De Chinese expansie(drift)

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

China eyes air base in the Azores

Het zal me benieuwen of het de Chinesen gaat lukken, als dat het geval is, dan zou dat toch een eye opener voor Europa en de NAVO moeten zijn.

Voor de Chinesen zou het een strategische meesterzet zijn, voor de Europeanen en de NAVO een blamage.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

China eyes air base in the Azores

Raymond Hainey
Senior Reporter

NOVEMBER 16: China is eyeing a US Air Force base in the Azores which is threatened with closure,  according to an expert on Chinese affairs.

Air Base Number 4 at Lajes Field, on Tercieira in the Atlantic chain of islands, is the home of the US 65th air base wing and jointly operated by the US and the Portuguese air force.

Writing on the Drudge Report website, writer and China expert Gordon G. Chang said that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had visited Terceira in June and toured the island.

Terceira has a largely agricultural economy and one in 20 jobs on the island are provided by the base.

Mr Chang said: "Unemployment is already high, about ten per cent. If Terceira is to have any future, the Portuguese government will have to find a new major tenant for Air Base Number 4."

Mr Chang said that the strategic important of the air base had lessened in recent years and had been downsized, while Beijing has identified Portugal as its entry point into Europe.

He added: "It is in this context the Portuguese are already thinking about the planned closure of Lajes Field. They don't want to invite China in, but they have quietly indicated they will have no choice is the US Air Force decides to leave the base."

Mr Chang said that if China was to take over the base, its air force would be able the patrol northern and central Atlantic and cut sea traffic between the US and Europe.

He added that Terciera is less than 2300 miles from New York – which means Chinese planes could target the US mainland, as well as deny access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Mr Chang quoted a US Defense Department spokesman as saying the US had "a close relationship" with Portugal.

The spokesman added: "They are an important NATO ally and bilateral partner and we continue to discuss our strong defence cooperation, in Portugal and around the world."

http://bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=24&SubSectionID=270&ArticleID=61801

[Ace1]

En niemand jat het Gripen concept... strange 

Zweedse degelijkheid valt niet te kopieren dat is gewoon te moeilijk voor de chinezen.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Onder het motto beter goed gejat dan zelf slecht bedacht.

En niemand jat het Gripen concept... strange 

[Ace1]

En ze zijn inmiddels niet de enige die deze formule toepassen...Turkije, India, Zuid-Korea, Brazilië e.a.

Onder het motto beter goed gejat dan zelf slecht bedacht.

[Elzenga]

If you can't make it, take it. Lijkt het motto van de Chineesjes.

En ze zijn inmiddels niet de enige die deze formule toepassen...Turkije, India, Zuid-Korea, Brazilië e.a.

[dudge]

"That is why some people don't want to send their planes here. You come back in five years and it's called a J-something."

If you can't make it, take it. Lijkt het motto van de Chineesjes.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

China pushes exports, flags ambitions at arms fair

Reuters, November 16, 2012

By Tim Hepher

ZHUHAI, China (Reuters) - China is flexing its muscles as an arms exporter with a growing array of indigenous weaponry, offering something for most budgets in the global arms bazaar and revealing its wider ambitions to strategic rivals and watchful neighbours.

As a new leadership was anointed in Beijing and the world looked on to see what direction it might take over the next decade, military officials from Africa to Southeast Asia were shopping for Chinese weapons in the country's south.

Change has come fast in China, now the world's second-largest economy, and with its rise has come a new sense of military assertiveness with a growing budget to develop modern warfare equipment including aircraft carriers and drones.

All the signs point to newly named Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who is slated to become president next March, continuing China's aggressive military modernisation.

Now the world's fourth-largest arms exporter, China laid out its wares this week at an air show in Zhuhai, a palm-lined port between Macau and Hong Kong that becomes a heavily armed industry showcase every other November.

In the 10 years to 2011, China's foreign military sales have increased 95 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Among dozens of items shown publicly for the first time this week were Chinese attack helicopters, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and air defences. As usual, the exhibit halls contained everything from shoulder-fired weapons to cruise missiles.

"China is getting more aggressive in the export market as its own industrial base develops," said Doug Barrie, senior fellow for Military Aerospace at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"It looks at Russia and the U.S. as examples of how you can use the export arena to help develop your own industries."

Between them, Washington and Moscow account for more than half of the world's $410 billion in arms sales, but opportunities abound for China as the United States looks to cut its military spending to manage its mounting debt.

Still, U.S. spending dwarfs that of China. In its annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon in May estimated Beijing's total 2012 spending would be between $120 billion and $180 billion. Washington will spend $614 billion on its military this year.

Most of Beijing's trade is done with small states outside of the European Union, which like the United States, put China under an arms embargo after the crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Myanmar are among China's biggest clients, with aircraft at the top of their shopping lists, SIPRI data shows.

Beijing does not release official figures for arms sales. Foreign estimates put the figure at about $2 billion in 2011.

STAR OF SHOW: STEALTH FIGHTER

The undisputed star of the show this week was a sleek, quarter-sized model of China's second stealth fighter, dubbed the J-31 by most Western analysts.

