Newest variant of the SU-35
Posted on 11/23/2007 5:08:28 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Analysis: China seeks new Russian technology
HONG KONG, China, Nov. 23
ANDREI CHANG
Column: Military Might
A Chinese military source based in Beijing has said that the People's Liberation Army Air Force is currently negotiating with the Russian Sukhoi Aircraft Company on three new projects.
Military observers based in Moscow and Beijing believe that the recent nadir of military cooperation between China and Russia is only temporary. China will have to rely on Russia to develop its military technologies, as Beijing has no other alternative.
The first new project involves Su-33 shipborne fighters. Experts from the Russian aviation industry are convinced that China is about to start the construction of an aircraft carrier. "Up to the present, on the issue of the Su-33, China and Sukhoi have had three rounds of negotiations and have reached some agreement," said the source.
Nonetheless, he did not disclose what specific progress has been made in the negotiations, merely confirming that additional rounds of talks will be held. A high-level source from Sukhoi confirmed his company is most interested in discovering whether the Chinese want to purchase whole Su-33 fighters or only require Su-33 parts, and whether they will request the transfer of production technology or design blueprints.
Other sources from the Chinese military industry said that several plans were involved in the negotiations on the Su-33. One of them is that China will buy a small number of Su-33, say 10 to 24, and later request that production technologies be transferred. However, the Chinese strategy is to use some of the Su-33 technology to develop their own shipborne fighter based on the J-11B assembled domestically.
The second project under negotiation involves the newest Su-35 fighter. At the MAKS 2007 International Aviation and Space Salon held at the Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow in August, Chinese delegates took photos and videos of the Su-35 virtually every day.
"Several Chinese delegations have visited Sukhoi and raised technical questions," the Sukhoi company representative said. He claimed the two sides have reached a consensus and are now working on export plans.
"At least in the foreseeable future, China's indigenous aviation technologies will not be able to produce combat aircraft similar to the Su-35," he said. "Our attitude on this issue is the same as the case of the Su-33; that is, we are only interested in exporting whole Su-35s. This is not what the Chinese delegates hoped for. They hoped to import only certain subsystems, for instance the radar systems or the engines."
The third project concerns the PLA Navy's plan to import more Su-30MK2 fighters, or upgraded variants of the aircraft. No progress has been made on this as yet, however. A plan for China to import Su-30MK3 fighters, which was negotiated earlier, has not been carried out so far.
The possibility that the navy will continue importing Su-30MK2s or Su-30MK3s appears slim, mainly because it has already started to receive China-made JH-7A fighters. Meanwhile, the upgrade of the J-11B fighter aircraft has been very comprehensive. The fighter is now capable of launching precision attacks on battleships, and can basically meet the combat requirements of the navy fleet. China may not resume the import of Su-30MK2s unless the cost of the J-11B remains too high or comes close to the cost of the Su-30MK2.
Is there any possibility that the PLA Air Force may upgrade its existing Su-30MK2s and J-11s, or the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKIs, to a combat platform close to the Su-35 standard?
Dr. Yury Bely, a general designer at Russia's NIIP Radar Design Bureau, agreed to discuss the question. "It is impossible to import the Su-35's radar system only," he said. Bely stressed that it would be more feasible to import brand new Su-35s than to try upgrading the Su-30MK2.
The Su-35 is equipped with the H035 passive phased array radar system, which has extremely powerful detection capability, Bely pointed out. The average output power of this radar is 5 kW, with peak output at 20 kW; thus the output power of the Su-30MKI and Su-30MK2 would be insufficient. When the H035 radar was tested on Su-30MK No. 503, the detection range was as far as 290 kilometers with 1 kW power output, he said.
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(Andrei Chang is editor-in-chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto Canada.)
Newest variant of the SU-35
Or the Chinese could wait until Hilary sells them the Raptor.
In light of China’s provocation regarding the USS Kitty Hawk I think we should send the task force to Taiwan, fly the families over from Hong Kong and cancel any and all future visits to that port. When the reunion is over fly them all home and leave the Kitty Hawk for the Taiwanese. I’m sure they would love to have a carrier, in fact we should dig out the remaining mothballed diesel carriers and give, er sell them to Japan and South Korea. Outfitted with F-18 Hornets they would be a good match for the Chi-Coms and any new Russian planes. Japan could support three carrier groups with South Korea commanding two and the last protecting Taiwan. This would add an additional 6 Carrier battle-groups to just the spot they are needed and would free up a third of our own carriers. Considering the dollars recent decline we should be pushing our military hardware to all of our Allies while its still so cheap.
I don’t know if selling mothballed carriers or anything of that size is a good carrier.Most of those ships are huge(75K tonnes) with crew sizes of 4000 personnel or more.For countries which have operated no carriers(the ones you’ve mentioned)-crewing one such carrier would be equivalent to stripping off the crew of 10 destroyers.& they have no real carrier aviation capability-which takes upto a decade to build up in the minimum sense of the word.
Submarines with cruise missiles & Aegis equipped destroyers are the way to go for Taiwan,while Japan & South Korea seem to have adopted a sensible bottom approach of building amphibious support ships in the 15000 tonnes class.
Frankly,most nations wouldn’t want anything as big as an American carrier-it would be more of a liability than an asset.
You’re probably right. Destroyers and submarines and more of them, are what Japan and Taiwan need.
ping
Only for poor socialist states, Tiawan, South Korea and Japan aren’t and would consider them a great asset since they would only need to deploy a short distance from home.
This is not exactly about rich or poor.This is about logistics & numbers.How many people do the navies of those countries have to spare-do they have any carrier aviation capability now??Do their dock/repair facilities have any experience in dealing with such ships.What you are asking is for a jump from a tricycle to a Yamaha.They could manage to operate a supercarrier effectively in another 20 years provided they start now.
Yes it is, both Japan and South Korea have adequate facilities as we have carriers based there now. Taiwan would have no problem adapting to a single carrier group. South Korea is the largest and most advanced shipbuilder in the world, and all three have advanced manufacturing capabilities and economies that can easily support what I have suggested and much, much more. It is time to choose sides...
I am talking about their navies-right now.Do they have the manpower & resources to immediately handle carriers??They sure can in the future,but it would be a big stretch for them.
And another point-the current fleet of mothballed US carriers are all well over 40 years old.Would you want to spend billions on something that may not stay in service for another 20 years(most of the time as training vessels).
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