China’s Advanced Weapons Race with America

Posted by on Dec 10, 2014 in Blog | 0 comments

During the Cold War, the US bankrupted the Soviet Union in a no-holds-barred arms race that inevitably ended in the latter’s demise. America’s then reigned supreme for the next two decades, confident in maintaining one to two or more generation technological advantage over rivals in advanced weaponry.

Following the Gulf War and magnified by the decimation of Saddam Hussein’s Soviet-equipped forces in 2003, two decades of concerted effort have transformed China’s formerly obsolete equipment. The campaign is now bearing fruit in the form of advanced surface ships, submarines, tanks, missiles, radars, 5th-generation stealth fighters, and the list goes on.

Before his resignation, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced, in spite of a shrinking R & D budget, the US is launching a major drive to develop the next generation of high-tech weapons in order to keep ‘adversaries’ like China and Russia at a safe distance. Last month’s release of a major report on China’s growing military might by a congressionally-funded commission heavily plowed on the anti-China rhetoric stating the country’s armaments modernization gives it an “increasing number of opportunities to provoke incidents at sea and in the air that could lead to a crisis or conflict.”

Despite such inflammatory and alarmist words, Chinese military experts readily admit while there has been a “blowout” (expansion) of new weaponry introduced over the past few years, a trend that should continue well into the next decade, a huge gap remains between the capabilities of the US versus China, not to mention the “blank areas” in certain major weapons systems. But, it also needs to mentioned that China’s 2014 defense budget of 808 billion RMB (US$132 billion) is a fraction (21%) of the Pentagon’s $630 billion. (The US budget is almost 4% of GDP and China’s around 2%.)

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping likewise called on the People’s Liberation Army to step up its weapons R & D. “Advanced weaponry is the embodiment of a modern army…Equipment systems are now in a period of strategic opportunities and at a key point for rapid development…The equipment must be innovative, practical and forward-looking to meet the demands of actual combat and fill in the weak spots of China’s existing equipment”, he said, quoted by the Xinhua News Agency.

So what has Pentagon analysts (and the US media) in such a tizzy?

Without going into the plethora of conventional and strategic nuclear weapons currently in various stages of development and deployment such as J-20 and J-31 stealth aircraft and the multitude of cruise and ICBM missiles, this post focuses on next generation weapons the Chinese are currently working on that are not far behind the US. They include hypersonic weapons, laser cannons, and 6th generation fighters, among others along with notable ‘blank areas’ such as the US Navy’s electromagnetic rail gun.

Hypersonic weapons: Tested for the first time last January and again in August, the Chinese hypersonic strike vehicle, the HGV (also dubbed the WU-14 by foreign military enthusiasts) reportedly can travel at Mach 10 or 12,359 km/hr. At that speed, HGV can easily evade US anti-ballistic missile countermeasures. The US’s test of a similar vehicle three weeks later was aborted and intentionally exploded shortly after takeoff. Weapons experts indicate China and the US are developing a similar range of weapons, including boost-glide, hypersonic glide, and eventually air-breathing scram jet vehicles. The US is farther along in R & D but the Chinese program may be better funded with greater inputs of resources, they say.

Anti-drone lasers: Early last month, the China Academy of Engineering Physics announced its laser defense system had shot down more than 30 small low-flying drones within a two-kilometer radius, a perfect record, it touted. The laser will either be installed on or transported in vehicles to help with security at major urban events and the Academy is developing systems with greater power and range, reported Xinhua. Meanwhile, over the summer, the US supposedly deployed its first prototype defense laser in the Persian Gulf for testing under real conditions.

6th generation fighters: They will be super-stealth, manned or unmanned, hypersonic, equipped with highly-sensitive avionics, and carrying various types of directed energy weapons such as lasers. A new drone developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) is set to debut in 2020 and Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) is also busy designing drones and planes. Taken together, China’s 6th generation fighters will be a big family consisting of heavy fighters, medium range fighters and unmanned drones like “Dark Sword”. In this area, needless to say, the US maintains a huge edge.

Electromagnetic rail gun: As far as this author is aware, the Chinese are only in the preliminary stages of R &D and the US is way ahead with two single-shot prototypes funded by the Navy. The gun has already undergone extensive tests on land and for sea trials, it will be mounted on the USNS Millinocket, a high speed vessel, in 2016. However, the gun’s power wears out barrels quickly and only three vessels, DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers, can generate sufficient electricity to power them consistently.

Commenting on China’s development of super high-tech weapons, Igor Korotchenko, Director of the Center for the Analysis of World Arms Trade, said: “The Chinese military’s development plans…are taking place in the context of its rivalry with the US. Therefore, the negative commentary which may be found in the American media is a reflection of the fact that the US is coming to realize the extent of the growth in China’s military capabilities, and is alarmed by it.” (quoted by Sputnik of spacewar.com)

Thus, slowly but surely, China (and Russia) is chipping away at US weapons predominance with the days of multi-generational gaps in technology long gone. By their own assessment, Chinese military experts admit they are still about 20-25 years behind. However, by the 2040s, the playing field will have evened out much more.