Military China
The PLAAF has developed credible year-round capability in the Tibet region with fighters undertaking continuous operations
CHINA’S GROWING AIR POWER Photograph: eng.chinamil.com.cn/Chen Qingshun
Increased defence budgeting and speedy indigenisation are the only alternatives for India to match the aggressively growing aerospace might of China By Air Marshal Anil Chopra (Retd) As China and India continue their face-off in Ladakh, there has been continuous debate comparing the People’s liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) with Indian Air Force (IAF). While undoubtedly the IAF has a regional superiority in Eastern Ladakh, but the PLAAF is a force that is rapidly growing with the aim to surpass United States Air Force (USAF). Like the US and the Soviet Union, China realised early that one who controls aerospace, controls the planet and is the major instrument of waging modern wars. China aims to one day surpass the USAF.
www.sps-aviation.com
CHINA’S MILITARY AVIATION INDUSTRY The Aviation Industry Corporation of China has over 100 subsidiaries and 5,42,236 employees. It manufactures all military and general aviation aircraft. China is also pushing ahead on Lasers and Directed Energy Weapons, Artificial Intelligence applications for military aviation and technologies related to hypersonic systems. China however, continues to lag behind in critical aviation-related technologies such as aircraft engines, airborne radars, Electronic Warfare (EW), stealth and Precision Guided Munitions (PGM). But work is in progress in all these areas.
ISSUE 5 • 2021
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