Photos of the day: U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in China

BFF?

China-U.S. joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief tabletop exercise held

(Source: China Military Online)   2012-11-30


Two officers from the two sides are exchanging views during the interval of the tabletop exercise. (PLA Daily/Yang Liming)

　　A joint tabletop exercise of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief between the Chinese and American armed forces was held in Chengdu,

Make it bi-annual Okinawa cruise

Chinese navy fleet enters West Pacific for routine training(Source: Xinhua)   2012-11-29













A Chinese naval fleet passed through the Miyako Strait and entered West Pacific Ocean for a routine training exercise on Nov. 28, 2012. (Source: www.news.cn/Ju zhenhua)　　　　MISSILE FRIGATE ZHOUSHAN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval fleet passed through the Miyako Strait and entered West

Photo of the day: Chinese Zubr

Looks like the long saga of the Chinese Zubr buy is near its end -- On 17 November the first Zubr was accepted by China. 2 crews from China are in Ukraine, starting on-board training.

(thanks snake65 for the news)







Saturday, September 22, 2012


YouTube of the day: The first Zubr LCAC for China is near completion.












 






Thanks Imp for alerting the news.

http://

Chinese, Belarusian airborne troops hold joint exercise in China

Chinese, Belarusian airborne troops hold joint exercise in China(Source: Xinhua)   2012-11-27　　BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Belarusian airborne troops started their second joint training drills on Monday in China, according to China's Ministry of National Defense.　　The joint exercise will be conducted in accordance with the exchange and cooperation programs agreed upon between the

Photos of the day: orange jumpsuits

No,  those Chinese naval naval aviators on board of the aircraft carrier Liaoning are not sporting inmate orange jumpsuits, those are the new survival /G suit for pilots. 

China conducts flight landing on aircraft carrier

China conducts flight landing on aircraft carrier
English.news.cn   2012-11-25 00:16:35     [RSS]    [Feedback]    [Print]    [Copy URL]    [More]

LIAONING AIRCRAFT CARRIER, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has successfully conducted flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, naval sources said.

A new J-15 fighter jet was used as part of the landing exercise.

After its delivery to

FIRST PICS! Chinese Carrier Aircraft Launch and Recovery

Well here they are, the first public pics of Chinese J-15 navalized fighters operating from the LIAONING (EX-VARYAG). It's unclear when these photos were taken, but the aircraft are assigned the China Flight Test Establishment (CFTE) at Xian-Yanliang.

 Highway 16 to the danger zone:

First flight of J-15 off Liaoning

It has finally happened. We finally have news confirmation from Xinhua and also have pictures of J-15's first take/off and landing from Xinhua. The news of first landing came a couple of days ago, but this is the first time we have seen the photos.

Here is a timeline of China's naval flanker program just to give you an idea:

• 2001, Assemble the T-10K-3 prototype that PLAN purchased from Ukraine. Use this for long term technical study.
• January 2007, AVIC1 and PLAN’s major program (J-15) research work started.
• July 2007, AVIC1 SAC had a large program tackling meeting
• January 2008, blueprint work finished, start prototype research & production stage
• August 31st 2009, J15-0001 had maiden flight
• May 6th 2010, maiden take-off flight from the simulated jet-ski at CFTE. Continued production of single digit number of prototypes for future testing
• August 10th, 2011, China’s first aircraft carrier went out for sea trials. J-15-0005/CFTE-554 and J15-0008/CFTE-556 prototypes made numerous fly-overs, low altitude touch and go landing along the way.
• July 2012, Finished certification test flights, given permission to product single digit number of batch 0 J-15s for initial testing/trials works
• September 25th, 2012, PLAN first aircraft carrier was named Liaoning and had its first sailing after commissioning in October
• November 3rd, 2012, J-15S-0001 had maiden flight
• Early November, 2012, Liaoning had second sailing after commissioning
• November 20th, 2012, a PLANAF pilot made the first carrier landing trial.
• November 23rd, 2012, Two PLANAF pilots flying 2 J-15s finished carrier op controlled first official takeoff and landing trials. This marks successful completion of first stage of the Carrier aviation project.

