Defense/Military - 35. page

China News recently reported that the Chinese Air Force Commander Ma Xiaotian’s mention, in September, of the potential of China’s new generation of long-range bomber, triggered many discussions. However, a recent unexpected computer graphics picture, revealed on China’s Central Television (CCTV) news, has confirmed its existence. Wang Qun, Professor and Military Expert of the National Security and Military Centre for Strategic Studies at the National University of Defense Technology, studied the picture and suggested that the new Chinese long-range bomber should be able to reach a flight range of 12,000 kilometers with an effective load of 20 to 30 tons. Currently only the United States and Russia have bombers with that level of capability and the U.S. B-2A is the only model that has true stealth capability. Wang estimated that China’s new bomber may be able to achieve only partial stealth, while it could fly at supersonic speed – like the Russian T-160. The U.S. B-2A carries too high a price tag which may seem prohibitive for the Chinese budget. It is also a widely-accepted belief that China’s new bomber is also suitable for carrying nuclear bombs.

Source: China News, December 4, 2016
http://www.chinanews.com/mil/2016/12-04/8082883.shtml

Xinhua recently reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Central Military Committee’s Military Structure and Scale Reform Work Conference. In his speech, Xi declared the success of the historic military structural changes achieved in the past year, which modernized the Chinese military command system. He pointed out that the technological elements are having a more and more significant impact on how today’s military should be structured. He called for a new military that’s lean, integrated, small-sized, modular, and multi-functional. Xi asked the military reform to continue to deliver on quality and efficiency rather than quantity of headcounts. The military should get more technical, knowledgeable, multi-functional, and agile to win information-age wars. Xi insisted on reducing the size of the military while optimizing its structure towards a modernized standing army. He also reiterated the importance of advancing the anti-corruption movement in the military system.

Source: Xinhua, December 3, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-12/03/c_1120046523.htm

According to Bowen Press, the Chinese military will implement a new ranking system on August 1, 2017. The main changes include the abolition of senior colonel, grading the Generals, and the addition of the level of Brigadier General. In the reform of the military structure, the division and the regiment will be abolished. The division will be replaced by the brigade; under brigade will be the battalion. The ranking reform is to be in line with international standards and to broaden the avenue for the promotion of military officers.

After the reform, the new military ranking system will include three ranks and 12 levels, i.e., Lieutenants (Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain); Colonel Officers (Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel); Generals (Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General. General is also divided into General, General tier II and General tier I).

Source: Bowen Press, November 23, 2016
http:// bowenpress.com/news/bowen_147908.html

The Chinese media Bowen Press reported that, in addition to its disarmament reform program of 300,000 layoffs, the Chinese army will further reduce the scale of its ground forces, substantially cutting one army group in each of the five combat regions. The current 300,000 army layoffs mainly involve non-combat troops, including administrative organs, logistics, schools, hospitals and other functions. However, structurally, the ground forces among the five military entities are still too large as there are 18 army groups of 800,000 members, which accounts for one third of the total of all PLA troops.

Source: Bowen Press, November 24, 2016
http:// bowenpress.com/news/bowen_148168.html

In mid-November, China‘s top leader Xi Jinping attended the logistics support conference of the Central Military Commission.

According to public reports, in the two-day meeting that the Central Military Commission members and their major regional-level senior officials attended, Xi Jinping rolled out his plans to resolve the two major problems of the PLA logistics support system. One was the establishment of a modern logistics organizational model and mode of operation, in order to strengthen the centralized management of financial resources and to strengthen the centralized deployment of military assets. The other was to continue the anti-corruption campaign to the finish line, further cleaning up the Guo [Boxiong] and Xu [Caohou] remnants.

Neither Xi nor Xinhua explained the content of the so-called Joint Logistic Support System Reform. Xi did, however, reveal a clear signal – to break the monopoly on financial power that the General Logistics Department had, while establishing a clear unified deployment.

On September 13 of this year, the Communist Party of China suddenly announced the establishment of a logistics support unit under the Central Military Commission. This force does not belong to any military entity, but it will provide support for every military entity.

Source: Duowei, November 17, 2016
http://china.dwnews.com/news/2016-11-16/59782358.html

Global Times recently reported that the Ministry of Defense announced at a press conference that China has completed all of the design work on the first aircraft carrier that China has made in its entirety and the main ship hull has also been closed at the dock. It is very rare that the Chinese military reports to the public on the status of an aircraft carrier construction project. Experts estimated that, at the current speed, construction of the entire carrier can be completed in 2016. However, it may take another half year to one year after the launch to get the carrier into active military service. Typically, the United States takes four to five years to build an aircraft carrier. This first Chinese-made carrier is expected to take less time to build. Those doing the construction learned a lot from building the previous Chinese carrier, which had been built on top of an old soviet carrier bought from Ukraine. That experience significantly sped up the building process of the new ship. The article also mentioned the Dongfeng-21C mid-range missile being tested for combat scenarios. It is China’s strategic missile model that is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Source: Global Times, October 28, 2016
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2016-10/9611376.html

According to an article that Duowei News published, the 11th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibit will be held in Zhu Hai City from November 1 through 6. The domestically made “Rainbow Series” unmanned aircraft will be on exhibit. It will include the Rainbow 3, Rainbow 4, and Rainbow 5, which are unmanned solar powered aircraft and have a ground effect in aircraft, as well as the Rainbow 805 high speed invisible drone aircraft. The article reported that the Rainbow 5 has a technical capability that is superior to the Predator B unmanned aircraft of the United States. The article also stated that the future development of the domestically made unmanned aircraft is to have the capability of being carrier based.

Source: Duowei News, October 27, 2016
http://military.dwnews.com/news/2016-10-27/59778145.html