China Military Watch - Jan 11, 2011

[shiv]

Received on email
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/busin ... bgDUcxoLdA


THE NEW YORK TIMES

G.E. to Share Jet Technology With China in New Joint Venture

By DAVID BARBOZA, CHRISTOPHER DREW and STEVE LOHR

This article was reported by David Barboza, Christopher Drew and
Steve Lohr and written by Mr. Lohr.

Published: January 17, 2011

As China strives for leadership in the world’s most advanced
industries, it sees commercial jetliners — planes that may someday
challenge the best from Boeing and Airbus — as a top prize.

And no Western company has been more aggressive in helping China
pursue that dream than one of the aviation industry’s biggest
suppliers of jet engines and airplane technology, General Electric.

On Friday, during the visit of the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, to
the United States, G.E. plans to sign a joint-venture agreement in
commercial aviation that shows the tricky risk-and-reward
calculations American corporations must increasingly make in their
pursuit of lucrative markets in China.

G.E., in the partnership with a state-owned Chinese company, will be
sharing its most sophisticated airplane electronics, including some
of the same technology used in Boeing’s new state-of-the-art 787
Dreamliner.

For G.E., the pact is a chance to build upon an already
well-established business in China, where the company has booming
sales of jet engines, mainly to Chinese airlines that are now buying
Boeing and Airbus planes. But doing business in China often requires
Western multinationals like G.E. to share technology and trade
secrets that might eventually enable Chinese companies to beat them
at their own game — by making the same products cheaper, if not
better.

The other risk is that Western technologies could help China play
catch-up in military aviation — a concern underscored last week when
the Chinese military demonstrated a prototype of its version of the
Pentagon’s stealth fighter, even though the plane could be a decade
away from production.

The first customer for the G.E. joint venture will be the Chinese
company building a new airliner, the C919, that is meant to be
China’s first entry in competition with Boeing and Airbus.

For the most part, Western aviation executives say the Chinese are
simply too far behind in both civilian and military airplane
technology to cause any real fears anytime soon — although it does
put pressure on Boeing and Airbus to continue to innovate and stay
technologically ahead of China.

G.E., which said it had briefed the commerce, defense and state
departments on details of the deal, acknowledges that pairing up with
a Chinese firm is a delicate dance. But because the commercial
aircraft market in China is expected to generate sales of more than
$400 billion over the next two decades, it is not a party the company
is willing to miss.

Eventually, G.E. executives say, China will become a potent player in
the commercial jetliner market, and the company wants to be a major
supplier to the emerging Chinese producers.

“They are committed for the long term and they have every probability
of being successful,” said John G. Rice, vice chairman of G.E. “We can
participate in that or sit on the sidelines. We’re not about sitting
on the sidelines.”

Mr. Rice also said that the Chinese joint venture partner — the
aerospace design and equipment manufacturer Aviation Industry
Corporation of China, or Avic — has supplied G.E. with some parts for
jet engines for years. And he said he had personally known Avic’s
president for a decade.

“This venture is a strategic move that we made after some thought and
consideration, with a company we know,” Mr. Rice said. “This isn’t
something we were forced into” by the Chinese government.

G.E.’s new joint venture in Shanghai will focus on avionics — the
electronics for communications, navigation, cockpit displays and
controls. G.E. will be contributing its leading-edge avionics
technology — a high-performance core computer system that operates as
the avionics brain of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner.

The joint venture has a ready customer in the C919’s builder, the
Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, which is also a
government-owned enterprise. The plane will be a single-aisle
airliner, carrying up to 200 passengers, intended to compete with
Boeing 737s and Airbus 320s. Although the Chinese hope to begin
deliveries in 2016, analysts say the schedule may well slip.

With or without the C919, the Chinese market for commercial airliners
is already huge and growing fast — a big market for G.E. jet engines
and other systems, as well as Boeing and Airbus planes. But if the
C919 grabs any significant slice of that market, it would represent a
new, expanded opportunity for G.E. The company has already been chosen
to supply engines for the Chinese plane, through its long-standing
partnership with Snecma of France. Though the world’s largest
producer of jet engines, G.E. has trailed other suppliers of avionics
in overall sales, behind Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Thales, all
of whom competed for the C919 business.

Several other American companies have also been chosen as suppliers
for the C919 aircraft, providing power generators, fuel tanks,
hydraulic controls, brakes, tires and other gear. The roster of
United States suppliers includes Rockwell Collins, Honeywell,
Hamilton Sundstrand, Parker Aerospace, Eaton Corporation and Kidde
Aerospace.

In fact, the corporate competition for contracts on the C919 became a
“frenzy,” said Mark Howes, president of Honeywell Aerospace Asia
Pacific. The Chinese government, he said, had made it clear to
Western companies that they should be “willing to share technology
and know-how.”

But the G.E. avionics joint venture, analysts say, appears to be the
deepest relationship yet and involves sharing the most confidential
technology. And G.E.’s partner, Avic, also supplies China’s military
aircraft and weapons systems.

G.E. executives would not comment on the details of the joint
venture. But a person involved in the talks said the 50-50 venture is
for 50 years. G.E., the person said, is putting in technology and
start-up capital of $200 million. Avic will initially contribute $700
million, the person said, including the cost of a new research and
development lab already under construction.

To address American government security concerns, the joint venture
in Shanghai will occupy separate offices and be equipped with
computer systems that cannot pass data to computers in Avic’s
military division, G.E. executives say. And anyone working in the
joint venture must wait two years before they can work on military
projects at Avic, they added.

While Boeing and Airbus would probably rather not see their suppliers
help the Chinese so much, both those companies must also constantly
balance the risks and rewards of operating in China.

Boeing has subcontracted parts work to China for many years, and it
is expanding a joint venture in Tianjin that makes parts with
composite materials for several of its planes. And Airbus has built a
factory that assembles A320s in the same city.

Boeing has “opted to accept the reality of both partnering and
competing with China,” Boeing’s chief executive, W. James McNerney
Jr., said in a speech last year.

