News Story: WZ-10 attack helicopter now deployed in all PLA aviation units

The People's Liberation Army has equipped all of its ground force aviation units with advanced WZ-10 combat helicopters, according to PLA media. Several WZ-10s have been delivered to an aviation brigade of the PLA 13th Group Army under the Western Theater Command, the military's TV news channel reported.

This means that all of the Army's aviation units now have this advanced attack helicopter, the report said.

The deliveries also marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Army's aviation force and opened a new chapter in the force's development, it added.

The Army's aviation wing was formed in October 1986 with a regiment equipped with a combination of domestically manufactured helicopters with old technologies and a few imported advanced ones.

Read the full story at Air Recognition

Editorial: China to Retire Its Armored Tank Destroyers

By Franz-Stefan Gady

The Chinese military is replacing its tank destroyers with anti-tank missiles and attack helicopters.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will retire its armada of Type 89 (aka PTZ89) tank destroyers, Asia One reports based on information published in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the PLA.

The PLA Daily published a picture of 18 self-propelled guns that look like Type 89 tank destroyers departing a military base of the PLA Shenyang Military Command’s 39th Group Army.

The newspaper said that an official retirement ceremony for the obsolete armored vehicles was held on November 3.

The Type 89 tank destroyer entered the PLA’s service in 1989. From 1989 to 1995 around 100 vehicles were produced. The tank destroyer’s main armament is a 120-mm/L50 smoothbore gun, equipped with a semi-automatic gun loader. Since the gun is not stabilized, the armored vehicle cannot fire accurately on the move.

“With its good mobility and a high automation level, the Type 89 tank destroyer can easily pierce the armor of enemy tanks using a 120-mm smoothbore gun,” according to Senior Colonel Wang Kai, a land armaments expert at the PLA Academy of Armored Forces Engineering in Beijing. However, the gun has a relatively short range, one of the Type 89’s many shortcomings.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: China developing new attack helicopter with stealth power

Chinese WZ-19 Attack Helicopter

China has begun to develop a fourth-generation attack helicopter which will have stealth capabilities and expects to deliver it to the People's Liberation Army by around 2020, according to a report by the English-language China Daily.

Aviation Industry Corp of China, an aircraft manufacturer and supplier to the PLA, has been given the responsibility of researching and developing the helicopter, Cankaoxiaoxi.com website reported Sunday, citing Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster.

The company disclosed the information in a media brochure distributed to domestic journalists taking part in the Third China Helicopter Expo, which opened on Wednesday in Tianjin, according to the China Daily report published Friday.

The company gave no further details but according to the report, it was the first time that China has confirmed it is developing a new-generation combat helicopter.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: SCO members conduct massive live fire drill in Inner Mongolia

Five Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states carried out a massive live fire drill on Friday in north China's Inner Mongolia.

More than 7,000 troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan took part in the anti-terror drill, involving ground, air, special operations and airborne troops using support from electronic countermeasures, reconnaissance, mapping and positioning units.

Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army Fang Fenghui, along with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, watched the exercise, which started at 10am at the Zhurihe training base.

Viewers also included representatives from SCO observer states Pakistan and Mongolia, and the dialogue partner Sri Lanka, as well as delegations of foreign military attaches from 40 countries.

Read the full story at Want China Times

Editorial: China Hosts SCO’s Largest-Ever Military Drills

By Shannon Tiezzi

The anti-terrorism drills involved troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

7,000 troops from five countries are in China this week as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) “Peace Mission 2014” military drills. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a regional multilateral body consisting of China, Russia, and the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This year’s military drill included troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in what Chinese media called the largest SCO drill yet.

China is hosting Peace Mission 2014, which opened August 24 and will conclude on the 29, in Inner Mongolia.Xinhua underscored that the drill was unprecedented, both in terms of scale and in terms of the weaponry being used. The drill involved multiple branches of the various militaries, including ground and air forces as well as units devoted to special ops, electronic countermeasures, and reconnaissance. The list of hardware was even more extensive: drones, early-warning aircraft, air-defense missiles, tanks, and armored vehicles. There were Su-25 jets and MI-8AMTSh armed assault helicopters from Russia, and China sent some of its “most advanced military hardware” as well, including the armed WZ-10 and WZ-19 helicopters. With the extensive array of technology and troops, Xinhua described the drills as “close to real combat.”

