Recent article about Anti-ship Missile joining PLAN

Recently, an article came out that talked about a YJ series missile that appeared in the 60th anniversary parade last October. From the text, it appears to be talking about the latest version of YJ-83. Here is the article in Chinese:

2009年10月1日，国庆60周年阅兵式上，我国新型“鹰击”系列反舰导弹顺利经过天安门广场，光荣地接受了祖国和人民的检阅。

“此型导弹是我军第一型大射程、命中精度高、抗干扰能力强、全数字化导弹……”解说员清晰的声音随电波传遍世界各地。这一刻，无数中华儿女的心在沸腾。

作为我军现役的新型主力反舰导弹，它们具有什么性能？研制背后发生了哪些故事？记者专门采访了国庆60周年受阅新装备监造者、海军驻某导弹总装工厂军事代表室总代表李耀国大校。

零故障参加国庆首都阅兵

记者：作为国庆装备的直接监造者，你们军代表的内心肯定充满了无比的自豪和荣耀，能不能谈谈当时的情况？

李耀国：这是一项光荣的任务啊！2009年6月，当上级机关把作为阅兵装备的新型反舰导弹监造任务下达给我们军代表室时，我们全室同志无比兴奋。但是，交付周期比正常的生产周期大大缩短，困难可想而知。

在装备生产过程中，军代表室指派专业组长周传忠、业务骨干李锋两名同志倒班工作，吃住在工厂，确保阅兵装备得到全过程质量监督。有一天，大家晚上加班到9点多，在弹翼接头材料分析时，突然发现：有几件产品强度性能指标虽然在合格范围内，但已经接近下限。

厂家的现场指挥人员准备安排第二天上班再排故，周传忠急忙劝阻，建议把设计人员接到现场排故。在等待的过程中，他耐心地对现场工人说：“今晚故障不排除，整个进度就会受到影响，交装的时间就可能延误，部队训练的时间就会相应减少，部队完成阅兵任务的压力就会加大。今晚不管干到几点，故障不清除决不能休息。”

随即，他又找来相关生产记录和资料认真研究，直到凌晨3点多故障才顺利排除。

记者：都说细节决定成败。在航空航天高科技领域，是不是尤为明显？

李耀国：是的。干航天，就要有这样过细的作风。记得该型导弹首次助推弹试验那天，随着一声令下，导弹呼啸着冲了出去，现场的人群欢呼起来。这是此型导弹首次试验，发射出去即意味着成功。

回到住处，现场的人员都互相祝贺，还燃放起了鞭炮。我们军代表却没有被表面的成功迷惑，而是像往常一样，回到房间后打开了现场录取的数据，认真地分析起来。通过对导弹推力数据和弹道数据进行研究分析，与发射的现场录像进行比对，我们发现导弹的初始弹道数据有些下降，数值不大，单从发射场面上是根本看不出来的。

于是，我们立刻找来总师和相关技术员，提出了自己的看法。这个问题在现试验阶段看起来可能不是问题，但是若带入到下一个试验阶段，可能是一个致命的问题。因为弹道下沉，说明推力不足，导致速度不足，从而直接影响后续的舵面控制，后果将是灾难性的。

听完这一席话，刚才还兴高采烈的同志们马上就变得鸦雀无声。于是，大家连夜召开了分析会，对助推器进行改进，增大初始燃烧面积。通过后续试验验证，问题得到圆满解决。

记者：类似这样的情况肯定有很多，能不能谈谈在研制这型导弹的过程中发生的难忘故事？

李耀国：的确是这样，每一型武器研制的背后，都充满了艰辛，也留下了许多难忘的记忆。

记得导弹对海攻击试验时正值冬季，室外的气温是零下20多摄氏度。研制人员和军代表们每天都在寒风凛冽的机场露天办公。当时导弹在挂上战机出发后，突然出现高度测量误差。这对于掠海攻击的导弹来说，是非常致命的。大家分析半天，一直没有找到原因。后来，在检测导弹时，无意中发现高度表内有一小滴冷凝水！原来高度表在生产过程中密封性不强，混入了水蒸气。经过高空环境后结成冰霜，下来后终于现了原形。故障很快被排除
性能六大方面新突破