Indeed, China’s push into the commercial aircraft industry will
probably increase exports from American aviation equipment
manufacturers for years to come, according to industry analysts.
Whether China succeeds or fails, the state-owned companies will keep
investing, generating sales for the suppliers.

The real concern lies further head, according to a study of China’s
strategy included in a report published in November by a bipartisan
Congressional advisory group, the United States-China Economic and
Security Review Commission.

The group concluded that China’s huge state subsidies for its own
industry, its requirements that foreign companies provide technology
and know-how to gain access to the Chinese market, along with the
close ties between its commercial and military aviation sectors all
raise concerns and “bear watching.”

The big aviation equipment makers say that, by now, they are
experienced at grappling with matters of technology transfer in
China. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Kent L. Statler, an executive vice
president for commercial aviation at Rockwell Collins, observes that
his employees often ask whether the company is trading its future for
immediate sales in China.

“I think you’re naïve if you don’t take into account that you could
be standing up a future competitor,” Mr. Statler said. Any company in
a global business is in a race, he added, and staying ahead is the
only defense. “At the end of the day, our technologies and processes
have to continue to improve,” Mr. Statler said. “It comes down to who
can innovate faster.”

A version of this article appeared in print on January 18, 2011, on
page B1 of the New York edition.

[svinayak]

http://www.cfr.org/publication/23803/re ... tions.html
A year can be a long time in the world of foreign policy, and 2010 was especially long for China. A series of almost unimaginably poor decisions by Beijing has raised serious concerns globally about precisely what kind of power China will be. The year got off to a bad start with the cyberhacking and Google debacle in January. China's foreign ministry compounded the problem by bullying the country's neighbors over long-disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea, reflexively defending North Korean aggression against South Korea, and supporting an embargo of rare earths against Japan in the wake of a Chinese fishing boat collision with Japanese patrol boats.
The already dismal year concluded with a bang when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace prize. The foreign ministry's tirade against Liu and the Nobel Committee only underscored to the rest of the world the great distance China has yet to travel to truly meet its potential as a global power.
China's missteps and miscalculations also opened the door for a reassertion of U.S. leadership, particularly in Asia. President Barack Obama, Clinton, and Gates crisscrossed Asia to reaffirm ties with traditional allies, broaden relations with newer partners and offer reassurance of a deep and abiding U.S. commitment to the region.

They are trying the carrot to PRC again at the cost of deep long term conflict in Asia. Controlling China with lots of goodies in the obsession with US

[SaiK]

well they are holding about $900b in US treasury, and i think these carrots are for unkill to get more exports to chippanda via the route of increasing chinese currency value. Not sure how much of this may go to direct weapons or machinery transfers to produce high tech defence systems., indirectly selling to pakis.

[Philip]

Stratfor's take on the PRC military's leaping mabitions.It also deals with the PLAN's rapidly growing capabilities as China satisfied about the security of its land borders is making "waves" to plug the gaps in the naval arena.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110117 ... 121a659a31

"China's Military Comes Into Its Own

[P Chitkara]

One can be pretty much sure that what has been done to russians will be done here too - the degree or brazenness may vary though.

OTOH unkil is too smart to give away anything very tangible to a country they perceive as a major competitor. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[ravar]

http://asian-defence.blogspot.com/2010/ ... -show.html

Eagle Hannan is a Pakistani engineer who works in Nanjing, China. He speaks both Urdu and Chinese fluently.

He notes that one of the Sherdil pilots (Pakistani Aerobatic team using Chinese ailclaft!!) comments about the J-10 pilots in Punjabi that the old men of China cannot fly their own planes.

Well, the admiration is mutual....onlee! See the comment by the author of the Chinese def blog-

http://china-defense.blogspot.com/searc ... -results=5



Also, have a look at how this dig has made Paki echandee fanboys comment there

Truly, higher than ocean and deeper than mountain fleindship...onlee

[Raghavendra]

Photos of SSB camp, border were in Chinese camera: UP police http://www.sify.com/news/Photos-of-SSB- ... idget_news

Lucknow: Photographs of Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) camp and Indian borders have been found in the camera of the three Chinese nationals arrested by the SSB in Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

"Photographs of SSB camp and Indian border have been found in the camera of the Chinese nationals arrested on January 17 in Bahraich", Special Director General, Law and Order, Brijlal told repoters here.

He said the local police are trying to take the three on remand to interrogate them further.

"We are also trying to arrange a Chinese interpreter, which can help the police and intelligence agencies in the probe", Brijlal said.

Liao Xing, Yu Dangli and Yang Liu were arrested by SSB near Rupedhiya border when they were taking pictures of some important installations.

He said an Indian PAN card, two mobiles and a camera was recovered from them adding intelligence agencies were interrogating them about their motive behind coming to the country.

The trio had come from Nepal and crossed the Indian border without valid passports and visa and they were booked for illegally entering India under the Passport Act.

[VinodTK]

China’s Military Muscle

Is China developing new port facilities along the Indian Ocean—the so-called string of pearls—to strengthen its military presence in South Asia and contain India?

The string of pearls argument is fraudulent—it’s simply false. This concept was developed in the West to explain China’s acquisition of strategic bases and construction of port facilities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, but when it was examined by the U.S. government and other scholars, the theory was found baseless.

While Beijing has assisted governments and countries in developing ports with the help of Chinese companies, the assistance has primarily been designed to improve the abilities of these ports to operate as commercial entities and establish facilities where resources—primarily energy supplies—can be shipped inland. There is little—if any—evidence that the Chinese military is involved. It’s a compelling idea that makes sense from afar, but a close look at the details reveals the flaws.

Long article

[Raghavendra]

Chinese Troops Stationed in N.Korean Special Zone http://english.chosun.com/site/data/htm ... 00465.html

Chinese troops have been stationed in the special economic zone of Rajin-Sonbong in North Korea, sources said Friday.

This would be the first time since Chinese troops withdrew from the Military Armistice Commission in the truce village of Panmunjom in December 1994 that they have been stationed in the North.

