Defense/Military - 17. page

Xinhua recently reported that the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress just passed major amendments to the National Defense Law. The newly amended law established “Xi Jinping Thought” as the guiding principle in national defense activities and it enhanced the National Military Commission Chairman Accountability System. The amendments also defined new areas of national security and the need to defend the national interests in these areas. Xi Jinping’s foreign relationship principles have also been applied to policy directions on military related foreign affairs. The new amendments “decisively” clarified and reinforced the concept of “all-people national defense.” It requires that “all state organizations and armed forces, all political parties and people’s organizations, and all enterprises and institutions, social organizations and other organizations” must “support and participate” in national defense duties, and complete assigned national defense tasks. All citizens must strengthen their awareness of national defense. Students and public officials should also take military training or receive national defense education.

Source: Xinhua, December 26, 2020
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-12/26/c_1126911488.htm

A report titled, “Chinese nuclear forces, 2020” was published on December 10 as a result of the research of Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate with the project. The report examines China’s nuclear arsenal, which is estimated to have surpassed France’s as the world’s third largest.

The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), formerly the Second Artillery Corps (SAC), is China’s strategic and tactical missile force. The PLARF is a component part of the People’s Liberation Army and controls the nation’s arsenal of land-based ballistic missiles—both nuclear and conventional.

According to the December 10 report, “the number of ballistic missile brigades has increased by over 35 percent in just three years. Some of those are still under construction.  … We estimate the PLA Rocket Force currently has up to 40 brigades with ballistic or cruise missile launchers. Of those brigades, approximately half operate ballistic missile launchers with nuclear capability, a number that is likely to grow further as bases currently under construction are completed.”

The report stated that 12 of the brigades belonged to the eastern and southern command theaters, which mainly deal with Taiwan and South China Sea affairs.

The Chinese government did not publish nuclear weaponry information such as the number of warheads. The report estimated that “China has produced a stockpile of approximately 350 nuclear warheads, of which roughly 272 are for delivery by more than 240 operational land-based ballistic missiles, 48 sea-based ballistic missiles, and 20 nuclear gravity bombs assigned to bombers. The remaining 78 warheads are intended to arm additional land- and sea-based missiles that are in the process of being fielded.”

As of 2019, the U.S. had an inventory of 3,800 nuclear warheads, while early this year, Russia had 4,500.

Although China only recently has begun to reassign a formal nuclear mission to the PLA Air Force units, it is developing a bomber with a longer range and improved capabilities to replace its current H-6 bombers. “US officials have stated for several years that the new bomber, known as H-20, will have a nuclear capability. In early 2020 the US Defense Department described the H-20 as a ‘stealth’ bomber whose production will begin within 10 years.”

Although the Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) are still a very noisy design, “it seems likely that China will end production after its now-completed six boats and will turn its efforts to developing the quieter third-generation (Type 096) SSBN, which is scheduled to begin construction in the early 2020s. The completion of a new construction hall at Huludao, where the PLA Navy’s submarines are built, indicates that work may soon begin on the Type 096, which is expected to be larger and heavier than the Type 094.”

Source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 10, 2020
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.2020.1846432

At the end of November, the team of Professor Jiang Zonglin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mechanics published a research paper in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, a peer-reviewed academic publication. In his paper, he claimed that the Academy has developed a “standing oblique detonation ramjet engine,” or sodramjet for short. The team said that the engine could take a flight at up to 16 times the speed of sound and an aircraft powered by such an engine could reach anywhere in the world within two hours.

According to the South China Morning Post, the sodramjet was an American idea. An engineer named Richard Morrison came up with the idea and presented it in a 1980 paper that can be downloaded from NASA’s website.

Dr. Uzi Rubin, founder and first director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, an expert in hypersonic missiles, said the new design was still “very experimental” and its advantages still remained uncertain. He said, “Even though it looks promising … it will take about a generation for it to be used commercially.”  “I believe that hypersonic human flight is not imminent, if it can be done at all.”

Source; Radio Free Asia, December 6, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/5-12062020143200.html

On December 7, 2020, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) issued a report on the state of the global arms industry in 2019. “The data showed that arms sales of the world’s 25 largest arms-producing and military services companies (arms companies) totaled US$361 billion in 2019.”

“12 U.S. companies appear in the top 25 for 2019. They account for 61 percent of the combined arms sales of those top 25.”

“The top 25 also includes four Chinese companies. Three are in the top 10: Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC; ranked 6th), China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC; ranked 8th) and China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO; ranked 9th). The combined revenue of the four Chinese companies in the top 25—which also includes China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC; ranked 24th)—grew by 4.8 per cent between 2018 and 2019.”

SIPRI Senior Researcher Nan Tian said, “The Chinese arms companies are benefiting from military modernization programs for the People’s Liberation Army.”

“After the USA, China accounted for the second largest share of the 2019 arms sales of the top 25 arms companies. Its share was 16 percent.”

Source: SIPRI, December 7, 2020
https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2020/global-arms-industry-sales-top-25-companies-85-cent-big-players-active-global-south

A few days ago it was reported that the Chinese military used microwave weapons to retake the two hills that the Indian army occupied after the standoff that occurred at the disputed border for several months. By releasing microwaves at the foot of the mountain, the Chinese military turned the mountain top into a “microwave oven.” The Indian troops on the mountain began to vomit and couldn’t stand and eventually had to leave.

Microwave is a high-frequency electromagnetic wave with a radiation wavelength range from one millimeter to one meter, a frequency between 0.3 GHZ and 300 GHZ, and a propagation speed equal to the speed of light. Microwave weapons, also known as radio frequency weapons or electromagnetic pulse weapons and can be used to attack the electronic systems of various weapons and equipment. This is especially important information with regard to warfare targets such as command and control centers and communication transmission networks, causing the entire combat command system a “sudden death.” It can also penetrate armor to kill the personnel directly.

In the field of microwave weapons, the United States, China, and Russia are the leading countries in research and development.

On January 9, 2017, a research team at China’s Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology was awarded the first prize of the State Science and Technology Progress Award for 2016. The winning project was the “High Power Microwave Anti-Missile System.” Huang Wenhua, the team lead, said, “This achievement is for a disruptive technology that represents a major leap forward. It is also a pioneer internationally.”

China’s high-power microwave anti-missile system can be used for naval air defense and anti-missile warfare. It is reported that China’s Type 055 destroyer is equipped with a microwave anti-missile system which can disable the electronic equipment of incoming enemy aircraft and missiles, and even burn the enemy’s pilots.

Sina.com once quoted a paper in March 2017 and reported that China’s microwave weapons are currently undergoing a series of tests for aircraft self-defense, space control, suppression of enemy air forces, and combat command and control communications. It also successfully developed gigawatt-class high-power microwave air defense weapons, and conducted experiments to destroy aircraft and other targets.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, November 16, 2020
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20201116-1101404