China’s Project 022 Fast Attack Craft

The Chinese Navy's Project 022 class is, despite its innovative hull design, a classic missile-armed fast attack craft. It is designed for the sole purpose of delivering eight anti-ship missiles to a specified naval target and has virtually no capability outside that area. Its design makes it unsuitable for patrol duties, while its short operational radius limits its applicability to maritime policing work.

In military roles, it is virtually defenseless against air attack and would have to rely on speed and agility to survive in a hostile environment. Craft in this general category were once in great vogue, but experience has shown that they are not an effective military unit outside very limited and specific areas. However, the Chinese Navy happens to have one of those limited and specific areas as a primary operational requirement. Thus, in its specific geostrategic situation, the Project 022 is a viable and effective craft.

Ukraine reportedly helping China build aircraft carrier

Hong Kong, Jan. 25 (CNA) Ukraine has been providing China with the technics to build an aircraft carrier, according to the latest issue of the Canada-based Kanwa Asian Defense magazine.

In addition, Ukraine experts are also involved in the restoration of Varyag, an derelict carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1999, Kanwa said.

"The restoration of Varyag has been completed, and the vessel has been equipped with Ukraine developed power systems, " the monthly said.

China bought the Kuznetsov-class Varyag, minus any power, radar or battle systems, and towed it via the Black Sea to the northern port of Dalian under the pretext of transforming it into a tourism attraction.

Missile Defense Plays A Significant Role In Secretary Gates' North Korea Concern

Gates reviews the PLA Honor Guard during arrival ceremony in Beijing. (USAF Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison)

WASHINGTON | Riki Ellison, Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), has analyzed the statements made by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this week regarding North Koreas' threat to the U.S. and offered his analysis. Ellison is one of the top lay experts in the field of missile defense in the world. His comments are outlined below:

In Beijing, China this week Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that two things have changed in the status quo on the Korean Peninsula, one of them in a worrying way:

"The first is, with North Korean's continuing development of nuclear weapons, and their development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States, and we have to take that into account."

"And the second is clearly a sea change in the attitude of the South Korean public in their willingness to tolerate the kind of provocations the North Koreans have engaged in for many years, but with two just this past year- the Cheonan and the artillery shelling- that their tolerance for not responding has changed. And clearly if there is another provocation, there will be pressure on the South Korean government to react."

Both of these changes have implications on the national security requirements for missile defense; both strategically for homeland defense and tactically for our allies and troops deployed in and around the Korean Peninsula. These national security requirements require more confidence in our technical capability, more integration of the system and more numerical deployed missile defense assets to create higher confidence that our homeland, armed forces and allies are adequately protected. Having a robust, layered and fully integrated missile defense system with high confidence would help stabilize the region, providing extended deterrence to our allies that would curb proliferation and protect their populations.

In the backdrop of the Secretary's visit to China, our nation has made meaningful movements recently in the support of missile defense.

-- Two weeks earlier, President Obama's direct statement in a letter to the Russian Federation made clear that the United States will continue to deploy and develop missile defenses. "It is the policy of the United States to continue development and deployment of United States missile defense systems to defend against missile threats from nations such as North Korea and Iran, including qualitative and quantitative improvements to such systems. Such systems include all phases of the Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defenses in Europe, the modernization of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, and the continued development of the two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor as a technological and strategic hedge."

-- Last week, Secretary Gates cut of $78 Billion from the Pentagon's future budgets; missile defense was not part of these cuts.

-- This week the new majority of the House of Representatives of the 112th Congress lead by Representative Jon Boehner on a three day retreat to discuss the strategy of the Republican Congress for this year. This new majority is lead by its "Pledge to America", to fully fund missile defense and to ensure critical funding is restored to protect the U.S. homeland and our allies from missile threats from states such as Iran and North Korea. 

These movements will have little value without funding increases in the missile defense budget and a significant increase in support and priority towards the U.S. homeland missile defense system. Without these changes the Secretary of Defense will struggle to address the changing status quo on the Korean Peninsula and Iran's current and future capability in nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation. 

China’s anti-ship ballistic missile operational

Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command, says China’s first-of-a-kind DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) now has a limited operational capability and will soon be fully operational, which he avers is a grave cause for concern to China’s neighbours and the United States.

In late December, Willard told a Japanese newspaper that, “the anti-ship ballistic missile system in China has undergone extensive testing…it has an operational capability now”. In the interview he added that the Chinese are continuing to test and develop the missile and would probably do so for several more years until it becomes fully operational.

The ASBM is based on the D-variant of the Dong Feng-21 medium range ballistic missile, which is known in the West as the CSS-5 Mod 5, according to the US Department of Defence’s 2010 report on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). “The missile has a range of in excess of 1500 km, is armed with a manoeuvrable warhead, and when integrated with appropriate command and control systems, is intended to provide the PLA the capability to attacks ships, including aircraft carriers, in the western Pacific Ocean”, the report said. Supporting the missile is a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles that can locate ships and guide the weapon, allowing it to hit moving targets, a US Naval Institute report in March 2009 stated.

Travelling at roughly ten times the speed of sound, the missile would reach its target in under ten minutes. Combined with kinetic energy, the DF-21D has a big enough warhead to disable or completely destroy a supercarrier, the Department of Defence reported. According to the US Naval Institute, ships currently have no means of defending themselves against a ballistic missile attack. However, the US Navy currently has 21 ships fitted with Aegis missiles capable of intercepting short-range ballistic missiles, according to the US Missile Defence Agency.

China elevates its missile force chief in PLA

BEIJING (PTI): Fearing that US is making inroads into its neighbourhood, China has elevated a General heading its missile strike force to the rank of Deputy Chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the biggest land force in the world.

Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe, 56, chief of staff of Second Artillery Corps, the PLA's strategic missile force, has been named deputy chief of the general staff, China Central Television's military channel reported, signifying the priority the Red Army is laying in building up its missile arsenal.

By his elevation, the General is likely to join the all powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), China's apex defence body currently headed by President Hu Jintao.

It is also seen as an upgrading of the missile force's strategic importance in the PLA.

"Agree or not, there is a considerable disparity in terms of military muscle between America and China.