"Pyongyang and Beijing have reportedly discussed the matter of stationing a small number of Chinese troops in the Rajin-Sonbong region to guard port facilities China has invested in," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "If it's true, they're apparently there to protect either facilities or Chinese residents rather than for political or military reasons."

How many of them are there is not known. The move is unusual since North Korea is constantly calling for U.S. forces to pull out of South Korea and stressing its "juche" or self-reliance doctrine.

A China-based source familiar with North Korean affairs said, "In the middle of the night around Dec. 15 last year, about 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks crossed the Duman (Tumen) River from Sanhe into the North Korean city of Hoeryong in North Hamgyong Province."

Residents were woken up by the roar of armored vehicles. Hoeryong is only about 50 km from Rajin-Sonbong. Other witnesses said they saw military jeeps running from the Chinese city of Dandong in the direction of Sinuiju in the North at around the same time.

"The Chinese armored vehicles could be used to suppress public disturbances and the jeeps to round up on defectors from the North," the source speculated.

Nam Joo-hong, the ambassador for international security, said, "What China is most worried about in case of a sudden change in the North is mass influx of defectors, which would throw the three northeastern Chinese provinces into confusion. With its military presence in Rajin-Sonbong, there is a likelihood that China could intervene in Korean affairs by sending a large number of troops into the North under the pretext of protecting its residents there in an emergency."

The North and China have engaged in lively military exchanges since two visits to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last year. Guo Boxiong, the top Chinese military officer and vice chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, visited the North in late October last year and met with leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir Jong-un. In the meeting, Kim senior emphasized "blood ties" between the two countries.

A Chinese mission has been stationed in Rajin-Sonbong since last December. China is transporting natural resources from its northeastern region to the south via Rajin-Sonbong Port, which has recently been renovated.

According to China's official Xinhua news agency on Jan. 3, China first used the port on Dec. 7, when it transported 20,000 tons of coal from a mine in Hunchun, Jilin Province to southern parts including Shanghai. There is speculation that China will supply its own electricity to Rajin-Sonbong from April.

Quoting an internal North Korean source, the online newspaper Daily NK said the North and China in December signed an investment pact on building three more piers at the port and building a highway and laying a railroad between Quanhe in Jilin and Rajin-Sonbong.

The number of Chinese people arriving in the special zone has grown as a result of the North's quest for investment, observers said.

"The North Korean State Security has more or less stopped checking Chinese people," another source said. "The North has apparently concluded that it is unavoidable to accept the Chinese military presence on its land to woo Chinese investment, even if it's not happy about it."

[wrdos]

never believe Koreans

[Juggi G]

China Restores Soviet Aircraft Carrier : Expert

[Juggi G]

McKeon : China Got Stealth Technology From Russia

McKeon : China Got Stealth Technology From Russia
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published : 18 Jan 2011

WASHINGTON - China got the technology for its first stealth fighter jet from Russia, a senior U.S. Lawmaker said Jan. 18, one week after the airplane apparently made its maiden flight.

"My understanding is that they Built it on Information that they Received from Russia, from a Russian Plane, that they were Able to Copy," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told reporters.

McKeon, a Republican, said he hoped to "hear more" on the issue from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was on a visit to Beijing when Chinese state media published photographs of the J-20 fighter in the skies over southwestern China.

According to the reports, which cited witnesses, the next-generation war jet - the existence of which highlights China's drive to modernize its military - made a 15-minute test flight before landing.

McKeon, who had been asked whether Beijing had obtained the technology needed to build such an advanced fighter from cyber-espionage, also stressed that "China's a concern" for U.S. national security.

"We need to be looking at China, we need to be looking at North Korea, we need to be looking at Iran," said McKeon, who has given a skeptical greeting to Gates' plans for reductions in U.S. military spending.

"That's what really concerns me when I look at the cuts, the potential cuts, that they're talking about for the defense budget. This is not a safe world," McKeon said.

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Juggi G

Post subject: Re: China Military Watch - Jan 11, 2011 Reply with quote
McKeon : China Got Stealth Technology From Russia

Somehow, this seems to make sense. While Russia is afraid of China, Russian nukes give it a sense of security. My anlaysis of why they may have done so is:
Pro's

• Forex to subsidize Russian research. Anyway, the Russians would not give China the best engine technology or the complete range of stealth technology. Definitely the Russian PAKFA would be superior to J-20 (Just as maybe the FGFA version maybe actually be a PAKFA-Lite. As for the export market, if China sells a lower grade plane (albeit with Russian engines they still make money, and China becomes the bad boy. Given the kind of sophistication needed for handling a 5G fighter, there may not be too big a market outside American sphere of influence.
  A Powerful China will be the focus for the US, taking the spotlight away from Russia who can then pursue their own agenda at leisure.
  A powerful China, ensures that the Indian dependence on big ticket Russian weapons system does not dry up.
  Given that China is a major export market for Russian energy & commodities, keeping China happy is important for Russia.
  Russia is trying to keep the dragon happy, and stay in it's good books. Sort of manage the situation till the time that they can reassert themselves in the Far East
  Kind of manage China's technology development. Make sure that China gets advanced engines, composites just slowly enough that it does not become desperate and makes it priority number one to develop indigenously. In that case Russia would not only lose a large customer, but also face a China who is unpredictable.
  Hedge their future military sales. If India slowly turns into a Western arms market, they would need China to survive

Con's

• Loss of business in future. But sales of key components, IP (design data) may offset losses
  The Chinese maymorph the J-20 into something better than the PAKFA because of inputsf rom elsewhere/ in-house development
  Loss of India as a customer in the near future- Maybe, but I think it's highly unlikely. We are just too dependent as of the moment.

