Posted on 01/17/2019 5:30:31 AM PST by Freeport
A new report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency highlights Beijings continued development of airpower capabilities.
The unclassified report draws on public sources to discuss the full spectrum of Chinese military capabilities, from land forces to space and cyber capabilities. It also underlines the airpower developments that are of specific interest to Washington.
The Peoples Liberation Army Air Force [PLAAF] is closing the gap with Western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities, such as aircraft performance, command and control, and electronic warfare, it says.
The PLAAFs role has evolved from one of protecting Chinas population centres and industrial areas to projecting power. A major focus in recent years has been the addition of airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) aircraft such as the Ilyushin IL-76-derived KJ-2000, the Shaanxi KJ-200, and KJ-500.
Thank you, President Clinton, for helping the Chinese jump-start these programs.
If they fly like their commercial brethren we have nothing to worry about.
Paid for by AMERICANS.
For real. We are building up, the only country in the world, who intends to REPLACE us.
When I joined FR I remember a comment here that Taiwan was safe because China did not have the capability to move troops/ordnance across the 100m-wide Taiwan Strait, and thus no danger whatsoever existed. Interesting how the passage of years changes things.
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