News Story: Satellite images show China's nearly completed weapon structures in Spratlys

China's Artificial Island built on Fiery Cross Reef

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — Recent satellite images released by a Washington-based think tank appear to show that China has nearly completed its weapon structures on three of its artificial islands in the South China Sea.

The CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) confirmed earlier reports that Beijing is near completion of structures that will house surface-to-air missile systems on Fiery Cross (Kagitingan), Mischief (Panganiban) and Subi (Zamora) Reefs in the Spratly Islands.

The deployment of weapon systems to China's three largest outposts in the Spratly Islands, which are also being claimed by the Philippines, would keep with its efforts to extend its defense capabilities throughout the so-called nine-dash line, the AMTI said.

Satellite imagery taken on Nov. 2, 2016 and again on February 7 show eight of the buildings being constructed on each of the three outposts.

Read the full story at PhilStar << Images

News Story: Chinese HQ-9 SAM system deployed in South China Sea

China has deployed an HQ-9 surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries in its significant development of new military constructions and placement of new naval and aerial military assets in the Paracel Islands, a disputed territory in the South China Sea.

New photos of the islands that make up the Paracels, showing significant construction on all of them, has been published by The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

The most developed island is Woody Island, which China has long used as its central base in the region. Woody Island, CSIS notes, now possesses “an airstrip, hangars, and a deployment of HQ-9 surface-to-air missile batteries.”

Read the full story at Tankler

News Report: China Reportedly Aims to Send More Missiles to Disputed South China Sea Islands

Beijing intends to deploy more surface-to-air missiles to the disputed islands in the South China Sea, US media reported on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US intelligence agencies say they think China will move CSA-6b and HQ-9 weapons to the contested South China Sea territories from the island of Hainan, Fox News reported.

US authorities has come to the conclusion based on new satellite images from Hainan, according to media report.

The Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, are contested by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

In July, the international tribunal at the The Hague rejected Beijing's claims on the islands and rebuked its activity in the South China Sea, including the construction of artificial land. 

The US Navy continues freedom of navigation patrols in the area despite protests by China.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: China Seizes US Underwater Drone, Fortifies Disputed Islets

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

UPDATE: China agrees to return drone WASHINGTON: The same day the US Navy made its case for a much larger fleet of 355 ships, the Chinese navy seized an American underwater drone 50 nautical miles off the Philippines. Just two days earlier, the independent Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported China had fortified the artificial islands it has built in disputed waters off the Philippines, emplacing anti-aircraft guns and probably short-range missile defenses as well. If the US Navy needed help convincing Congress to fund a larger fleet, their Chinese counterparts are making a strong case.

[UPDATE: Early Saturday afternoon, the Pentagon said China had agreed to return the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle: “Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States.” It’s possible the Chinese are feeling remorse, or that the captain who seized the drone acted without orders, but it’s also entirely possible Beijing feels it’s made its point that other nations operate in the South China Sea only on Chinese sufferance. 24 hours is also probably plenty of time for China’s skilled hackers to copy the drone’s software, for use by Chinese drone makers, and download the data it collected, although this was apparently only routine oceanographic data like salinity.]

A particularly unsettling detail about the drone-napping incident is the perpetrators came from the Chinese navy, not the Chinese coast guard. In recent years the two services have played good cop/bad cop, with the white-hulled civilian vessels of the coast guard aggressively approaching foreign vessels while the grey-hulled military vessels of the navy held back, reducing the risk of a dangerous incident between warships. In at least one case, a Chinese naval captain intervened to stop Chinese civilian vessels harassing US Navy ships. But in this incident, a Chinese navy vessel snatched a drone under the nose of its mothership, the unarmed survey ship USNS Bowditch, as the Americans were trying to bring the UUV aboard.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Report: China Boosts Defenses on Artificial Islands

China's Artificial Island at Fiery Cross Reef (Sep 2015)

Steve Herman

STATE DEPARTMENT — The Chinese military is building anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems on the artificial islands it has constructed in the South China Sea, in what analysts believe is a prelude to deploying combat aircraft to the disputed territory, according to a U.S. research organization.

"This is further evidence that the commitment that President Xi Jinping made to President [Barack] Obama last year not to militarize these islands was, at best, premature," Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) Director Gregory Poling told VOA in an interview Wednesday. "This is clearly advanced preparation to arm these islands in case of an armed conflict."

The conclusion that new weapons systems have been placed on the reefs results from months of analysis of commercial satellite imagery, according to AMTI.

"We can see that these are emplacements for anti-aircraft guns. If the barrel of a gun is long enough that you can see it from space, then it's pretty big," said Poling.