Photos of the day: 056 Class Corvette in sea trial

China launches high-altitude drone patrolling-and-inspection tests

China launches high-altitude drone patrolling-and-inspection testsBy Lv Fuming (China Military Online)08:43, November 23, 2012http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90786/8031353.htmlThree drones of different types conducted their final test on November 21, 2012 in Hoh Xil, a high-altitude and frigid area in west China's Qinghai province, which marked the full completion of the one-month-long flight

Thoughts from Zhuhai Air Show

As we get to another year’s thanksgiving holiday, there are many interesting things in Chinese military development to be thankful for. The one thing that I look at from this month is the Zhuhai Air Show. Every two years, we get to see the best that China has to offer in the export market for civilian aircraft, fighter jet, UAVs, missiles, air defence weapons and engines. In the 2010 air show, we saw an expansion of UAVs. In the 2008 air show, we saw a whole new display of PGMs and ground attack weapons. In this year’s air show, I think the helicopters (especially Z-10 and Z-19) stole the show.

Prior to the air show, we had just found out about the existence of a second Z-10 and a second Z-19 regiment. It appears both helicopters had achieved operational clearance with PLA aviation. We saw a whole host of up close pictures of Z-10 and Z-19 (including cockpit of pilots with HMDS) from the air show. TV news officially reported that both of these helicopters have achieved combat capability.




We saw flight display from both Z-10 and Z-19 throughout this past week. From this and other photos, we now see 2 other regiments with Z-10. At the moment, it seems like each of the 4 brigades that have Z-10 have 12 or less Z-10s. That's the size of a dadui in PLA aviation rather a full regiment (which can be over 30 helos). I wonder if the goal is to have at least one dadui in Z-10 before increasing the number of Z-10s in each of the brigdaes. We might see some mixed regiments with Z-10s and Z-19s. These are just my speculations and other speculations from on line. Regardless, it appears that both Z-10 and WZ-9 turboshaft engine have reached a point of mass production. It would not surprise me if the production rate is already in the 30s per year. As more photos come out, we will get more information on their alignment.

At the same time, we are getting more information on other Chinese helicopter projects. According to deputy GM of AVICopter, Sun Qingmin, Z-15 equipped with WZ-16 engine will start trial flight next year and expected to be certified by 2014. Using a co-developed engine will allow Z-15 to join the army and the navy. The long delayed 10 ton helicopter project appears to be moving forward to. The picture below shows two proposals for this project. The first flight is set to be in 2014 and production to start by 2017. These two proposals look like Chinese versions of black hawk and NH-90. The engine is expected to either be WZ-10 turboshaft or WZ-16 from the Z-15 project.


There is also another conceptual project XQ-01 displayed in the air show as shown below that seems to be a high speed helicopter like Eurocopter X3 or Sikorsky X2.


They also displayed a whole range of air defence weaponry that are quite impressive. Along side models that we already know about like LD-2000 (land version of Type 730), FD-2000 (export version of HQ-9), LY-80 (export version of HQ-16) and FL-3000 (export version of HQ-10), we also saw the following new models:

DK-10 and DK-9C supposedly originates from the AAMs SD-10 and PL-9C. Although in DK-10's case, it seems to be quite different from SD-10. It also seems to be a prime candidate to be quad-packed in PLAN's new VLS with its active seeker, slim size, and engagement range of up to 50 km.

FK-1000 combines the KS-1000 missile with two dual guns and on board fire control system. It seems very similar to Russia's Pantsir-S1 air defence system.
TD-2000B is another Gun/missile air defence system which may already have been displayed previously.
And finally, we have CS/SA-1 type vehicle carrying Type PG-99 dual35 mm gun.

We saw the usual FT and LS series of PGMs along with a new TG series of LGBs. But there were also interesting new missiles from this show:

The one making the biggest noise is the CM-400AKG missile. It is advertised as a standoff missile for JF-17. It can go Mach 5.5 in terminal phase and has maximum range of 240 km.

