China’s spies gain valuable US defense technology: report

US intelligence agencies have determined that China stole secrets relating to the F-35 jet fighter from a US contractor. Photo: Reuters

 

According to the annual report of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Chinese cyber espionage is a “major problem” for America

China has gained military benefits in recent years from stealing defense secrets through industrial and cyber espionage carried out by its intelligence services, according to a US congressional report.

“In recent years, Chinese agents have extracted data on some of the most advanced weapons and weapons systems in the US arsenal, such as jet fighters and unmanned submersible vehicles,” states the annual report of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, released on November 16.

“The loss of these and other sensitive defense technologies undermines US military superiority by accelerating China’s military modernization and giving China insight into the capabilities and operation of US weapons and weapons systems,” the report adds.

Chinese soldiers linked to US military hacking case: media

Two Chinese soldiers were “co-conspirators” in a plot to steal US military secrets, including designs for the F-35 stealth fighter and other warplanes, a Canadian newspaper reported Tuesday.

The unnamed pair allegedly worked with a recent immigrant to Canada now facing extradition to the United States to identify and raid secure databases of US military contractors, said the Globe and Mail newspaper, citing a prosecution summary of a cyberespionage probe launched in 2014.

J-20 may become China’s future stealth bomber: Duowei

 

After the completion of the test flight of the sixth J-20 prototype known as 2015, it is expected to take a further two to three years for the fighter to enter service. It is the job of the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute to decide what kind of aircraft the J-20 should become in the future. Earlier predictions said the J-20 may be developed as a carrier-based stealth fighter, but Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s J-31 seems more suitable for that role.

Bad News for Lockheed’s F-35 Stealth Fighter: This Warplane Has “Serious Deficiencies”

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT  ) has an F-35 stealth fighter jet — but can it shoot? We posed this question last month, in the midst of a “he said-she said” battle waged between the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Project Office and … The Daily Beast, which alleges the Pentagon is misleading taxpayers (and Congress) about when the F-35’s 25mm nose cannon will be ready for combat.

Says the Pentagon, development of “3F” software needed to operate the gun is on track, and should begin rolling out by 2017. According to the Beast, though, the software is behind schedule and won’t reach combat pilots before “late 2018 at the very earliest.” As a result, F-35 pilots must go into combat without guns for at least the next three years, before the software becomes operational.

Bad as all this sounds, though, it could be the least of Lockheed Martin’s problems.

The F-35 Has To Phone Texas Before Taking Off

The U.S. military ran the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter through a series of tests aboard the USS Nimitz super carrier in San Diego in early November. It performed adequately, with one exception — it needed to send its diagnostic data to Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas, before taking off. If the most recent exercises are any indication, the F-35 may need to phone home every time it sets out on a mission.

First, the good news. The plane flew through its aerial paces well enough and passed a majority of its flight tests.

Chinese Official: J-31 Stealth Fighter Could ‘Definitely Take Down’ F-35

 

The president of a leading Chinese defense company boasted that China’s J-31 stealth fighter jet could definitely take down the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Appearing on China’s state broadcaster on Tuesday, Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), the state-owned Chinese defense company that manufactures the J-31, boldly declared that “When it [the J-31] takes to the sky, it could definitely take down the F-35. It’s a certainty.”

It is widely believed that the J-31 is modeled in part off of stolen F-35 technology.

US needs new stealth fighter to combat China’s J-31: expert

China recently demonstrated its second fifth-generation stealth fighter, the J-31, for the 10th Zhuhai Airshow held in Guangdong from Nov. 11-16. Dave Majumdar, an American defense expert, thus suggests in Washington’s National Interest that the US must put the F-35 into service or develop new fighters to face this challenge.

PLA’s new destroyer could bring down F-35 stealth fighter

The US fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter can be detected by the radar system installed aboard the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s new Type 052D destroyers, according to the Moscow-based Voice of Russia, citing military experts.

Vladimir Evseev, director of the Moscow-based Center for Social and Political Studies, told the Russian broadcaster that details of China’s radar project, including the amount spent on its development, remain unknown, however it is a great leap forward in regards to the nation’s military modernization program.

U.S. to deploy ‘stealth destroyers’ in the Pacific next year

The U.S. Navy will inaugurate the “DDG1000,” a next generation stealth destroyer, which is undetected on radar screens. The destroyer will be deployed next year as one of the three core elements for the U.S. Pacific Command along with the F-35 stealth fighter, and the Missile Defense System. The battleship is expected to play a role to keep at bay China, which seeks to become a military superpower, and monitor North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs. According to the Associated Press, the destroyer, which has been constructed in secret, is 15,000 ton class in size, rendering it the largest among the destroyers the U.S. Navy possess, and is armed with high-tech weapons systems.

China’s Emerging C4ISR Revolution

China’s military modernization has given rise to an enormous Western literature dissecting its scope and progress. Despite this boom, many analysts have paid relatively little attention to recent advances in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) command, control, communication, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities.

The PLA’s growing complement of manned and unmanned aircraft, reconnaissance satellites, and sophisticated ground-based infrastructure comprises the operational foundation of China’s emerging network-centric military. It is also the means by which better-known systems, such as the DF-21D “carrier-killer” anti-ship ballistic missile or the J-20 stealth fighter, could actually fulfill their intended roles during a major regional contingency.

Communist Bloc Military Updates: Russian Air Force probes Bulgarian airspace via Black Sea incursion, Warsaw Pact-turned-NATO member Bulgaria fails to repel intrusion, Turkish Air Force responds instead…

In recent weeks, the Russian Air Force has dispatched its Tu-22M bombers to probe NATO air defences over both the Baltic and Black Seas. Known in the West as the Backfire, the Soviet-built Tu-22M (pictured here), along with the Tu-95 Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack, is one of three types of strategic bomber in Moscow’s inventory.

The Tupolev Design Bureau is presently developing Russia’s first stealth bomber, but no such combat-ready aircraft is expected to fly until as late as 2025, although Russia’s first stealth fighter prototype took to the skies two years ago. In the meanwhile, the Russian Air Force is upgrading the electronics and weapons systems aboard selected Blackjack and Backfire aircraft. With the exception of the US Air Force’s B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the long-range bombers flown by both countries are based on aviation technology that is anywhere from 30 to 50 years old.

Earlier this month, NATO fighter jets based Lithuania intercepted a Tu-22M cruising through “neutral” airspace over the Baltic Sea. According to officials in the neighboring republic of Latvia, the Russian military was conducting exercises in the Kaliningrad exclave. Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said his country had not been officially notified of the exercises, which, in any case, is “not technically required.” The former Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia joined NATO in 2004.

Full article: Communist Bloc Military Updates: Russian Air Force probes Bulgarian airspace via Black Sea incursion, Warsaw Pact-turned-NATO member Bulgaria fails to repel intrusion, Turkish Air Force responds instead… (Once Upon A Time in the West)