记者：作为国庆60周年首都阅兵，我国最先进反舰导弹，新型“鹰击”系列导弹都有哪些突破？与国外先进导弹相比有哪些优势？

李耀国：国产新型反舰导弹在前一型导弹的基础上作了重大改进，主要有六大方面突破：

一是由模拟体制改成了数字体制，由中控计算机实施整体控制，缩小了体积，操控性、稳定性更好；二是射程大大增加，是原型弹的一倍，并具有了航路规划能力；三是弹头性能提升，捕捉目标的能力提高，抗干扰能力大增；四是使用性能大大改善，导弹的准备时间压缩，操作程序简化；五是具有广泛适装性，能在多型飞机、多型舰艇上使用；六是使用寿命提高，又大大方便了部队官兵使用。

至于说与国外的先进导弹相比，因为没有直接的比试，不能轻易下结论。但我可以说，和国外的先进导弹相比，它应该处于国际先进水平，有些方面甚至是领先的。

比如，我们这型导弹高可靠性，无论是试验阶段还是部队实际使用，几乎没有失败过。再比如，可维护性、保存性、操作性等方面，我们也有优势。当然还有一点，我们造价也肯定比国外便宜，这是毋庸置疑的。

记者：很多军事爱好者都注意到，现役很多反舰导弹都有掠海飞行能力，那么导弹飞行高度是不是越低越好呢？导弹末端机动能力是不是一个方向？

李耀国：掠海飞行是反舰导弹的一大特点。主要是因为舰艇预警雷达受地球曲率的影响有盲区，掠海飞行可以躲过雷达的探测，达到突然袭击的效果。现在反舰导弹的平飞高度一般在20米左右，到末端后能达到5－7米，这对于躲避雷达来讲，已经足够了。如果高度再下降，很容易就被卷进大海里，国外在试验时就曾发生过类似的悲剧。

末端的机动能力,是导弹增强突防能力一个重要手段，也是一个发展方向。

具备高亚音速飞行能力

记者：大家知道，俄罗斯“现代”级导弹驱逐舰上的“马斯基特”反舰导弹具有超音速飞行的能力，而欧美的一些知名导弹却都采用了高亚音速。这是为什么呢？

李耀国：超音速和亚音速是两个并行的方向，谈不上哪个一定好。虽然超音速导弹速度快，但在技术上存在着一些根本性问题。

首先是射程不足。为了“跑得快”，燃料消耗大，射程就受到影响。导弹要多装燃料，弹头就要减轻，杀伤力也会受到影响。

其次是容易暴露。为保证足够射程，超音速反舰导弹通常要进行中高空飞行，这就把自己置于敌防御雷达的水平视线以上，在理论上给了对方更多预警时间。而且，在飞行过程中，超音速导弹正面的红外特征要比亚音速导弹高20～50倍，装备了新型红外信号转换系统的军舰很容易发现。

再次是应变能力不强。超音速反舰导弹同样依靠雷达搜索追踪目标。处理同样的目标数据，超音速导弹比亚音速导弹的时间少60％。一旦遇到干扰，导弹很可能还没来得及分辨清楚，就一下子飞过去了。而且因为速度太快，超音速导弹如果在第一回合里错过目标，就没有第二次机会了。

最后是费用昂贵。因为超音速反舰导弹对导弹的机动性要求极高，需要用一些特殊材料。计算结果表明，超音速反舰导弹的耗费要比亚音速反舰导弹高1．5倍。

我国下一代反舰导弹，会朝着更高的目标迈进。我相信，经过我国科技人员的努力，中国“鹰击”系列反舰导弹一定能保持自己的优势，在激烈的国际竞争中力求保持先进水平。（记者　钱晓虎　特约记者　姜毅 照片由记者 张雷提供）

The relevant parts translate to something like this:
In the 60th anniversary national parade, China's new YJ series AShM shined. It was announced as China's first long range, high accuracy, fully digital missile with high resistance to ECM.

