News Report: China and Pakistan Demonstrate Alliance, Flex Muscles During Joint Exercise

For the first time ever, a Pakistani fighter pilot has flown a Chinese warplane during joint combat exercises between the two Asian nations. The exercises, which lasted through most of September, took place in Xinjiang, the westernmost province of China that borders Pakistan.

The Shaheen-VI exercises, the latest in a series of annual joint drills between the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) that started in 2011, happened this year between September 5 and 25. They included many firsts, according to Chinese military sources, such as live-fire target practice, night warfare, and close support operations.

But the biggest news from the exercise came when Air Vice Marshal Haseeb Paracha, head of PAF's Southern Air Command, climbed into a Chinese J-11B fighter and flew a sortie as part of the exercises. This was the first time in history that a PAF pilot flew a PLAAF plane, a symbolic gesture of the tight bonds between Beijing and Islamabad.

"The air vice marshal was accompanied by Xin Xin, a vice-chief of staff of the PLA Air Force. This marks the first time that a Pakistani top military official has flown in China's new fighter jet," reported the Chinese military in a statement. "The Chinese warplane performed acrobatic maneuvers during the flight, drawing praise from Haseeb."

News Story: China says air force drills with Pakistan "routine"

URUMQI, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese air force on Thursday dismissed concerns over its ongoing training exercises with the Pakistani air force, saying they were routine drills.

"There's no need for some countries to overact and make a great fuss about it. They need to learn to get used to such drills," said Shen Jinke, spokesperson for the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

It is international practice to hold military exercises, and simulated combat training with foreign armies are necessary for troops of every country to improve their capabilities to safeguard state security and national interests, he said.

The ongoing joint drills named "Shaheen VI" were launched in China on Sept. 7 and will run until Sept. 27.

Read the full story at Xinhua

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PacificSentinel: Maybe China should remember that when their bitching at the US and South Korea about their Military Exercises.

News Story: China, Pakistan air forces launch joint training exercise

Chinese Air Force KJ-200 AWACS aircraft 

BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The air forces of China and Pakistan began joint training exercises in China on Thursday.

China has dispatched J-11 fighters, JH-7 fighter-bombers, KJ-200 AWACS aircraft and ground forces including surface-to-air missile and radar troops, said Shen Jinke, spokesperson for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, adding the Chinese navy's aviation troops also participated in the training.

Pakistan has sent JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and early warning aircraft to join the exercise, named "Shaheen VI," which will run until Sept. 27, Shen said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Satellite image shows Chinese deployment of new aircraft to South China Sea

KJ-500 AEW&C Aircraft

By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — China has deployed its latest airborne early warning and control aircraft to an air base on the fringes of the disputed South China Sea, according to exclusive satellite imagery obtained by Defense News.

The photo taken March 24 by commercial satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe shows a pair of Shaanxi KJ-500 turboprop AEW&C aircraft with its distinctive radar dish on the ground at Jialaishi Air Base in the northern part of China’s Hainan island. Two other Y-8 aircraft — an older KJ-200 AEW&C aircraft, and the other possibly a Y-8J or Y-8X maritime patrol aircraft — can be seen alongside the KJ-500s. 

KJ-200 AEW&C Aircraft

This is the first time the KJ-500 has been deployed to Hainan, with China having previously rotationally deployed special mission aircraft detachments to the island. These detachments are drawn from two special-mission aircraft regiments of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, based in northern China. The detachments are usually made up of a mixture of KJ-200 AEW&C aircraft with Y-8Js and Y-8Xs, and they tend to operate from Lingshui on the southeastern tip of Hainan. 

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: US-China Military-to-military Engagements Stall Amid Questions

WASHINGTON — U.S.-China military-to-military relations for 2017 are off to a slow start, and questions are being raised about whether the program has been put on hold or even curtailed by the Trump administration.

U.S. Navy Commander Gary Ross, the Pentagon spokesperson for Asia Pacific affairs, told VOA that there had been one direct engagement between the two militaries since the beginning of the year, a meeting January 18 on defense policy coordination, which included the discussion on plans for the year.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the CSBA think tank in Washington, told VOA that plans for these engagements are usually worked out by fall in the prior year.