So, IMHO, it maybe worth considering the possibility that Russia is hedging it's bets and doing a balancing act between India & China. Plus this move also ensures that China remains the biggest bogey on the US's radar

[Kanson]

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 5#p1003525

Kanson
Post subject: Re: China Military Watch
PostPosted: 02 Jan 2011 06:10 pm

Quote:
We can say PRC is not the only one having BM as anti-ship weapon. But ASBM is not a versatile solution for the problem. It is an extreme solution for a peculiar problem just like US intention of using Trident ICBM for killing terrorists.


American response:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/ ... 050609.xml

At the U.S. Navy League exhibition in Washington this month, Raytheon Missile Systems will unveil an upgrade to the BGM/UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV land-attack cruise missile that will make it a multirole weapon capable of hitting moving ships. The package has four elements: An active electronically scanned array, millimeter-wave seeker provides target acquisition and homing; a passive electronic surveillance system is for long-range acquisition and identification; the 1,000-lb. blast-fragmentation warhead is replaced by a shaped charge; and the two-way data link gets more bandwidth.

The missile is designed to kill or disable large, hardened warships in difficult environments such as littoral waters, over a greater range than Boeing’s Harpoon/Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM), the U.S. Navy’s standard antiship missile. The Raytheon warhead is twice as large as SLAM’s, and the 900-naut.-mi. range is six times greater. This is not an antipirate weapon, and it is not hard to guess which navy is the most likely target.

and

Long range anti ship cruise missile to be designed by Lockheed Martin for DARPA

the LRASM concept seeks to reduce dependence on precision intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sources, data links, and GPS satellite navigation and guidance by demonstrating advanced onboard missile sensor and missile processing capabilities, which will enable precision engagement of moving ships based only on course and initial target cueing in extremely hostile environments.

The new anti-ship missile and its associated missile electronics will provide Navy warships like the guided missile cruiser with the ability to attack important enemy ships outside the ranges of the enemy's ability to respond with anti-ship missiles of its own.

It is not hard to guess the intended target/nation. Min. range of this new Anti-ship missile in development could well be more than 1500 km.

And from the available information, range of DF-21C is the same 1700 km (900 nautical mi.) only.

Hey China: U.S. is Prepping New Ship-Killing Missiles, Too
* By Spencer Ackerman
* January 21, 2011 |
* 4:42 pm

Yeah, yeah, so the Chinese are working hard on a potentially deadly ballistic missile, designed to kill ships. That missile has long prompted a lot of debate about whether surface ships are ultimately a losing proposition for the U.S. Navy. If so, no one’s told the seafarers, who are moving forward with their own anti-ship missile upgrade.

Yesterday, Darpa and the Navy awarded Lockheed Martin $218 million to develop and test an experimental Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, a program to knock out enemy ships using guided missiles even when an adversary (read: China China China) is jamming the Navy’s GPS. The LRASM — “el-razzem” — will come in an air-launched version and a ship-launched one. It’ll use sensors made by BAE Systems to help it select targets autonomously. Lockheed vice president Rick Edwards boasted in a statement that the missiles will provide extraordinary range, willful penetration of ship self defense systems and precise lethality in denied combat environments.”

Exactly how extraordinary that range is remains unclear, making the program rather oddly named. A Lockheed spokesman said the company was hesitant to give out that information without the Navy’s say-so; and the Navy and Darpa are currently conferring to see if the range can be made public. I’ll update when and if I can, but at the very least, the missile will have to travel further than the 150 miles that aging anti-ship missiles like the AGM-84 Harpoon can reach. At least Darpa and the Navy are pinky-swearing that the missile will travel far and wide.

In any event, longer-range anti-ship missiles send a certain message: don’t bother developing a navy that can rival ours. Shipbuilding is expensive, which is one of the reasons the Chinese covet their DF-21D “carrier killer”: it’s a good tool to back a ship way out of your waters. But the People’s Liberation Army Navy is building its own aircraft carrier and expanding its own surface fleet. The U.S. Navy anticipates having the LRASM by 2013 — which essentially adds years onto the timetable for when China’s navy can outperform the U.S.’ No wonder Adm. Gary Roughead, the U.S.’ top naval officer, isn’t out of joint over Chinese seapower.

And then there’s what comes next for shipboard defense: lasers and electromagnetic railguns. The lasers burn through incoming anti-ship missiles; while the railgun sends a bullet at supersonic speeds to punch through a hull. Neither capability will be ready in the next decade, so consider the LRASM the interim step for distancing the U.S. Navy from its would-be rivals.

It’s not that the Chinese anti-ship missile isn’t a big deal. Nor is a debate about the future of surface warfare resolved or even put off by the U.S.’ countermeasure in building a longer-range missile. It just demonstrates that the U.S. is willing to make other modernizing navies consider the cost of challenging it at sea. And combined with its impending anti-missile lasers, which blunt the alternative to shipbuilding, the U.S. Navy is taking concrete steps over the near future to remain the undisputed master of the high seas. Now to see if it can keep agile, small missile-equipped boats away…

[Kanson]

Navy Intel Chief Yawns at China’s New Jet, Missile
By Spencer Ackerman

A prototype stealth fighter, years ahead of American predictions. A “carrier-killer” missile reaching its initial operating phases. An aggressive year in the western Pacific. These recent Chinese military developments have a lot of U.S. analysts freaking out. But the chief of Naval intelligence wants everyone to take a deep breath.

Vice Adm. Jack Dorsett tells reporters it’s “not a surprise” that China’s developed a stealth aircraft, known as the J-20, pictures of which hit the internet late last month. Nor is he especially worried about the J-20: “It’s not clear to me when it’s going to become operational.”

Dorsett seemed a bit more concerned about the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, a weapon that recently reached an initial operational capability, at least according to one U.S. admiral. “The missile system itself is truly competent and capable,” Dorsett says. In theory, the missiles can now hit a moving ship. But they may not be all that accurate, yet. Dorsett isn’t exactly having a meltdown over the missiles.

“How proficient they are, what that level of probability is, we don’t know, and frankly I’m guessing that they don’t know,” Dorsett says. “They’ve probably simulated this in laboratories, they’ve certainly test-fired it over land, but to our knowledge they have not test-fired it over water at maneuvering targets.”