An interview with admiral Li from a naval missile assembly factory.
Started off by mentioning some of the things that happened as they were producing/preparing the missiles for the parade. The typical propoganda in these kind of articles that try to drum up the situation.
Talks about the importance of making sure every little details are right in aerospace industry. When this missile did its first flight testing, everything looked good from the ground. But when they went back and looked at the missile thrust figures and missile trajectory figures, they found that some of the testing figures were less than expected. These are the things you can find by first look. It then talked about another case where the missile misjudged the height in an extremely cold testing environment when it was launched off aircraft. It took a long time before they found out it was due to bad production quality which threw off the instrument measuring the height.

The next part talks about the 6 areas that this missile improved on previous designs:

1. Going from Analog to fully digital with a central computer providing overall control.
   
2. The range increased 100% and also has ability to plan the flight path.
   
3. Seeker technology has increased, can find target better and improved anti-jamming capability.
   
4. Has improved usability, preparation time decreased and procedure is simplified
   
5. Can be used on many platforms (multiple types of aircraft and ships.
   
6. Has longer service life.
   

Admiral says that he believes YJ missile is comparable to the most advanced missiles in the world and even exceed them in certain areas. It is very reliable and has rarely failed in tests and live firing.

He says that most missiles fly at 20 m height toward the target and then dips to 5 to 7 m in the terminal phase. There is really no need to fly any lower, which could cause it to be swallowed by water. Improving terminal maneuvering is an important part of missile development.

He then talks about the cons of supersonic missiles. btw, nothing he mentioned is new if you have ever followed one of those supersonic vs subsonic discussion threads. He says that the missile would have to either sacrifice range or warhead size due to the higher speed of supersonic missiles. He says that they have to fly higher which causes them to be picked earlier by ship radars. They also have 20 to 50 times larger infrared signature, which would allow latest IRST to pick them up easily. The also have much less time to search for target due to the faster speed. They probably have 60% less time to process information. When facing ECM, they might not have a second chance to find the target if something goes wrong the first time it's trying to target. Supersonic missiles also cost more to use than subsonic missiles (1.5 times as much). I'm a little confused here because I think the supersonic missiles cost more than that much more. So, he might have just been talking about maintenance and usage cost.

Interesting news about China/Israel/Iran

So, according to this article on times online, the Israelis actually made the unprecedented move to come to China to try to persuade Chinese support for sanctions. That in itself is nothing new, but the Israelis are basically saying that they will attack Iran's nuclear facilities and that all hell with break loose if they do. According to the article, they have even let a Chinese general to inspect their strike force to show that they are capable of accomplishing this mission. Basically if you've followed the commentaries of Robert Baer, the Israelis will move to take out the nuclear facilities if UN doesn't deliver on further sanction. Clearly, Israel regards this as existential threat (this entry is not to agree or disagree that point). Even so, it is still a curious strategy to straight out tell China that "you better help us, because we are so desperate that we will do something so dramatic that you will get hurt in the process and we don't care what anyone else thinks about it". It amounts to basically blackmailing the world's leading creditor.

I'm curious to see how China will react to this. I personally think they should support further sanctions in the hope of stopping this from escalating further into a wide conflict that would basically take a large part of Middle East oil out of commission. The world's economy is just recovering and can't handle a dramatic energy crisis like this. However, would supporting a harsher sanction right now stop the Iranians and appease the Israelis? What if the Israelis come back to ask for more sanctions if this round does not solve anything? These are all things that China needs to think about.

AC-313

So recently, AC313 made its maiden flight. As previously known, it is just an improved civilian version of the Z-8 series, which is basically Chinese version of SA-321, first purchased from the French in the 80s. In fact, the internal designation of AC313 is Z-8F-100 as shown in one of the pictures I've attached. Below is the translation of an article on AC313.

