the horrible part is that the money the scam off the projects goes right back into the pockets of the people who ordered their production.
Follow Reuters