But if the goal is to assess the growth of Chinese military might, Dorsett contends, looking at China’s new military hardware misses the broader picture. The real issue is how well all the different Chinese military elements knit together, much as the U.S.’ do. “I don’t see China with those capabilities right now,” Dorsett says. “I see them delivering individual components, individual weapons systems, those things are being developed. But until they acquire that proficiency, the question is how competent are they going to be.”

What’s more, China’s true “game-changing capabilities” are more likely to be in the area of laser blasts, cyberattacks and “counter-space capabilities,” Dorsett says: “That’s a greater concern from me than some of the other hardware-driven or kinetic capabilities that they’re developing.” Chinese defense theorists argue that space-fired lasers can blunt the U.S.’s conventional naval power, and last year, China reached parity with the U.S. in annual space-bound rocket launches. Then there’s China’s hacking proficiency, which Washington eyes very attentively. But Dorsett declined to say that China has an advantage over America in any of these areas, merely that they’re moving aggressively — like the U.S. is — to develop them.

It’s true that the U.S. “pretty consistently” underestimates when China can bring its new weapons online, Dorsett said. And it’s clear to him that the People’s Liberation Army Navy wishes to be a “regional power” in the near-term, eventually developing “global implications,” and has the economic might to make good on its aspirations. (Expect an expansion of Chinese aircraft carrier-building, for instance.) With Defense Secretary Robert Gates heading to China this weekend and Chinese President Hu Jintao coming to Washington on January 19, a central question for both countries is how they can co-exist as major players in the western Pacific.

But for now, Dorsett’s metric is when China’s entire military can work together seamlessly and well. “I want to get pretty right on that about when they get operationally proficient,” he said. “We’re not seeing that. We’re seeing it in individual elements of warfare, but not across the joint spectrum of warfighting.”

[Kanson]

Navy Reports a ‘Breakthrough’ for Its Superlaser
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author January 20, 2011

One day, the Navy swears, it’ll have a massive laser aboard its ships to fry missiles out of the sky. That day is still years off. But a very excited Office of Naval Research reports that it’s nine months ahead of schedule, thanks to what it calls a “remarkable breakthrough.”

The Navy’s Free Electron Laser program uses massively charged electron streams generated by an injector to focus light across multiple wavelengths, making it more powerful than most lasers. Turning it into a death ray requires at least 100 kilowatts worth of power. So far, the prototype Free Electron Laser that the Navy has can only generate 14.

But now the Navy thinks it’s broken a power threshold. Tests in December of a new injector yielded the electrons necessary to get the Free Electron Laser up to “megawatt class” beams, the Office of Naval Research said in a statement issued today, nine months ahead of schedule. One of the project’s lead researchers, Dinh Nguyen, said in the statement that he hoped to “set a world record for the average current of electrons.”

Getting it on board a ship is still a long ways away. Boeing has a contract to get the Navy a new prototype laser by early 2012. Even with the new injector showing promise, researchers don’t anticipate a shipboard test until 2018.

But the arrival of a superlaser for maritime defense is a potential gamechanger. It would represent a speed-of-light weapon that never has to be reloaded, feeding on a ship’s generator, to burn through incoming missiles or aircraft. And that’s not all: program manager Quentin Saulter told Danger Room in November that the Free Electron Laser can be used as a sensor, a tracker or a guidance system for a ship’s conventional weapons.

The Navy isn’t just looking at lasers for its future shipboard defense. Last month, it set a world record for sending 33 megajoules of energy through a railgun, propelling a bullet out from its barrel at mach-8 speeds. Between the rail gun and the Free Electron Laser, the Navy’s looking both to neutralize a new generation of anti-ship missiles — hint hint: China — and increase the firing range of its ships in case they have to operate against an enemy further out to sea.

[Don]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110123/ap_ ... logy_china

China's new stealth fighter may use US technology

SLOBODAN LEKIC and DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Slobodan Lekic And Dusan Stojanovic, Associated Press – 9 mins ago

BRUSSELS – Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority — and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself.

Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.

Nighthawks were the world's first stealth fighters, planes that were very hard for radar to detect. But on March 27, 1999, during NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot one of the Nighthawks down. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet.

The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts — some the size of small cars — as souvenirs.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war.

"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview.

A senior Serbian military official confirmed that pieces of the wreckage were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches."

Efforts to get comment from China's defense ministry and the Pentagon were unsuccessful.

China's multi-role stealth fighter — known as the Chengdu J-20 — made its inaugural flight Jan. 11, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies.

Although the twin-engine J-20 is at least eight or nine years from entering air force inventory, it could become a rival to America's top-of-the-line F-22 Raptor, the successor to the Nighthawk and the only stealth fighter currently in service.

China rolled out the J-22 just days before a visit to Beijing by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, leading some analysts to speculate that the timing was intended to demonstrate the growing might of China's armed forces.

Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao's high-profile visit to the United States this week, many in Washington see China as an economic threat to the U.S. and worry as well about Beijing's military might.

Parts of the downed F-117 wreckage — such as the left wing with US Air Force insignia, the cockpit canopy, ejection seat, pilot's helmet and radio — are exhibited at Belgrade's aviation museum.

"I don't know what happened to the rest of the plane," said Zoran Milicevic, deputy director of the museum. "A lot of delegations visited us in the past, including the Chinese, Russians and Americans ... but no one showed any interest in taking any part of the jet."

Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, said the regime of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured Western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies.

"The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Milicevic said.

Russia's Sukhoi T-50 prototype stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is due to enter service in about four years. It is likely that the Russians also gleaned knowledge of stealth technology from the downed Nighthawk.

The F-117, developed in great secrecy in the 1970s, began service in 1983.

While not completely invisible to radar, its shape and radar-absorbent coating made detection extremely difficult. The radar cross-section was further reduced because the wings' leading and trailing edges were composed of nonmetallic honeycomb structures that do not reflect radar rays.

Kusovac said insight into this critical technology, and particularly the plane's secret radiation-absorbent exterior coating, would have significantly enhanced China's stealth know-how.

Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University said the J-20 represented a major step forward for China. He described Domazet-Loso's claim as "a logical assessment."

"There is no other stronger source for the origin of the J-20's stealthy technology," said Huang, an expert on China's air force. "The argument the Croatian chief-of-staff makes is legitimate and cannot be ruled out."

The Chinese are well-known perpetrators of industrial espionage in Western Europe and the United States, where the administration has also been increasingly aggressive in prosecuting cases of Chinese espionage.

Western diplomats have said China maintained an intelligence post in its Belgrade embassy during the Kosovo war. The building was mistakenly struck by U.S. bombers that May, killing three people inside.

"What that means is that the Serbs and Chinese would have been sharing their intelligence," said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia security program at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London. "It's very likely that they shared the technology they recovered from the F-117, and it's very plausible that elements of the F-117 got to China."

[kit]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110123/ap_ ... logy_china

China's new stealth fighter may use US technology

SLOBODAN LEKIC and DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Slobodan Lekic And Dusan Stojanovic, Associated Press – 9 mins ago

BRUSSELS – Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority — and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself.

Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.

Nighthawks were the world's first stealth fighters, planes that were very hard for radar to detect. But on March 27, 1999, during NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot one of the Nighthawks down. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet.

The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts — some the size of small cars — as souvenirs.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war.

"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview.

A senior Serbian military official confirmed that pieces of the wreckage were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches."

Efforts to get comment from China's defense ministry and the Pentagon were unsuccessful.

China's multi-role stealth fighter — known as the Chengdu J-20 — made its inaugural flight Jan. 11, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies.

Although the twin-engine J-20 is at least eight or nine years from entering air force inventory, it could become a rival to America's top-of-the-line F-22 Raptor, the successor to the Nighthawk and the only stealth fighter currently in service.

China rolled out the J-22 just days before a visit to Beijing by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, leading some analysts to speculate that the timing was intended to demonstrate the growing might of China's armed forces.

Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao's high-profile visit to the United States this week, many in Washington see China as an economic threat to the U.S. and worry as well about Beijing's military might.

Parts of the downed F-117 wreckage — such as the left wing with US Air Force insignia, the cockpit canopy, ejection seat, pilot's helmet and radio — are exhibited at Belgrade's aviation museum.

"I don't know what happened to the rest of the plane," said Zoran Milicevic, deputy director of the museum. "A lot of delegations visited us in the past, including the Chinese, Russians and Americans ... but no one showed any interest in taking any part of the jet."

Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, said the regime of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured Western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies.

"The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Milicevic said.

Russia's Sukhoi T-50 prototype stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is due to enter service in about four years. It is likely that the Russians also gleaned knowledge of stealth technology from the downed Nighthawk.

The F-117, developed in great secrecy in the 1970s, began service in 1983.

While not completely invisible to radar, its shape and radar-absorbent coating made detection extremely difficult. The radar cross-section was further reduced because the wings' leading and trailing edges were composed of nonmetallic honeycomb structures that do not reflect radar rays.

Kusovac said insight into this critical technology, and particularly the plane's secret radiation-absorbent exterior coating, would have significantly enhanced China's stealth know-how.

Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University said the J-20 represented a major step forward for China. He described Domazet-Loso's claim as "a logical assessment."

"There is no other stronger source for the origin of the J-20's stealthy technology," said Huang, an expert on China's air force. "The argument the Croatian chief-of-staff makes is legitimate and cannot be ruled out."

The Chinese are well-known perpetrators of industrial espionage in Western Europe and the United States, where the administration has also been increasingly aggressive in prosecuting cases of Chinese espionage.

Western diplomats have said China maintained an intelligence post in its Belgrade embassy during the Kosovo war. The building was mistakenly struck by U.S. bombers that May, killing three people inside.

"What that means is that the Serbs and Chinese would have been sharing their intelligence," said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia security program at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London. "It's very likely that they shared the technology they recovered from the F-117, and it's very plausible that elements of the F-117 got to China."

Quite perhaps the chinese intelligence station was not mistakenly hit at all.

[shiv]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08 ... y-program/

China’s Secret Satellite Rendezvous ‘Suggestive of a Military Program’

* By Katie Drummond Email Author
* August 31, 2010 |
* 12:50 pm |
* Categories: China
*

Earlier this month, two Chinese satellites met up in orbit. Depending on who you believe, it’s either a sign of China’s increasingly-sophisticated space program — or a sign of its increasingly-sophisticated space warfare program.

A well-regarded Russian space watcher was the first to note that the two satellites, newly-launched SJ-12 and two-year-old SJ-06F, had performed maneuvers indicating a cutting edge procedure called non-cooperative robotic rendezvous. A loose network of amateur space spectators and astronomers soon congregated online, and confirmed that the sats had, indeed, converged.

This kind of rendezvous can have extremely useful, and benign, applications: removing space debris, refueling satellites or repairing craft in orbit. But the military apps are massive, and include up-close inspection of foreign satellites, espionage — and the infliction of some serious damage to adversarial space infrastructure. In other words, orbital warfare that, given just how reliant we are on satellite technology, would have widespread consequences on the ground.

“These kinds of rendezvous have been done plenty of times with ground control, but robotically controlled satellites, rendezvousing at higher altitudes, is really quite new,” says Brian Weeden, who offers an in-depth rundown of the incident at The Space Review. “The perception of how this technology is being developed, and what it is being used for, is extremely important.”

The United States is the only other country known to have performed a similar feat. In 2005, NASA researchers launched DART (Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology) in an effort to rendezvous with a Navy satellite. Navigational errors led to the two satellites bumping, but the initiative did offer proof-of-concept that American scientists were making major headway towards satellites that can autonomously meet up in space. Since then, the Darpa-funded Orbital Express program has demonstrated the capacity for satellites to rendezvous for refueling and module swapping.