AC313 is China's first large transport helicopter designed accoring to flight regulation and China's only only self designed/produced larger helicopter. It fills a vacuum in the large civilian helicopter segment. AC313 is a traditional single-rotor helicopter with tail rotor tandem pilot seating, carries 3 turboshaft engine and non-retractable landing gear. It's maximum starting weight is 13.8 ton and is suitable for use in ocean climate and other complex environmental condition. It can takeoff and land in most field type. It can be used to transport people and goods, do search & rescue, perform emergency rescue and disaster relief.

Rotor system uses advanced composite material for blade and titanium ball shaped main rotor. Composite material is used on 50% of the helicopter and titanium is used for the remainder. The avionics system uses the international standard's 429 databaus, achieving digital integrated display control. AC313 reaches 3rd generation level interionally and has the following safety requirements:
- The rotor system can achieve 30 minutes of dry rotation
- fuel system and fuselage structure satisfy crash and radar safety requirements.
- pilot and passenger seating passed anti-crash safety requirements
- fuselage structure, flight control sytem and rotary wing system satisfies bird collision requirement
- helicopter systems satisfy lightning strike and high-strength radiation protection requirement
- cabin setup satisfies requirement of passengers getting out in emergency situations
- rotor and composite material structure meet the fatigue assessment based on damage tolerance requirements
- Mechanical systems satisfies the design requirements of high-energy rotor burst protection

AC313 uses composite material for rotor system and FADEC engine, large usage of composite material, integrated avionics systems, digital design and newest airworthiness safety requirement. It allows China to jump from 2nd to 3rd generation in large transport helicopter technology. Due to emphasis in maintenance detail design, service life reliability design and design, AC313's service life usage economics has improvement over previous models.
AC313 has 7 special achievement in functionality.
1. High reliability. It has 3 engines and can still operate if one of the engines fails and can land when 2 engines fail.
2. Strictly follows fungal protection, heat/humidity protection and salt fog protection. Is suitable to use in ocean condition and other harzaradous environment
3. Large space. Cabin is 1.83 m and 23.5 m^3 in space. And average height Chinese person can walk in it standing up. Has comfortable seating and interior. Can be converted to VIP variant.
4. Can carry 4 tonne of inside the helicopter or 5 tonnes on a sling. Can carry a maximum of 27 passengers or 15 stretchers with one medical personnel seating and operational station. Can easily install fixed cargo.
5. Has long range. 900 km with full internal fuel and has ferry range of over 1400 km when carrying 3 fuel tanks.
6. Has excellent sterring system, combined with four-axis autopilot, operating load is small, good flying qualities.
7. Can be used in evironment from -40 to +50 celsius. Can fly an altitude of 6000 m and takeoff and land at 4500 m high airpot.
AC313's well designed aerodynamics, advanced rotor system, rotor system's low stalling rate, tail rotor's strong ability against side wind have pushed Chinese large transport helicopter past technological bottlenecks. Has ability to fly in highland, mountainous regions and other complex geographical regions.

Here are some of the photos showing the cockpit of AC-313, test flights and registration:





So, it is clearly a heavily modified version of Z-8. Unfortunately at the moment, AVIC-1 is still stuck in the stage of co-developing helicopter with more advanced helicopter companies or modifying Z-8/9/11s. After years of struggling with Z-8 production, they have at least managed to crank up production of this series. As seen with Z-8F, AC-313 should at least get some orders from Chinese companies for different roles like firefighting, transport and SAR missions. I also think it will eventually be adapted for the navy to be used on future carriers or LPDs. It could also be used by the army for SAR or transport roles (like with Z-8Ks). If that's the case, then they would have to eventually develop domestic engines to put on militarized AC-313. Either way, if AC-313 does reach the designed specs, it will be a step forward for the Chinese helicopter industry. Just as important, if the production rate of AC-313 can satisfy both civilian and military demand, it would also be a step forward for the Chinese helicopter industry which produced less than 3 Z-8s a year for much of the 90s and early 2000s.