Ross said late last week that the Trump administration has not ordered the Pentagon to stop or curtail U.S.-China military relations.

Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (14-Feb-2017)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

More plans are surfacing in response to Sen. John McCain’s defence budget white paper and the US Navy’s Force Structure Assessment. The Centre for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) and MITRE have both produced reports that share some common goals: grow the fleet, cancel the LCS and increase the number of attack submarines. But MITRE’s plan is ‘more radical’ than CSBA’s, not least because it recommends the USN expand to a whopping 14 aircraft carriers (up from 11). CSBA’s call for a larger small carrier fleet has created some buzz too; see here and here.

Best steer clear of the Indian Ocean this week, lest you be mistaken for a pirate or a Chinese submarine. India and Pakistan are both carrying out large-scale naval exercises in the region. The Indian Navy’s 30-day long TROPEX 2017 is the ‘largest-ever naval theatre-level’ exercise to take place off its western coast. Exercises will focus on anti-(Chinese)-submarine warfare scenarios. The Pakistan Navy’s AMAN 2017 (involving 36 countries including Australia), focuses on multilateral counterterrorism and counterpiracy operations. It’s worth noting that this is the first time the Pakistani exercise has brought Turkey and Russia into the fold.

And finally, after last week’s heatwave, now might be a good time to take a look at this National Geographic piece about what the US military is doing to fight climate change.

News Report: South China Sea - US, Chinese Aircraft Fly Too Close For Comfort

A US Navy P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft

Territories claimed by the Philippines but controlled by China played host to an ‘unsafe’ encounter between a US Navy P-3C and a Chinese KJ-200, both surveillance aircraft.

The planes reportedly flew within 1,000 feet of one another, according to the US Pacific Command. The Department of Defense and US Pacific Command are "always concerned about unsafe interactions with Chinese military forces," according to the statement. This is the first such incident since Donald Trump was sworn in as President on January 20. The service plans to "address the issue in appropriate diplomatic and military channels."

The Chinese pilot acted "legally and professionally" after flying dangerously close to the US plane, a Chinese defense ministry official told the Global Times. "We hope that the US could take the bilateral military relations into consideration and adopt practical measures to eliminate the root cause of air and sea mishaps," the official said. The Diplomat news outlet has pointed out that the Global Times, one of Beijing’s flagship English-language publications, is "more hawkish" than the China Daily publication.

News Report: Pentagon Downplays 'Close Encounter' Between US, Chinese Planes Over S. China Sea

A US Navy P-3 Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft

Jeff Seldin

WASHINGTON — The United States is downplaying the severity of what is being described as a “close encounter” between U.S. and Chinese military aircraft over the South China Sea.

“We don't see any evidence that this was intentional,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Friday, describing the incident as a “one-off.”

According to U.S. officials, during Wednesday's encounter, a Chinese KJ-200 early warning aircraft passed about 200 meters (1,000 feet) in front of a U.S. Navy P-3 plane on a routine mission in international airspace near Scarborough Shoal, between the Chinese mainland and the Philippines. As a result, the P-3 was forced to make an immediate turn.

Both planes were in “normal radio contact” following the incident, Davis said, describing the communications as “professional.”

News Story: U.S., Chinese aircraft in 'unsafe' encounter in South China Sea

US Navy P-3 Orion

By: Mike Yeo

The U.S. Pacific Command detailed what it called an "unsafe" close encounter between a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft and a Chinese aircraft Wednesday.

The two planes reportedly flew within 1,000 feet of each other in the general vicinity of the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

Maj. Rob Shulford, a spokesman for PACOM, told Defense News that “on Feb. 8 (local), an interaction characterized by U.S. Pacific Command as 'unsafe' occurred in international airspace above the South China Sea between a Chinese KJ-200 aircraft and a U.S. Navy P-3C aircraft.” 

Chinese KJ-200

He also said that "the U.S. Navy P-3C was on a routine mission operating in accordance with international law," adding that “The Department of Defense and U.S. Pacific Command are always concerned about unsafe interactions with Chinese military forces." 

There have been no other details about the relative flight paths of both aircraft at the time of the encounter, which has been described as “inadvertent,” although other reports said that the American P-3 had to alter course to avoid an aerial collision. 