They also have two different variants of TL-500 missile which looks like SCALP by MBDA.


We saw a couple of more CM series air to ground missile. The CM-506KG missile looks like the NLOS missile.

Finally, there was an anti-radiation version of SD-10 missile appearing as LD-10.

There were also other interesting things on display such as a model of the J-31 project, a full scale dispaly of Wing Loong UAV and a model of CH-4 UAV. All in all, it was a very interesting air show.

There were also a couple of interesting things we saw in PLAN world. J-15 apparently made its first successful landing on Liaoning this past week. We had an overhead shot of 052C and 052D which showed the two destroyers to be the same length. Although, it seems like 052D is about 0.5 to 1 m wider. Either way, 052D is basically the same size as 052C. The new VLS installations on 052D also look to be a lot smaller than the ones on 052C. And finally, the first 056s have gone on sea trials from both HP and HD shipyard.

The PLAAF is still trying to get their hands on some of them Il-78 Midas aerial refueling tanker

China interested in active cooperation with Ukraine in sphere of military aircraft modernization


http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/127718.html#.UKxTGoY2QX8














Ukraine
and China are planning to intensify cooperation in the sphere of the
repair and modernization of

PLA, Jordanian Armed Forces hold joint anti-terrorist drills

PLA, Jordanian Armed Forces hold joint anti-terrorist drills( Source: Xinhua http://eng.mod.gov.cn/Press/2012-11/17/content_4413076.htm )         2012-November-17 07:56BEIJING, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's People's Liberation Army on Friday launched joint anti-terrorist drills involving special operation forces with Jordanian Armed Forces in the Jordanian capital of Amman, according to the

Zhuhai suprise: The Il-76 soap opera continues.

Thanks Dylan for the update.


Rosoboronexport to deliver ten Il-76 transports to ChinaZHUHAI, China. Nov 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will deliver ten Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft to China following overall repairs, said Sergei Kornev, a deparatment head with the Russian state arms trader Rosoboronexport."Under a contract signed with China we will deliver ten Il-76 aircraft from the stock

Photos of the day: 43rd Air Regiment, 15th Air Divison, Beijing Air Corps

Those recently released PR photos are confirming a long running internet rumor -- the 43rd regiment is indeed the 8th J-10 line regiment.   The previous 7 J-10 regiments can be found at the  44th、3rd、2nd、1st、24th、9th PLAAF and the 4th PLAN-AF divisions.


J-10 20508

Zhuhai suprise: FK-1000 gun/missile system

Chinese light Tor M2E Mod?

Rules of Acquisition

China Drone Maker Expects to Double Sales on Islands Dispute













By Bloomberg News on November 15, 2012















http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-15/china-drone-maker-expects-to-double-sales-on-islands-dispute














China Aerospace Science & Industry
Corp., the nation’s biggest maker of non-military drones,
expects to double unmanned aerial vehicles sales

Zhuhai suprise: CATIC scores its first export sales of L-15

AIRSHOW CHINA: CATIC signs deal for 12 L-15 trainers http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airshow-china-catic-signs-deal-for-12-l-15-trainers-378931/By:   Greg Waldron Zhuhai06:18 13 Nov 2012 AVIC Hongdu has entered into a deal to supply the China National Aero Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) with 12 L-15 advanced jet trainers, with the type's first international sale to be

In case you need additional confirmation that both WZ-10 and WZ-19 are Operational

Chinese Army Aviation Force organizes training of WZ-10 and WZ-19 armed helicopters(Source: China Military Online)   2012-11-13The picture shows the WZ-10 and WZ-19 armed helicopters in training. (chinamil.com.cn/ Huang Wei)　　Several China's independently-developed WZ-10 and WZ-19 armed helicopters of an army aviation regiment under the Shenyang Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese

PR Photos of the day: Chinese Carrier Ops

What does J-31 tell us about China?