Interestingly enough, we also saw a new version (or one modified from existing Z-8Js) of Z-8 carrying gun pod.

It is most likely carrying QJK-99, which is sometimes seen carried on Z-9s. Here is a link on QJK-99 in Chinese. This version of Z-8 gunship could be fielded on 071 in the future. It's certainly a development worth keeping our eyes out for.

We've also seen Z-8KH join service in Hong Kong. So, we are continuing to see a lot of projects involving this old platform, which is now about to get a new facelift.

Russia and India

Reaction from Recent Putin's trip to India

Putin recently made a trip to India and signed a plethora of deals worth $10 billion. The deals include several nuclear power plants and military contracts worth $4 billion. I find it interesting that the Western media's over-reaction to this trip. A common theme seems to be that the good relationship developed with India during the Bush Administration is getting squandered by Obama Administration's policies. Obama's policies were described as ignoring India while favoring engagements with "bad countries" like China and Pakistan. And due to America's neglect, India has ran back to its traditional all-weather friend Russia. And Russia is sick of China copying its weapons and value India far more.

Needless to say, I found much of these articles to be comical. While it is true that India is getting less attention from America with Obama in power, I really don't think it had much to do with these contracts. When Bush signed that landmark nuclear power deal with India, other nuclear power exporters like Russia and France were also excited that they now have an NPT-exception to sell to India. It should be to no one's surprise that India chooses to diversify its nuclear power purchases between US, France and Russia to get the best available technology for the lowest price. That is what China is doing right now with building AP-1000, EPR, Candu and AES-91 at the same time. It seems like India is a huge nuclear energy market, so I don't think American firms like Westinghouse, GE and McDermott would be missing out.

The military agreements that came out from this trip seem to be the new terms for the Gorshkov refitting project, additional Mig-29Ks and more signings to the 5th generation fighter project. All three of these agreements are basically additional agreements to existing projects. Does it really surprise anyone that India wants to conclude this Gorshkov saga and use the same naval fighter on all of its aircraft carriers? These decisions were made in the earlier part of this decade and really do not have anything to do with the current political climate. And with the first flight of T-50, India clearly thinks that this is the best and fastest way for it to get into the 5th generation of fighter jets. There were also talks of India purchasing additional Su-30MKIs from Russia. I think that will also happen due to the delays in the MRCA and LCA projects. Russia has always been a reliable supplier to India. There really is no reason for India to cut them out just because Western countries are join in now. America has already scored several major contracts like the P-8I and C-130J orders. It is still in competition for utility helicopters, Project 17A, missile defense, various army RFPs and the MRCA project. So while the Russians continue to sell well to India, America is in no way getting left out.

I also do not see Russia selling certain weapon systems to India as an indication that its relationship with China is decreasing. It is true that Russia is fairly pissed out at China for declining purchases and allegedly copying several of its export (although as I have stated in the past, it really is nowhere as bad as the Russians claim). However, that is due to China's much improved military industrial complex and increased military cooperation with Ukraine and Belarus (at the expense of Russia) than weapons not being available. Over the last few years, military exports have become a much smaller part of the bilateral relationship. Otherwise, the leaders of the two nations would not be meeting so often.

In conclusion, Putin's trip to India is reaffirms the decade long friendship of the two countries. The military cooperation between the two countries will continue to flourish. However, people should not see this as a rebut to the US/India relationship. India is already a power to be reckoned with and will become a superpower at sometime this century. Its relationship with Russia cannot possibly go back to the cold war period, when it was a little brother to one of the two super powers. Its relationship with US will only expand as it becomes more and more involved in the world economy. And sadly, its relationship with China will become only more complex as their growing economic ties are overshadowed by the mutual distrust. Things will never go back to the way they were in the cold war days.

Varyag is out

Well, these pictures came out this weekend.


Shows that Varyag has left the dry docks in Dalian with the modified island. Although at this point, they really haven't put any of the sensors on the island yet. Looks like all of the dry dock work has been done and they will start to really install on the electronics now.