So, in a sense, it was really only a matter of time before China followed suit. In recent years, they’ve fast-tracked a handful of space exploration and development projects, culminating in a satellite-killing weapons program and 90-pound mini-sat that some speculated was designed with nefarious intent.

“The Chinese would be absolutely incompetent to not be trying to reduce U.S advantage in space,” James Oberg, a former NASA space engineer specializing in orbital rendezvous, tells Danger Room. “No potential adversary in their right mind would give us permanent advantage in space operations.”

Weeden notes that neither the United States or Chinese governments have been especially forthcoming about their progress on satellite rendezvous capacities, not to mention respective satellite arsenals and specific locations. The dilemma is even more salient because, as this incident illustrates, knowledgeable amateurs with the right equipment can do their own detective work — and then meet online to share the results.

“There’s a continued assumption among governments that if they don’t publish satellite details and locations, nobody is going to figure it out,” Weeden says. “That’s wrong.”

In this instance, China’s government has yet to acknowledge the incident, and their apparent choice of location for the actual rendezvous adds to the troubling puzzle. According to Oberg, the satellite meet-up occurred in an orbit almost exclusively devoted to earth observation — spy and weather satellites, for example — where “a potential adversary would be most interested in rendezvousing.”

“On the other hand, it’s also where a satellite might need refueling,” he adds. “It’s like you could be changing a screwdriver for a hammer, or you could be turning a peaceful ‘bot into a killer one.”

But China’s been eager to boast about their prior space exploration projects, and have already publicized plans for a major satellite rendezvous trial next year, so silence in this instance seems telling.

“There’s still a vague possibility that this was a matter of computational bias and coincidence,” Oberg says. “But the silence here is suggestive of a military program.”

For now, web-based space watchers will keep working. They’re hoping to figure out whether or not the Chinese satellites touched, which would indicate either an error like that of the DART attempt or some kind of military trial run. Regardless, the rendezvous is a stark reminder that the safety of American deep-space systems is by no means guaranteed.

“For all we know, these could just be mind games. They don’t have to attack U.S space capacities — they just have to make us think they could,” Oberg says. “We’re not playing chess in space, we’re playing Go. This makes chess look like a kindergartner’s pastime.”

[Khalsa]

This one is for Shiv for when he posed the good question: How come the chinese went from a 3 gen fighter plane to Gen 5 with stealth etc in such a short time.

Its called stealing apparently

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/video/news/vi ... _id=116337

[suryag]

Autonomous rendezvous of satellites are probably better than an a-sat rocket. It could be looked at as the first ring of offensive satellite ops, the second ring being the a-sat rocket. If a satellite is launched into an orbit of an existing satellite it is assured of a collision/rendezvous if it stays at the same place for sun-synchronous orbit satellites. Chinese are probably pursuing both approaches to fail enemy satellites. Satellites may be need abilities to do last minute S type maneuvers to evade these rendezvous lie-in wait/ambush type satellites.

[Patrick Cusack]

Anything China has achieved is through persistence, hard work, focus plus a couple of things that they do .. that is driving other countries - It is time for India to emulate the good stuff

Will Brahmos remove the threat from the Chinese surface fleet.

[svinayak]

This one is for Shiv for when he posed the good question: How come the chinese went from a 3 gen fighter plane to Gen 5 with stealth etc in such a short time.

Its called stealing apparently

It is also called assisted stealing. Just like they were helped in launch tech in the 90s - they are being fed tech for stealing

[Boreas]

This one is for Shiv for when he posed the good question: How come the chinese went from a 3 gen fighter plane to Gen 5 with stealth etc in such a short time.

Its called stealing apparently

It is also called assisted stealing. Just like they were helped in launch tech in the 90s - they are being fed tech for stealing

Doesn't Uncle knowgingly feeds Panda with advanced tech via "donating" advanced hardware to TSP?
Like fititng new Paki F-16's with "Goodrich DB-110 recce pods".

or the recent GE and AVIC Agreement for Integrated Avionics Joint Venture!!

[Lalmohan]

^^^ it is increasingly difficult for TSPA to share Unkil's info... there are usually a large number of Unkil's people on the ground in military installations who have to certify that all eez vell... ofcourse, this system can be defeated by fair means and foul

[Boreas]

^^^ it is increasingly difficult for TSPA to share Unkil's info... there are usually a large number of Unkil's people on the ground in military installations who have to certify that all eez vell... ofcourse, this system can be defeated by fair means and foul

but we can't doubt panda's commitment for stealing

i agree unkil always attach a lot of strings.. but then we all saw J-20's nose!! nothing beats panda's commitment.

[svinayak]

Doesn't Uncle knowgingly feeds Panda with advanced tech via "donating" advanced hardware to TSP?
Like fititng new Paki F-16's with "Goodrich DB-110 recce pods".

or the recent GE and AVIC Agreement for Integrated Avionics Joint Venture!!

How convenient!
PRC must be really lucky

[VinodTK]

Indian in US to be sentenced for selling stealth tech to China

Indian in US to be sentenced for selling stealth tech to China
Press Trust Of India
Washington, January 24, 2011

Weeks after China conducted a flight test of its new J-20 stealth fighter, a US federal court was on Monday set to sentence Indian-American Noshir Gowadia, a former engineer of B-2 stealth bomber, who has been convicted of selling military secrets to Beijing. In August 2010, Mumbai-born Gowadia,66, was convicted on 14 counts on charges, including conspiracy, communicating national defense, violating the arms export control act and information to aid a foreign nation.

He now faces life sentence.

Between 2003 and 2005 Gowadia made six secret trips into mainland China and exchanged numerous communications to help Chinese defense engineers design a cruise missile that is able to evade air-to-air, heat-seeking missiles, according the federal indictment against him.

According to court papers, Gowadia hid the proceeds from the transactions by directing the payments to secret Swiss bank accounts of foundations he set up in Liechtenstein, the government said in recently filed court documents.

Prosecutors alleged that Gowadia helped design an exhaust nozzle for China that gives off less heat, making it difficult for enemy infrared detectors to track the missile for which he got USD 110,000 over two years.