There have been many articles written about the recent first flight of J-31. If you go to sinodefenceforum where I moderate, you can see pages and pages of analysis by amateurs like myself over what we think the roles of this aircraft is along with its capabilities. If you read enough online articles, they will start repeating themselves over how close J-31 resembles to F-22 and F-35. And while this fighter looks to have stealth shaping, there are much more to achieving stealth than just resemblance to shaping of F-35. As usual, the one article that did peak my interest was the one by Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins. They looked at the growing Chinese aerospace industry and its increasing threat to Russia’s export markets.

I think that should be the general take away from this. In this year alone, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has done first flights of J-31, J-16 (a fighter bomber along the lines of Su-34/F-15E) and J-15S (twin seat variant of J-15). In this past 2 years, China has flight tested 2 different 5th generation aircraft. The rumour is that the Y-20 heavy transport project will also make maiden flight this year. I personally consider Y-20 project and the associated WS-18 and WS-20 (or maybe WS-118) turbofan engine to be PLAAF’s most important projects because of its use in force multiplication and power projection. China desperately needs a platform like Y-20 that can be used for strategic lift, aerial refueling, AEW C&C, other C4ISR missions and as ABL platform. Regardless of how one would view Y-20s importance vs J-20/J-31, these are definitely the 3 most important PLAAF projects over the next few years. The short duration of 2 years between the maiden flights of these projects shows how much China’s aviation industry is growing. Each of these projects is also worked on by one of AVIC 1’s three largest aircraft companies (Shenyang, Chengdu and Shaanxi/Xi’an AC). In their civilian business, each of these companies is involved in the production of parts for numerous airliners for COMAC and Western aircraft manufacturers. When we include their military projects, we can see the amount of R&D that these companies are doing.

A while ago, I read about how Chengdu AC is now employing a whole new generation of engineers that learnt the entire fighter development process from J-10 project. This group of engineers has since developed JF-17 and J-10B. They are now the brains behind J-20, numerous new J-10 variants and UAV projects. I think they have also recruited foreign engineers (especially from Russia and Ukraine) that have really contributed in all the military projects. These companies are paying increasingly competitive wages to recruit capable engineers and employing modern Western design practices. 20 years ago, one would question whether or not China can actually develop a 4th generation fighter jet let alone a 5th generation fighter jet even if they received all of the necessary funding. With the experience from J-10 project, JH-7A project and indigenization of J-11 project, they now have the capability to develop modern fighter jet if given time and money. In comparison, Russia will be increasingly facing the question of whether or not it can develop modern aircraft due to a dwindling and aging engineering force from 20 years of brain drain. In the export market, Russia is still reliant on upgraded versions of flanker and fulcrum series of aircraft for most of revenues. With T-50 still years away from being available for export outside of India, Su-35 and Mig-35 are what Russia will be able to offer for its traditional markets. Once J-10 finally starts using domestic engine, China will be able to offer J-10 and JF-17 to compete against Russia in those markets. From the recent test flights, it looks J-31 will be available for export as F-60 not that far after T-50 becomes available. Until then, J-10B, future JF-17s and Chinese UAVs will be competitive against Russian exports. By the time J-31 becomes available, China will have something capable of taking serious market shares in the very lucrative fighter jet market. This has already happened to a degree in the naval export market, where the rapidly improving quality of PLAN ships have let to more capable ships available for exports. Chinese shipyards have been quite busy building smaller battle ships, FACs and OPVs for countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and African countries.

There are still many lingering questions about China’s aerospace engine industry. As we saw, J-31 made its first flight with RD-93 engines which are clearly not intended to fit the production versions of J-31. All of J-10A and JF-17 production aircraft are equipped with Russian engines. The first batch of Y-20 and H-6K will be equipped D-30KP2. However, it looks like FWS-10/A mass production has finally reached reliable stage. All of the recent batches of J-11B/S have been using FWS-10. J-15, J-15S, J-16 and J-20 prototypes have also been using FWS-10. In a recent photo, it looks like the first production J-10B may also be using FWS-10A. If that is the case, the majority of front line Chinese aircraft will soon be using Chinese engines instead of Russian ones.

