Russia Sends First Fighter Jets to Belarus Base

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian fighter jet unit has arrived at a Belarusian airbase where it will be stationed on alert duty as part of an integrated regional air defense network, Belarusian news agency BelaPAN reported.

Four Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets and technical personnel have been based at the Baranovichi airbase, BelaPAN said on Sunday.

The Russian Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a fighter jet regiment in Belarus by 2015.

 The majority of the planes will be stationed at a future Russian airbase in Lida, a town in northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders.

The airbase will be Russia’s first on Belarusian territory in modern times and will consolidate defense cooperation under the auspices of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, defense officials in Moscow have said.

European defense officials have bristled at evidence of Russia’s increased military deployments close to NATO’s border, claiming it fuels tension with former Communist bloc countries in Central Europe and the Baltic States.

But Moscow has repeatedly said Russian-Belarus defense ties are a legitimate effort to ensure a solid defense for the countries’ Union State.

Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on the joint protection of the Union State's airspace and the creation of an integrated regional air defense network in February 2009.

The network reportedly comprises five air force units, 10 air defense units, five technical service and support units, and one electronic warfare unit.

It is part of the integrated air defense network of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance comprising nine post-Soviet nations.

[Ria Novosti]  09/12/2013

Engine issues mean China can't power J-15, J-16 fighters

China is unable to produce advanced fighters such as the J-15 and the J-16 in large numbers because it lacks the proper engines to power the aircraft,
 according to the Moscow-based Military-Industrial Courier on Sept. 8.

According to Kanwa Defense Review,
 a magazine operated by military analyst Andrei Chang,
also known as Pinkov, China is not even capable of producing J-11B fighters due to
problems with Shenyang Liming Aircraft Engine Company's WS-10A engine.

Similar problems led the People's Liberation Army Navy to cancel their plans
to install the WS-10A in the J-15, a carrier-based fighter designed to serve aboard the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier.

Both the PLA Air Force and Navy Air Force have asked to replace the WS-10A with the more reliable Russian-built AL-31F engines, the magazine stated.

China is unlikely to get enough AL-31F engines to power all of its J-15 and J-16 fighters when production starts on the aircraft however.

The only option left for China is to stop producing more advanced fighters until it is capable of designing the engines the aircraft need.


Sources from the Chinese aviation industry told the Military-Industrial Courier that the PLA is losing its patience with the WS-10A engines.

Without proper competition among state-run engine producers, the source said that China is unable to design the engines it needs to power its new aircraft.

The Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China suggested that the PLA Air Force use domestic engines anyway to boost the economy.

[Want China.com] Staff Reporter.2014-09-09

South Korea-Indonesia sign up for next phase of KFX programme

South Korea-Indonesia sign up for next phase of KFX programme

South Korea and Indonesia have signed a joint engineering and development agreement for the Korean Fighter Experimental (KFX) 4.5-generation fighter, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in Seoul announced on 6 October.

The agreement, which was signed in Surabaya by South Korean ambassador to Indonesia Cho Tai-young and Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, follows up a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in July 2010 and an April 2011 agreement that covered the initial two-year technical development phase of the programme.

Under the arrangement announced on 6 October, South Korea will pay 80% of the costs associated with the joint engineering and development phase of the KFX, with Indonesia paying the remaining 20%.

Officials from lead manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have previously described the KFX as a single-seat, twin-engine, multirole aircraft equipped with stealth features, active electronically scanned array radar, and internal weapons carriage.

Under the 2010 MoU, Indonesian company PT Dirgantara will participate in the aircraft's development.

KAI officials have suggested that around 250 KFX combat aircraft could replace the Republic of Korea Air Force's ageing F-4E Phantom and F-5E Tiger II aircraft, and ultimately its F-16 Fighting Falcon platforms. A further 350 KFX aircraft could be exported, officials added.

The 6 October agreement calls for the establishment of a joint programme management office "to reduce the financial burden required to jointly develop the fighter by enhancing co-operation in design, prototype fabrication, test, and evaluation." Yonhap news agency put the total development cost at KRW8.5 trillion (USD8 billion): a significant increase on the USD5 billion quoted by officials in 2011 and more the KRW8 trillion quoted by KAI officials in January 2014.

COMMENT
Political concerns at the potential financial risks associated with the KFX led KAI to develop a single-engined version, dubbed the C501, that combined elements of the in-production FA-50 light fighter and the twin-engine KFX technology demonstrator, dubbed the C103. This was partly in response to a decision by the new South Korean government of President Park Geun-hye to suspend the KFX/IFX programme in early 2013.

However, in July 2014 the RoCAF and the Ministry of National Defense confirmed that KFX programme would go ahead with the twin-engine C103 design, technical development of which was completed in 2013.

Another key element of the KFX programme will be the involvement of Lockheed Martin, which has agreed to provide technical support for under the terms of the RoCAF's purchase of 40 F-35s under the FX-III acquisition. The arrangement is similar to the offsets that were agreed as part of Seoul's purchase of KF-16s: technology transfer that led directly to the development of the T-50 Golden Eagle lead-in fighter trainer and its derivatives.

A Lockheed Martin spokesman told IHS Jane's on 25 September that the F-35 deal's offset commitment would include "technical documentation, design expertise, and development investments. Specifically, Lockheed Martin will provide several hundred man-years of engineering expertise to assist Korea in the KFX design and development."

"Lockheed Martin will also provide several hundred-thousand pages of fighter aircraft technical documentation derived from existing Lockheed Martin programmes," the spokesman added.

From Jakarta's perspective, the KFX deal is the latest example of close military industrial ties with a country that has become an important supplier of - and market for - military equipment.

