China’s Covert Weapons Procurement Revealed in Florida Case

‘Technology spy’ sought advanced jet engines, Reaper drone for reverse engineering

China’s government covertly tried to obtain advanced U.S. fighter jet engines and a Reaper drone in a high-technology spying operation uncovered by federal authorities in Florida.

A Chinese-born woman, Wenxia Man, was sentenced to 50 months in prison on Friday following her conviction for conspiracy to export restricted American defense articles, namely engines for F-35, F-22, and F-16 jets, and the Reaper, a front-line unmanned aerial vehicle used by the military and intelligence agencies.

China Deploys Ultra-Modern Destroyer to Base on S. China Sea Island

 

The destroyer, dubbed Yangsha, is likely to operate from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) base at Yalong Bay on Hainan Island, reports Jane’s Defense Weekly.

The Type 052D features a universal vertical launch weapon system capable of firing anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine, and land attack missiles – a system not found on the preceding Type 052C.

PLA Navy will have 415 warships in near future: US expert

Meanwhile, the U.S. will have only a bit over 300 ships by 2020. The balance of power is shifting before our eyes and a new chapter in world history will open up, especially as China strengthens its alliance with Russia to form One Clenched Fist.

 

James Fanell, the former director of the US Pacific Fleet’s intelligence and information, predicted China will eventually have about 415 warships including four aircraft carriers and 100 submarines in the near future while attending a two-day conference held by the US Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute in Newport, Rhode Island last week, reports the Defense News.

PLA to commission more third-generation warships this year

After commissioning three Type 052C guided-missile destroyers — Changchun, Zhengzhou and Jinan — between 2013 and 2014, a destroyer division of the PLA Navy’s East Sea Fleet based in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province is expected to soon get its fourth destroyer, Xian, equipped with the Zhonghuashendun system also known as the Chinese Aegis.

China may overtake Japan in naval power this year: report

Since Xi Jinping became China’s top leader, there has been a noticeable change in the country’s foreign policy, according to Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Beijing has implemented a shift in the geopolitical focus of its global strategy, which has seen the relationship with the US and with the European Union displaced as first priority ties for the country. At the same time, China has strengthened its sea power, with many speculating that the power of the PLA Navy is set to overtake that of Japan in 2015.

At the end of November, as the US was scrambling to find a way to contain Russia, a low-profile but important meeting was being held in Beijing — the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs. At the meeting several leaders made key speeches that indicated a change in China’s external geopolitical strategy.

PLA building fleet of 100 large transport aircraft

 

China is building a fleet of a hundred large transport aircraft that will be able to deploy troops all around the world, according to a Russian military expert.

In an article published Oct. 16 on the Russian Council website, Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, says that the People’s Liberation Army hopes to complete the project by 2020.

To reach that goal, China is in the process of acquiring Il-76 multi-purpose four-engine strategic airlifters and Il-78 four-engined aerial refueling tankers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and is also developing its own Xian Y-20 large military transport aircraft.

According to Kashin, the quality of China’s military technology has reached a new level, such that the PLA is now a modernized force capable of fighting a technically advanced war. The new generation PLA has a blue-water navy and maritime force capable of operating across the deep waters of open oceans as well as a powerful strategic air force, he wrote.

Type 052D destroyer can carry China’s supersonic anti-ship missile

The PLA’s Type 052D guided missile destroyer, the most advanced class of China’s destroyers, is capable of carrying supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with capabilities similar to the Russian-built C-Club-N missile, according to the Canada-based Kanwa Defense Review.

Chinese Missile Forces Pose Threat to U.S. in Future Conflict

ASPEN, Colo.—China’s advanced cruise and ballistic missiles pose a significant threat in future conflict with the United States, the chief of naval operations (CNO) warned last week.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the CNO, also said during a security conference Friday that China is building a second aircraft carrier that could be deployed in the not too distant future.

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Asked what Chinese weapons systems he is most concerned about if the United States went to war with China, Greenert noted Beijing’s growing arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles.

“They have an extraordinary selection of cruise missiles, and a ballistic missile force that they developed,” Greenert told the Aspen Security Forum.

If the conflict were close to China, the missile forces would pose the most serious threat, he said.

“If it’s in their backyard, I’m a little worried about their ballistic missile [force] because of its reach,” Greenert said.

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. Navy Take Notice: China is Becoming a World-Class Military Shipbuilder

China’s military shipyards now are surpassing Western European, Japanese, and Korean military shipbuilders in terms of both the types and numbers of ships they can build. If Beijing prioritizes progress, China’s military shipbuilding technical capabilities can likely become as good as Russia’s are now by 2020 and will near current U.S. shipbuilding technical proficiency levels by 2030. China is now mass producing at least six classes of modern diesel-electric submarines and surface warships, including the new Type 052C “Luyang II” and Type 052D “Luyang III” destroyers now in series production.