In a video released on September 21, the Chinese military conducted a test of three hypersonic boost glide vehicles. The wedge-shaped vehicles were lifted aloft in a launcher carried by a high altitude balloon and appear to have been released in a vertical orientation. The status of China’s hypersonic boost glide vehicle development is unknown,...
On August 24, China’s PLA-Navy began sea trials for the first of its Type 055 guided-missile destroyers. Lead ship Nanchang (101) was launched in June 2017 in Shanghai and was declared by the China’s Defense Ministry “a milestone in the PLA Navy’s strategic transformation and development”. China launched a second 055 in May 2018, followed...
On August 28, Chinese news source The People’s Daily reported that China had test fired the HQ-16 air and missile defense system sometime in mid-August. The test was conducted in the Gobi Desert. The HQ-16 is a medium range air defense system designed to counter aerial targets. It is similar to Russia’s Buk M-2 system....
Last week, China officially accepted S-400 Triumf air defense systems from Russia in an acceptance certificate. Elements of the systems were sent in January and delivered to China in April and May. In an interview with Russian news agency TASS, a military diplomatic source stated, “It is planned that in late July-early August the unit of the Chinese People’s...
On July 4, China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) launched two Type-055 guided missile destroyers, joining the two Type-055s launched earlier this year. The Type-055 guided missile destroyers are the largest such ships belonging to an Asian country and may have a final displacement greater than the U.S. Ticonderoga-class destroyer. China’s Type-055 is armed with...
On June 1, the Pakistan Navy concluded a second agreement to buy two Type 054A Jiangkai II-class guided missile frigates from the China Shipbuilding Trading Co Ltd. (CSTC). This follows the initial 2017 agreement to procure two frigates. The Type 054A frigate weighs 4,000 tons and features stealth capabilities and a 32-cell vertical launching system...
On June 3, the Israeli geospatial intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI) captured imagery of the contested Woody Island, the largest of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, showing that Chinese deployed HQ-9 medium- to long-range active radar homing surface-to-air missile systems have been moved from their positions on the island’s beach. The missiles...
Several decades ago, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone once described his country as a “big aircraft carrier” from which to defend against Soviet aircraft. Although such an analogy fails to capture the richness and depth of the U.S-Japan alliance, it did say something important about Japan’s unique geographic and strategic position. Today’s air and...
According to sources with knowledge of intelligence reports, China has installed antiship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems on three of its fortified outposts in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea. Reports indicate the YJ-12B ASCM and HQ-9B SAM were moved to Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef within the last 30 days....
On April 16, China’s Ministry of Defense announced that the People’s Liberation Army-Rocket Force (PLARF) had recently commissioned a new brigade of its Dong Feng-26 (DF-26) intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). The DF-26 was first publicly displayed in a September 2015 military parade. Nicknamed the “Guam-killer,” the missile has a range of 3,000-4,000 km and carries...