Indonesia is receiving 16 T-50 LIFT aircraft and Black Fox military vehicles produced by Doosan DST. South Korea's Daewoo Marine & Shipbuilding Engineering (DSME) has upgraded two Indonesian Cakra Type 209/1300-class submarines in South Korea and in December 2011 received a contract to supply three Chang Bogo-class Type 209/1200 diesel-electric attack submarines to the Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Laut: TNI-AL).

For its part, Seoul has ordered eight licence-produced CN235 aircraft from PTDI for the RoCAF and four maritime patrol variants for its coastguard.

[IHS Jane's Defence Weekly ] by James Hardy, London/07 October 2014

Monstrous Gun-Mounted Robot Spiders Proposed for China’s Military

Weapons designers in China may be watching too many Japanese cartoons.
A new military vehicle design published in a Chinese science journal shows a car-sized 11-legged
walking combat robot dubbed the “Crab Walker.”

The Crab Walker would be about 18 feet long, comes with a 30mm autocannon mounted on top,
and is designed to crawl over rough terrain.

It has four legs on each side, as well as two in the back and one on the front to help it keep stable while firing.

The proposal for the Crab Walker was published in China’s Journal of Ordinance Industry Automation.

It was originally published in 2013 as a thesis from master students at the Nanjing University of Technology.

The science journal doesn’t have a website,
but the thesis was published on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China’s largest online library.

The idea of a walking killer robot actually has some reasoning behind it.

Its design would forseeably allow it to operate in mountainous terrain otherwise inaccesssible by vehicles on wheels or treads
—such as the mountainous regions of Tibet or in disputed territory along the
Indian border.

The concept is similar to walking robots being designed by U.S. firms, such as the “Big Dog” robot
that can carry military equipment over rough terrain.

Research on the Crab Walker has been ongoing.

The researchers have published at least three reports on the concept,
and note improvements they’ve made using different equipment.

They note a new update to the Crab Walker’s frame gives it better stability while firing its autocannon.


Chinese researchers are already running tests on the Crab Walker.

A recent report’s abstract states they’ve run a performance simulation test likely in a virtual environment,
which “proved that the frame body can walk smoothly and achieve a left turn,
walk straight, turn right, and other functions…”

[Source] EPOCH Times. 2014.9.23

China Touts Anti-stealth Radar

America’s most advanced stealth fighter poses a great risk to China’s air defense network — and the military is going to great lengths to learn how to shoot one down.

China claims it has a radar capable of identifying stealth aircraft, including the more advanced F-22 Raptor fighter based at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.

The claims appeared in the last week of September in Chinese-language media outlets stating that the F-22 and Europe’s Neuron unmanned combat aerial vehicle are “obsolete” against China’s new DWL002 radar.

Marketed by Beijing-based CETC International, the DWL002 passive-detection radar system was displayed during the 9th China International Defense Electronics Exhibition in Beijing in May. 

It comprises one master reconnaissance station and two slave stations. 

The systems can be expanded to four stations and outfitted on trucks. The DWL002 has a detection range of 400 kilometers for fighter aircraft and 600 kilometers for airborne early warning and control aircraft, such as the US E-3 Sentry and E-2 Hawkeye.

At 400 to 600 kilometers, the DWL002 can cover all of Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, but is not within range of US military bases on Okinawa. Nor can it reach the Philippines.

“Its range is limited by its parameter set and is most unlikely to achieve anywhere near 500 kilometers unless it is sited on a 10,000-foot mountain targeting aircraft at 30,000 feet,” said John Wise, UK-based radar analyst.

Despite the range problem, the media says the radar provides a target capacity of 100 batches and a range of detectable signal types including pulse, frequency agility, pulse duration, tactical air navigation system, distance measuring equipment, jitter/stagger radar, and identification friend or foe.

“Passive radar like DWL002 and YLC20 do pose a threat to low-observable aircraft,” said Richard Fisher, a senior fellow with the US-based International Assessment and Strategy Center. 

“Passive radar like these simply listens for any electronic emission, which for the increasingly ‘networked’ style of American combat operations, ensures there will be plenty of signals to classify and locate targets.”

Fisher said one response would be to use optical data transmission systems where possible, but that would affect strategic flexibility as line-of-sight would have to be maintained.

The DWL002 is the product of inspiration from two other passive radars, said Vasiliy Kashin, a China military specialist at the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. 

In 2004, the US blocked the sale of the Czech VERA-E passive radars to China, but the “Chinese had an opportunity to closely inspect the systems.” When China could not buy the VERA-E, Kashin said, they bought Ukrainian Kolchuga passive surveillance radars.

“As I understand, DWL002 is a development of the YLC20 radar, which, in turn, was mainly based on the VERA-E,” Kashin said. The Chinese YLC20 is a passive direction-finding and locating radar with a 600-kilometer range.

Americans may have forgotten China’s intimacy with US stealth aircraft and the driving force to obtain anti-stealth technology. 

During the May 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, a US B-2 stealth bomber dropped five bombs on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May. 

In March, an F-117 stealth fighter was shot down during the war. Unconfirmed media reports suggest China was given part of the fuselage to study.

In 2011, satellite imagery available on Google Earth revealed a full-scale mock-up of the then-retired F-117 at the Luoyang Optoelectro Technology Development Center (LOEC) in Henan Province. 

A former US military attaché based in Beijing during the 1990s said the mock-up is not a surprise. LOEC also has a mock-up of the B-2, F-35 and F-22, he said.

Espionage has played an important part in China’s attempt to learn more about US stealth aircraft. 

In June, Su Bin, a Chinese citizen and the head of China-based Lode-Technology, was detained by Canadian authorities due to US government allegations that he provided China with classified data on the F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters. ■

[DefencNews] Oct. 4, 2014.