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Latest Chinese Airpower To Debut at Zhuhai Airshow

KJ-500 AEW&C Aircraft

by Mike Yeo

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be showcasing a number of new platforms at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which will be held next week at Zhuhai airbase near Guangdong. They include Chengdu J-10B multirole fighter, the Xi’an H-6K bomber and the Shaanxi KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft. Airshow organizers were also touting a “secret combat aircraft” belonging to the PLAAF for the flying display, which is thought to be the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, currently in low-rate initial production (LRIP). But it was missing from the updated line-up that they published today.

A pair of LRIP J-20s sporting a new two-tone dark gray splinter camouflage have been observed carrying out maneuvers and formation flying over Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s facilities, further fueling speculation the type will make its debut at Zhuhai this year.

Meanwhile, the appearance of the J-10B confirms that the type has entered PLAAF service. The aircraft that is in Zhuhai carries tail serials for the PLAAF’s 2nd Air Division, 5th Regiment based at Guilin, Guangxi. Photos of J-10Bs in PLAAF colors have been appearing since late 2014, but with tail serials either blurred or edited out altogether, precluding identification of their unit.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: China Reveals Origin of AEWC Radar

KJ-500 AEW&C

Wendell Minnick

Chinese Radar AEWC Revelations

TAIPEI – A government-run media service, Xinhua, reported that the No. 38 Research Institute under the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) designed the radar platform and system for the new KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft.

The Institute is actually known as the East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering (ECRIEE) in Hefei, Anhui Province. It is one of the numerous institutes under the CETC umbrella (CETC-38). ECRIEE works closely with the Hefei-based Department of Radar Armaments under the National Remote Sensing Center of China.

Xinhua quoted Xiong Qunli, CETC chairman, as confirming the information in a March 14 article. The radar is attached to the top of the aircraft in a round radome similar to the Northrop E-2 Hawkeye. The KJ-500 is a fixed-wing Y-9 four-turboprop aircraft.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: PLA targets Vietnam in S China Sea exercise, US in E China Sea

Chinese Navy Warships on patrol (File Photo)

The People's Liberation Army Navy last week held large-scale military exercises in the East China and South China seas, according to Sina's military news web portal.

On July 28, the South Sea Fleet led a live-fire exercise in an area of the South China Sea measuring several tens of thousands of square kilometers, along with the other PLA Navy fleets, the Guangzhou Military Region and the Second Artillery Corps; on July 30 and 31, the PLA Navy dispatched a fleet of electronic-warfare aircraft and Xian H-6 twin-engine jet bombers on several missions flying over the Miyako Strait, the waterway between Japan's Miyako Island and Okinawa Island, into the Western Pacific.

The targets of the two military exercises were not announced in the PLA press release. Military affairs websites have suggested that the South China Sea exercise is likely aimed at territory within what China calls the "first island chain" — the term the Chinese military uses to refer to the string of archipelagos extending from the Kuril islands south through Japan and its Ryukyu islands, Taiwan and the Philippines — likely in preparation for a potential scenario in which a US aircraft carrier war fleet break through the first island chain. Although this is a reasonable assumption, in a real combat scenario, relying on anti-ship missiles, conventional submarine-launched missiles and air-launched cruise missiles with a range of just 300 kilometers to take on a carrier fleet means that all the warships, planes and submarines would have to penetrate the carrier fleet's outer defenses and approach its inner defenses to fire their payload. This kind of scenario is hard to imagine playing out in reality, given the naval power of the US.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: China's new early warning aircraft can track 60 targets

KJ-500 AEW&C Aircraft (File Photo)

China's new KJ-500 early warning aircraft, designed by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, is capable of tracking about 60 aircraft within a range of 470 kilometers, according to the Washington-based Strategy Page.

With a round radar dome on the top of the fuselage, the KJ-500 looks more like a US early warning aircraft replica. It is distinguished by a smaller frame and a design based on the Y-9 four-engine turboprop aircraft.

The KJ-500 will eventually replace the People's Liberation Army Air Force's 11 KJ-200, carried by the smaller Y-8 aircraft with a long box-like radar.

Read the full story at Want China Times