France, Russia Powering China's New Navy
France, Russia Powering China's New Navy
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China is acquiring advanced naval jet fighters from Russia. According to Russian sources, China has signed a deal with Moscow to purchase 50 Sukhoi SU-33 navy strike-fighter jets in a deal worth over $2 billion.
The SU-33, NATO code-named "Flanker-D", is designed specifically for aircraft carrier operations. The Russian Navy currently operates SU-33 fighters from its single carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) plans to test the first two SU-33 fighters on land and then continue flight operations from an aircraft carrier. China's Dalian Shipyard is currently refitting the ex-Soviet Navy aircraft carrier Varyag that China acquired from Ukraine in 1999. The ship has been stationed there since 2002.
The Varyag was purchased by Chinese based commercial group and was to be converted into a floating casino and hotel. However, the warship has since been acquired by the PLAN and is currently being refitted for service. Western defense analysts estimate that the PLAN Varyag will be ready for service after 2010.
The single-seat Su-33 is the naval version of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. Originally designated the Su-27K, the SU-33 was developed in the early 1980s for the Soviet navy. The Su-33 is fitted with an additional pair of forward canard control surfaces for low speed control and folding wings for carrier operations.
The purchase of the SU-33 fighters and the extensive work on the carrier Varyag indicates that China is gravely concerned about its vulnerability to naval warfare. Beijing is especially concerned about its energy supplies.
Oil And Sea Control
China overtook Japan as the world's second largest consumer and importer of oil. Chinese demand for oil grew 75 per cent between 2002 and 2004. In addition, China has suffered serious energy shortages, forcing power cuts in some regions that disrupted manufacturing and municipal services.
Beijing is very aware that 40 percent of China's oil is imported and 80 per cent of these imports pass through the narrow Strait of Malacca.
Chinese dependence on Middle East oil, combined with its current inability to project naval power beyond its coastal waters, means that its energy supplies are vulnerable to disruption.
China has also accelerated its command and control of air power. China's Shaanxi Aircraft Company is completing a third Y-8 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, designated KJ-200. The increase in radar plane production was accelerated in response to the crash of the second KJ-200 aircraft in June.
The crash of the aircraft also brought the death of 40 key technical staff members on board. The loss was considered to be a major setback to the project.
The Y-8 is a Chinese version of the Russian four-engine AN-12 military transport. The aircraft was developed with the assistance of Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau. The new Y-8 Chinese airborne radar plane includes navigation avionics from U.S. maker Honeywell, four Pratt and Whitney Canada PW150B turboprop engines and British Dodi R-408 six-blade propellers.
The Y-8 "Balance Beam" is fitted with a linear-shape electronically steered phased-array (ESA) radar. The radar is similar in shape and size to the Swedish Ericsson PS-890 Erieye airborne radar. The radar is to be manufactured by the PLA 38th Institute.
The Y-8 "Balance Beam" will provide the PLAAF with a platform for tactical airborne early warning and electronic intelligence missions. The "Balance Beam" is designed to coordinate Chinese fighters, bombers and strike aircraft via data links in air campaigns against Taiwan, Japan, India or the U.S.
It is thought that several KJ-200 radar planes will act as part of a joint flying network alongside the larger KJ-2000 airborne warning and control aircraft based on Ilyushin Il-76 jet transport. Reportedly the KJ-2000 would operate as a command aircraft for the KJ-200s, providing a data link that can connect with airborne fighters and bombers.
Weapons From France
The recent purchases for Chinese military aviation are tied directly to Beijing's pressure on the European Union to drop the current arms embargo. Chinese military sources indicate that they are anxious to equip their jet fighters with the most modern European electronics.
France, ever willing to sell weapons to anyone with cash, has joined the effort. During a recent visit to China, French President Jacques Chirac called on the EU to end its ban on selling weapons to China. Chirac recently left China after a successful four-day visit marked by the signing of trade deals worth billions of dollars and a warming of political ties.
Chirac joined China by issuing a joint communiqué in which they put up a united front against the separate nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. The communiqué signed by Hu and Chirac expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's atomic bomb test and called on Iran to heed UN mandates over its nuclear program. In the statement, China also pledged to advance and protect human rights and fundamental liberties.
Of course, all this nice talk between Paris and Beijing did not take into consideration the recent report from the U.S. that France, Russia and China are now the leading source of weapons to the underdeveloped world.
According to the report, Russia overtook the U.S. in total weapons exports, followed by France. Whereas, China was cited by the report as the leading source of missile and nuclear technology exported to Iran and North Korea.
The joint pledge by Paris and Beijing to "advance and protect human rights" ignored the recent video evidence from the border of China. Chinese soldiers shot two unarmed Tibetan nuns to death. Beijing originally plastered the news media that the nuns were shot as they participated in violent protest that threatened the lives of the soldiers.
However, the incident was videotaped by a Romanian tourist who captured images of Chinese soldier shooting the nuns in the back with AK-47s as the women attempted to flee across the Tibetan border.