Photo of the day: Z-19 light attack chopper at Zhuhai

China's 13th escort fleet departs for Somali waters

The 13th naval escort squad, sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, departed Friday from China to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for escort missions.The squad, which left a port in Zhanjiang of South China's Guangdong province, will succeed the 12th escort fleet currently conducting missions in Somali waters.The 13th convoy fleet includes the frigates Huangshan and Hengyang

Zhuhai Suprise: Chinese speedchopper concept

It seems that the Chinese is also entering the speedchopper fray with its own "Avant-Courier" concept after Sikorsky X2 triplex and Eurocopter's X3.   One thing that is for sure, all three concepts will be easier to operate then Bell Boeing's V-22 Osprey


The Avant-Courier concept












  Sikorsky X2 triplex






 Eurocopter's X3

Zhuhai Suprise: Z-10 of the 6th LH Brigade.

Two Z-10s have just arrived at the 2012 Zhuhui airshow representing the PLA Army Aviation and they are from the 6th LH Brigade (LH96101 and LH96102) of the 42nd Group Army near by.   This revelation marks the 6th LH as the third Z-10 equipped LH units in service.






























Tuesday, October 02, 2012




2nd Z-10 equipped Army Aviation Unit.



Judging from the recent PLA Daily

PLANAF 2nd "Specialized" Division getting three more Y-8GX5 AEW&C birds

Judging from the latest PR release of the PLAN-AF 2nd 'specialized" division, its fourth regiment is getting at lease three new Y-8GX5  (KJ-200) AEW&C aircrafts









Saturday, April 25, 2009


PLANAF 2nd "Specialized" Division




PLANAF 2nd "Specialized" Division, North Sea Fleet, PLA Navy is
headquartered in Dialing with primary focus on ASW, ELINT and other EW
related missions. It

Zhuhai Suprise: ZBL09 30mm/MANPAD AD variant

On display at the Zhuhai 2012 airshow.

Photos of the day: Getting ready for Zhuhai Air Show 2012

In addition to Z-10 and Z-19 on display, AVIC is showing off a model of the J-31. I guess is the cat is out of the bag.

Photos of the day: First pair of Y-8C leaves for Venezuela

After completing all the flight test activities, this new pair of Y-8C is heading to their new home in South America. A total of 8 Y-8C were ordered

Photos of the day: PLA snipers in Colombia

For Tirador De Alta Precision 2012 (here)

Photos of the day: Z-19

Without much fanfare,  The Z-19 light attack chopper is  now servicing two different LH brigades, the 8th and the 2nd.  Yes,  it is still ugly and in need of a chain gun.

As a side note,   Z-19 will be on public display at the 2012 Zhuahi airshow later this month. 
























Wednesday, February 01, 2012



Z-19 in LH Color



It has been over a year since the first photo s the Z-

Yes, Twin seater J-15S does exist.

Yesterday Shenyang aircraft company's rumored twin-seat J-15 Multirole Naval Fighter took to the sky for her maiden flight.

Here are some photos of her (notice the tailhook)





















Friday, September 28, 2012


A closer look at the J-15 Multirole Naval Fighter Project (SAC)




Fueling suspicion that the J-15 programme may be much further advanced than we think.There were already

First flight of J-31

Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's stealth aircraft project J-31's prototype made its first flight yesterday. Here are some of the better photos that I saw online:


This is probably the best photo I've seen of J-31


This one has J-31 prototype with J-11BS chase aircraft


At this point, I'm not sure what the exact plan for this project is. That's something we will find out further down the road, but speculations include a future naval fighter jet or form part of hi-lo combo with J-20 or as a aircraft that will eventually be up for exports.

I've read numerous people who believe that this is result of China hacking into Lockmart computers. This is due to the fact that J-31 resembles F-35 from front profile and F-22 from side profile. I think that's complete nonsense. I've seen the struggles of SAC trying to indigenize flankers (which they received full blue prints + production line in the license production deal). It's very hard for me to believe that SAC can reproduce F-35 from stolen files without access to the same engines or the material or the complicated computer code that controls the whole aircraft.