What I hear is that they completely redesigned the inside of the ship. They put a lot of serious investment into putting Varyag back into service, so it may serve past just having training purpose. Just waiting patiently for the next stage now.

Latest SIPRI report

In the recent times, SIPRI posted a new report regarding the military sales in the five year period from 2005-2009. There are some reports on it regarding to China's affect on the military sales in this period.

I think this article from WPR pretty much summarized what all the other articles have been saying.

It is quite clear that a lot of the Southeastern Asian nations are building up their forces during the past 5 years. That is confirmed by the report. However, I can't really definitively say that all of the countries are aiming at China. In the case of Vietnam, it's quite obvious that the recent purchases for the Kilo submarines and Su-30 fighter jets were aimed at China. I have talked about those purchases before and have labeled them as basically a waste of money. In the case of Indonesia, their purchases have pretty much been to just replace American weapons after America stopped supplying parts for those weapon systems. In fact, one could argue that those purchases were made in response to Australia and Singapore rather than China. It also explains why China has no qualms about selling weapons to Indonesia. In the case of Malaysia and Singapore, I think their purchases are aimed at each other as well as China. In many cases, one would ask why Malaysia needs to spend so much money on its defense. One could say that they are fearful of Chinese rise, but one could also say that they are just fearful of the more modern arsenal of Singapore. In both countries' cases, the rise in military import is also a cyclical issue. For example, Singapore only needs to buy fighter jets every x number of years. It just happens that it made a major purchase for F-15SGs during this 5 year period.

It did surprise me that China remained the largest importer of weapons during this period, because it seemed to have been so long since they actually bought anything meaningful. The report also acknowledged that China have only been buying some helicopters and engines for different platforms since 2007. Although, they did receive some S-300PMU2 from the Russians in 2008. Looking back, a large part of their purchases made in the wake of Bush's approval for Taiwan military sales were delivered in 2005 and 2006. I would expect the figures to drop quite a bit in the next 5 years, which would cause China to loose the title of the world's top importer of weapons. That would certainly be a good thing. However, they still do have quite a few items that would be considered foreign purchases like the Zubr deal, Ka-28/Mi-171 purchases, possibly another batch of AL-31FN for J-10, more RD-93s for JF-17s, D-30KP2 for H-6Ks, diesel engines for 054 series, engines for Z-8/Z-9/Z-10/Z-15. They could also potentially buy S-400 and Il-76/78s from the Russians, but we will have to wait and see.

I also read an article where the Russians complained that China is not buying more weapons from them. The truth is that they just need to get used to the fact that what they are selling is not all that appealing.

Lushae Jewelry Review

This is going to be a random musing, different from my normal posts.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Sarah of Lushae Jewelry to give a review of a product from her website. She was very nice about everything (I got the item to review for free!) and I looked through a decent selection of Jewelry on her website. For all the guys out there (I figure that's the majority of my reader), this is a good website to visit to get presents for your wives and girlfriends. They have different types of rings, earrings and necklaces on sale. I find the prices to be pretty good. I found similar items in a store like Swarovski to be much more expensive. And I normally consider Swarovski to be pretty affordable. This is a picture of the Edwardian necklace that I ended up getting (obtained from their website + its specifications:


Stone Colors: Clear / White
Lead Free: Yes
Setting Type: Prong
Clasp: Spring Ring
Item Weight: 5.5g
Carat Weight: 5.7ct
Chain: 16in + 2in Extender
Length: 31mm
Width: 24mm
Height: 6mm

I have to say that the picture above really doesn't do justice for the actual necklace. You can't really go wrong with a White Gold Rhodium layer, which makes it shine. And also since it is a type of platinum, you don't really have to worry about rusting or anything like that. The design itself is done really with a nice touch. I can't say much except that a female friend of my selected it and she really likes the design! All in all, I think all my readers out there will be able to find something intriguing on this website that they can afford (mostly in the $60-70 range) to buy for a loved one. The designs are simple, but elegant and attractive.