The drill was designed to counter what China calls the “three evil forces”: terrorism, separatism, and extremism. As China has grown increasingly concerned about these “evil forces,” particularly in Xinjiang, it has highlighted these issues in multilateral forums as well as in its own domestic policies. The SCO, as its name implies, is China’s pet project, and thus a perfect place for Beijing to shift the agenda to emphasize its core concerns. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: Drone fires missiles at Inner Mongolia SCO anti-terror drill

China's military drones participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) anti-terror drills in Inner Mongolia for the first time on Tuesday.

Participating in the live fire drills, one drone, which was not identified by its model number, shot off several missiles during the rehearsal, said Shen Jinke, spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

"Drones, tasked with surveillance, reconnaissance and ground attacks, will play a vital role in fighting against terrorism," he said.

The aerial vehicle has yet to miss a shot since joining Peace Mission 2014, a multinational drill which began on Aug. 24, said Feng Aiwang, commander of the air force battle group.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: China's WZ-10, WZ-19 armed helicopters join in anti-terror drill

Z-19/WZ-19 Attack Helicopter

China's WZ-10 and WZ-19 armed helicopters took part in a multinational anti-terror drill in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Sunday.

The WZ-10 — "the fiery thunderbolt" —is China's first generation of home grown armed helicopters for special purpose while the WZ-19 — "the black whirlwind" — is an upgraded version of the WZ-9.

The two are tasked with reconnaissance and rocket barrages during "Peace Mission 2014" anti-terror drill from Sunday to next Friday.

Read the full story at Want China Times

News Story: The Helicopter China Cannot Get Enough Of

Mi-171 (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

August 9, 2014: The Russian Helicopter Corporation delivered to China the last of 52 Mi-171E helicopters ordered since 2012. This model can carry up to 37 passengers or four tons of cargo and has engines that are particularly effective under "hot and high" conditions. This is useful for the Chinese, who need equipment that can operate in Tibet (where many areas are at altitudes of over 4,000 meters). China is quite fond of the Mi-17 and the older Mi-8 it is derived from. Currently China operates 160 Mi-171 helicopters.

In 2008 China signed deals that allows it to legally manufacture the Mi-171, but it is still buying them from Russia because it takes time to set up manufacturing facilities and China needs more military transport helicopters right now and can afford to pay. Currently China has about 300 Mi-17/Mi-8 type helicopters and over 500 locally made helicopters. Most (Z9/Z-19) of these local builds are based on the Eurocopter AS 365 Dauphin while another hundred locally built Z-10 gunships were based on a Russian design. China has shown a preference for the Mi-8/17 design and would like to build a thousand or more Mi-171s locally under license.

In 2010 Chinese and Russian helicopter manufacturers established a joint venture to perform maintenance and refurbishment on helicopters, especially those of Russian design. This is part of a larger plan, which also includes the factory in China building Mi-171s.

Read the full story at StrategyPage

News Story: China pushes ahead with military helicopter programmes

By: GREG WALDRON

Recent images from the Chinese internet suggest that Beijing is making significant progress with its military helicopter programmes.

The most recent batch of images show a Harbin Z-19 with what appears to be a mast-mounted radar system. The Z-19, which is roughly comparable to lighter attack helicopters such as the Airbus Helicopters Tiger, is capable of carrying anti-tank missiles and is usually equipped with a chin-mounted cannon.

It is unclear if the mast-mounted system is, indeed, a true radar, or merely a mock-up to test the aerodynamics of the system. Mast-mounted radars such as that carried by the Boeing AH-64E Apache Longbow greatly enhance an attack helicopter’s ability to identify and engage targets at long ranges.

Read the full story at FlightGlobal

News Story: The newest development of China’s armed helicopters

Z-10 Attack Helicopter (File Photo)

By Peter Wood and Cristina Garafola

From atimes.com

While much attention has been given to Chinese development of fixed-wing aircraft like the J-20 and J-31, relatively little has been devoted to China’s helicopter development. On March 16, 2013, a CCTV television news segment featured a squadron of Z-10 helicopters in Jinan Military Region (MR), marking the fifth squadron of China’s primary attack helicopter observed in public and the fourth squadron to appear since October of last year. The other four squadrons are based out of Nanjing, Beijing, Guangdong and Shenyang MRs.

The Z-10 has been flying since at least 2003 and was revealed to the public in 2004. Now being deployed to units, the Z-10 is an indicator that China is making more significant progress in terms of aerospace development than it is generally given credit for.

Read the full 3 page story at China Defense MashUp