Gowadia worked for Northrup from 1968 to 1986, during which time he helped develop the B-2 bomber's unique propulsion system.

After his employment with Northrup ended, Gowadia continued his relationship with the US military as a private contractor.

However, following some angry dealings with the Air Force and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1993, Gowadia began to seek and solicit business internationally, the government said.

[asprinzl]

Dumb a$$ didnt realize that the technology he provided China would come to harm his own mother land?
Avram.

[NRao]

And, I would think he would make a LOT more in a year of honest work than what he was paid for too. @*%6!)&5()

[Kanson]

He was into some financial trouble as per the court proceedings. Further he became US citizen, if i'm not wrong.

[SaiK]

baht to do.. he became a barn again trader (traitor) onlee.

[VinodTK]

Picture of the SOB{Noshir Gowadia}

Hawaiian Man Faces Sentencing in China Military Secrets Case

China denies stealing US stealth technology ;-}

[shukla]

China paper dismisses report that stealth tech stolen

"It's not the first time foreign media has smeared newly unveiled Chinese military technologies. It's meaningless to respond to such speculations," the official told the Global Times newspaper. The paper -- a sister publication of the People's Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece -- also quoted a top test pilot, Xu Yongling, as saying the J-20 possessed advanced supersonic cruise ability and other "breakthrough" features.

"Different from previous fighters such as the J-7 and J-8, which drew on the merits of aircraft from other countries, the J-20 is a masterpiece of China's technological innovation," Xu said. The pilot said the technology of the downed F-117 was regarded as "outdated" even at the time when it was shot down, and could not be applied to a next-generation stealth jet.

[kmc_chacko]

It may stolen or own but now its a headache to IAF because if Chinese really making the strings of pearls then . . . . . . ! you guys know rest.

[shukla]

Ukraine reportedly helping China build aircraft carrier

[SaiK]

It may stolen or own but now its a headache to IAF because if Chinese really making the strings of pearls then . . . . . . ! you guys know rest.

Well did you know our force don't "completely support" indigenous products.. they are waking up slowly, but knee deep in firang maal. So, they might have to now ask for raptoriskies more than amcas. Racing against time, if they could double their effort by being stakeholders, then these headaches may be only just pin pricks where 3 legged animals could become 4 legged beasts.

Of course, there is nothing stopping if the j20s should land in north-west of us.. nor IAF can do anything about it. stealer will steal, cheater will cheat, dhoti shivers will happen.

[Don]

U.S. Doubts ’99 Jet Debris Gave China Stealth Edge
Vladimir Dimitrijevic Tanjug/Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/world ... &src=twrhp


An American F-117 aircraft was shot down over Serbia in 1999.
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: January 25, 2011


WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials said Tuesday that they were unsure if some of the technology in China’s prototype stealth fighter jet had come from the wreckage of a first-generation American stealth fighter shot down over Serbia in 1999, but they expressed doubt that much could have been gleaned from the debris of a plane developed in the 1970s.

Pentagon officials did say they believe that the Chinese picked up pieces of the plane, an F-117 Nighthawk, which had been strewn over a wide area of farmland some 30 miles west of Belgrade, in the NATO bombing campaign during the Kosovo war. “But at this point, it’s hard to imagine that a great deal of applicable and useful information could have been culled from the site,” said an Air Force official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about military intelligence.

At the same time, Chinese defense officials and military analysts told the Chinese state-run newspaper, Global Times, that China had developed the new stealth fighter, called the J-20, which was unveiled and flight-tested this month, by adopting “technological innovations.” They said the jet was not copied from American fighter planes. The Chinese government made no official statement on the origins or capabilities of the J-20.

The Pentagon was reacting to comments from Balkan military officials, who were quoted by The Associated Press on Sunday as saying that the Chinese had in all probability gleaned some of their technology for the J-20 from the downed F-117. “We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies,” Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia’s military chief of staff during the Kosovo war, told The A.P.

Nighthawks, first put into service in 1983, were the world’s first radar-evading stealth fighters, and their radar-absorbent coating theoretically should have made them difficult for the Serbians to detect. But Air Force investigators believed that Yugoslavia jury-rigged its system of radars and communications and used a Soviet-built SA-3 surface-to-air missile to shoot down the plane. It was the first one of the Nighthawks to be hit; its pilot ejected and was rescued.

Admiral Domazet-Loso also told The A.P. that Serbian intelligence had reported that Chinese agents had crisscrossed the crash site and had bought up pieces of the Nighthawk collected as souvenirs by local farmers.

In a development that further fueled suspicions about China, on Monday a federal judge in Hawaii sentenced a former American stealth bomber engineer, Noshir Gowadia, to 32 years in prison for selling stealth missile technology to China.

China’s military buildup has increasingly worried the Pentagon, although officials in both the United States and China say the Chinese are a generation or two behind the American military.

The J-20 caused an uproar two weeks ago when the Chinese sent it on its first test flight, 15 minutes long, a few hours before Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met in Beijing with President Hu Jintao of China. On a visit meant to smooth over rocky relations between the American and Chinese armed forces, the flight was seen as an unusually bold show of force.

Pentagon officials would not address speculation that the J-20 looked similar to the American F-22 Raptor, the world’s most advanced stealth fighter. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, also questioned what China’s 15-minute flight proved. “The fact that it flew doesn’t have anything to do with stealth,” he said.

David Barboza contributed reporting from Shanghai.

[VinodTK]

China's Project 022 Fast Attack Craft

[Singha]

a indian-american engineer is apparently on a 40 yr prison stay for passing some stealth tech to PRC - anyone know this case?

another PIO (living in hawaii) was sentenced for passing on tech that masks the exhaust signature of cruise missiles a couple of years back.

the PRC definitely has a strong program of industrial espionage going ... some claim the flood of PRC univ profs sponsored by Govt to seek Phd in US is in a way to suck up whatever they can and go back to work in china....

however strong local efforts are also needed to use any tech that comes along and blend that into local work