Beijing Installs Advanced Weapons In Global Hotspot, Flags US Think Tank

Satellite image of what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be anti-aircraft guns

China appears to have installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, despite statements by Beijing that it has no intention to militarize the islands which are part of a strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries. 

 A US think tank  cites new satellite imagery to claim that anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes have been installed by China at the Spratly Islands, where it has already completed the construction of military length airstrips. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) also said that high-resolution images show hexagonal towers that likely contain targeting radar.

  “These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” it said. “Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases.” AMTI director Greg Poling said AMTI had spent months trying to figure out what the purposes of the structures was. “This is the first time that we’re confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements.

  We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there,” he told Reuters.”This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it’s only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict. “They keep saying they are not militarizing, but they could deploy fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles tomorrow if they wanted to,” he said. China has said military construction on the islands will be limited to necessary defensive requirements. 

 The United States has criticized what it called China’s militarization of its maritime outposts and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing. US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China’s assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Network Centric Warfare Capabilities & INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Image
By: Next Generation Weapons Technology Network Centric Warfare and Indian Navy & IAF and land based units. More satellites will be launched as grid as launched previously. In addition to making platforms and infrastructure for network centricity, the Navy has also made organizational changes to create and efficiently manage the transition to seamless Network Centric capabilities. The creation of a new post of Assistant Chief of Naval S taff (Communications Space and Network Centric Operations) is step in the process to migrate from a ‘Platform Centric Navy’ to a ‘Network Enabled Navy’. During various exercises, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has been one of the crucial aspects being validated. During the various coordinated exercises conducted by the Army with the Air Force, the endeavor has been to validate and integrate the use of all available assets, including satellites, UAVs and HUMINT (Human intelligence) to assist commanders at all levels in taking dynamic and pr
Read more

The Heat is on!! for INDIA as China Unveils its 5th Gen Stealth J20 Fighter Jet ; Pakistan expresses interest to buy

Image
China on Tuesday unveiled its J-20 stealth fighter jet at its biggest air show which will have major implications for India as it is the first indigenously-made fifth-generation Chinese aircraft which Pakistan has shown interest in acquiring. Two J-20 aircraft which made waves in the Chinese media in the last few years flew at the Zhuhai city air show where the Pakistan Air Force is also taking part flying with its J-17 Thunder jets which are jointly manufactured with China. This is the first, public show of the J-20 warplane. Pakistan, the largest importer of Chinese arms has said earlier that it is in talks with China to buy the FC-31 - an export variant of the same aircraft. The FC-31 was briefly flown in the 2014 Zhuhai airshow. The stealth aircraft is regarded as major breakthrough for China which is otherwise mostly reliant on Russian aircraft including advanced versions of Sukhois. India is yet to make stealth aircraft which can penetrate through enemy radars. The J
Read more

KANCHAN ARMOUR~ Protection cover for INDIAN TANKS

Image
Kanchan Armour is the name informally given to a modular composite armour developed by India. The armour uses the same principle as the British Chobham armour, but the composition is different. The armour got its name from Kanchan Bagh, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, where the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) is located. Although the construction details of the armour remain a secret, it has been described as being made by sandwiching composite pane ls between rolled homogeneous armour (RHA). The number of layers may vary based on the user requirements. This armour is able to defeat armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) and high-explosive anti-tank warhead (HEAT) rounds and is known to defeat armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS). During development in the 1980s, Kanchan armour defeated a 106 mm recoilless rifle which was tried on the Arjun Tank. During trials in 2000, the armour was able to withstand hits from T-72 tank at point bla
Read more