News Story: China's H-6K bomber to be showcased at first public event

China's H-6K Bomber (File Photo)

by Geoff Ziezulewicz

China's H-6K medium and long range bomber will be open to the public for the first time this week, the official People's Liberation Army Daily reported.

The bomber's availability will take place Thursday during the "Pursuing the Aero Dream" event in Changchun, an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the Old Northeast Aviation School there, PLA Daily quoted People's Liberation Army air force officials as saying.

The H-6K is the country's indigenously made bomber, largely used for long-range precision strikes and tactical bombing missions, PLA Daily reported.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Will Russia and China Build an SCO-Based Joint Missile Defense System

Chinese HQ-9 Surface-to-Air Missile System

Russia and China may create a unified-missile defense system for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. That's the conclusion of experts speaking at a forum dedicated to the US deployment of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea. What would the Russian-Chinese system look like? Sputnik investigates.

On Monday, experts in Moscow and Beijing spoke via video conference on the implications for regional security of the US deployment of missile defense systems in South Korea. And while the forum focused mostly on political and military implications of the THAAD deployment, experts also intrigued observers by indicating that it was possible for Russia and China to join together to create a single missile defense shield over the entirety of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the political, economic and military organization involving much of eastern Eurasia.

Regarding the THAAD deployment, Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it was categorically opposed to the move. THAAD, capable of monitoring ballistic and aerial targets at distances of up to 1,500 km, is expected to give the US military the capability to 'see' into the territory of the Russian Federation, and even further into that of China.

Speaking at the video conference on Monday, Vladimir Petrovsky, a senior researcher at the Moscow-based Center for the Studies and Forecasting of Russia-China Relations at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, explained that the potential for a joint missile defense shield exists. Moreover, such a shield would be entirely appropriate given recent US moves, from its deployment of missile shield components in Eastern Europe to the deployment of THAAD in South Korea.

"Russia and China could become the driving force in the area of missile defense. Special attention should be paid to the land-based interception systems which we have at our disposal," the analyst said.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: U.S. publicity campaign against China on South China Sea ill-intentioned (China's View)

Satellite photo of China's high frequency radar facilities
in the South China Sea (Image: CSIS)

by Fei Liena, Hao Weiwei

BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea proves to be a tranquil sea with inherent freedom of navigation, but some countries, with ulterior motives, have launched publicity campaigns to deliberately play up the South China Sea issue in support of their hegemonist military moves.

Let's first take a look at an example. In February, Western media started to hype up China's missile deployment in South China Sea's Xisha area. On Feb. 16, the U.S. Fox News network reported that China deployed HQ-9 anti-aircraft missiles on Xisha's Yongxing Island. On Feb 17, U.S. secretary of state, White House spokesman and commander of the Pacific Command all criticized China for what they called "militarization" in the South China Sea.

On the same day, the Japanese government also expressed "grave concern" over China's action. Afterwards, the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies released a set of satellite photos, claiming China was setting up high frequency radar facilities on the South China Sea, echoing the so-called "China threat" claim.

In Western media's reports on the South China Sea issue, China has often been described as a restless empire "bullying" smaller countries, "militarizing" in the South China Sea, sabotaging "freedom of navigation", challenging international law, and seeking hegemony in the Asia Pacific region.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Chinese Airpower Poses Serious Threat

J-20 Stealth Fighter

by Chris Pocock

China’s stealth fighter programs recieved high marks in the Pentagon’s latest annual report to the U.S. Congress on the country’s military and security progress, released last week. The J-20 has advanced, with a fifth and sixth prototype now in flight test. Meanwhile, the country’s other stealth warplane is being marketed for export, as the FC-31.

The unclassified report fails to confirm that the J-20 has entered production, although this has been reported by various open sources. However, the report says that both the J-20 and the FC-31 are fifth-generation aircraft with high maneuverability, low-observability and internal weapons bays, capable of operating in a network-centric environment. They could enter service as early as 2018, although the report is undecided on whether the FC-31 is for export only. Both of them have radars with advanced tracking and targeting capabilities, and protection against electronic countermeasures.

Y-20 Cargo Plane

The PLAAF “is rapidly closing the gap with western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities,” the report assesses. These include command-and-control, electronic warfare and datalinks. The J-10B, the latest version of the indigenous fighter that was unveiled in 2007, is expected to enter service shortly. Four J-11Bs (the Chinese-produced Su-27) have been deployed to one of the islands in the South China Sea that China has been expanding by land reclamation. An indigenous version of the Russian Kh-31P anti-radiation missile is being fielded on Chinese fighter-bombers

Read the full story at AINonline