Although officially a concept plane, it bore what industry bible Aviation Week called a "striking resemblance" to a mystery jet that flew briefly at the end of October.

Photographs of the jet leaked, or orchestrated to look like a leak, and emerged on the Internet days before this week's Communist Party Congress and leadership handover, and confirmed China's place in a select club of stealth-capable nations.

"China has stood up," said John Pike, director of Virginia-based GlobalSecurity.org, an expert on industry strategy.

Only the United States has successfully produced more than one stealth jet and the challenges facing China's less experienced developers are undoubtedly immense.

The unveiling also served as a reminder to its neighbours of China's growing clout as tensions rise over rival claims for territory in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

"China is doing this as part of a political equation," said Robert Hewson, editor of IHS Jane's Air-Launched Weapons. "It has had a rapidly staged coming out but I am surprised to see it here so soon."

By mixing domestic and international messages, the model also filled a void left by the absence of top Chinese government officials distracted by the transition in Beijing.

BASIC BUT RELIABLE

The business end of the show is about present-day realities.

After relying heavily on Russian and to a lesser extent Israeli technology in the 1990s, China is pushing exports of home-grown equipment to expand its influence in areas like Africa where it is busy buying land and forging new allies.

"The Chinese used to simply produce cheap knockoffs of their basic Russian equipment. They have made very considerable advances, but still have problems, particularly with engines," said Simon Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

"On some technology, they are now competitive on technology with European arms exports and very competitive on price."

China has sold defence systems and co-developed a derivative of a Russian fighter with Pakistan and done smaller deals with African countries. There is also interest from Latin America.

Western analysts say China has a reputation for selling basic but reliable equipment with relatively few questions asked about its use, a key selling point.

But the range of products on display in Zhuhai is both increasing and gradually moving up in value, while remaining a decade or two behind the most advanced U.S. equipment.

COPYCAT APPROACH

For the first time at Zhuhai, China showed an export version of a long-range surface-to-air missile, the truck-mounted FD-2000, and a Predator-style UAV called the Wing Loong.

There was also a focus on systems that build relationships such as the L-15 trainer, which won its first export deal to an unidentified country at the show.

Admittedly, China's other reputation for copying what it cannot make is unlikely to disappear any time soon.

A parlour game among delegates is to tick off the similarities between Chinese systems and foreign platforms.

"When you come and see these aircraft you relate them to what you have seen before. The K-8 is a Hawk, the J-10 a Eurofighter, the L-15 an Aermacchi M-346," said an officer with an African air force delegation, asking not to be identified.

"That is why some people don't want to send their planes here. You come back in five years and it's called a J-something."

Organisers said a record 650 companies from 38 countries showed up to present exhibits at the ninth Zhuhai show.

A few yards and a Chinese wall separate the military part of the show and Western aerospace suppliers striking deals with China's fledgling civil aerospace industry.

This week's flying displays included a surprise debut of the Z-10 months after U.S. company United Technologies admitted selling software that helped Beijing develop its first modern military attack helicopter.

"China's aviation industry is turning out reasonably decent products," said Pike in a telephone interview. "They are not there yet and they have a long way to go. But they are open for business."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/15404033/china-pushes-exports-flags-ambitions-at-arms-fair/

[Ace1]

lijkt soort mix van A-129 en Tiger.

Ik zie toch dingen terug van de RAH-66 Comanche in deze Chinese gevechtshelicopter en dan bedoel ik de romp achter de cockpit?






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing-Sikorsky_RAH-66_Comanche

En ik sluit niet uit dat de Chinezen ook naar de Japanse Kawasaki OH-1 hebben gekeken?







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_OH-1

[Elzenga]

Valt me op dat dat apparaat zijn uitlaten aan de zijkant heeft zitten, meeste moderne heli's hebben de uitlaten naar boven gericht.
Ook lijkt het ding flink lange 'stub-wings' te hebben.

Het was mij ook opgevallen....lijkt soort mix van A-129 en Tiger. Waarbij die laatste inderdaad heel bewust de uitlaat omhoog heeft gericht (zodat rotoren de warme lucht direct verspreiden...koelen). Ben benieuwd of we deze zwaardere Chinese gevechtsheli (er is ook een lichter model) ook terug gaan zien op schepen....

[dudge]

Valt me op dat dat apparaat zijn uitlaten aan de zijkant heeft zitten, meeste moderne heli's hebben de uitlaten naar boven gericht.
Ook lijkt het ding flink lange 'stub-wings' te hebben.

[Jah]

Nieuw Chinees helikopter:

[Elzenga]

Wat is de detectie range van schepen op zee (ivm kromming van de aarden enzo)? Ik vraag me dit steeds af als ik het bereik van verschillende nieuwe raketten hoor.
Je zult toch eerst het doel moeten identificeren ipv op de gok een dergelijke raket afvuren?

De detectierange en geleiding zal kunnen worden uitgebreid door inzet van satellieten, helikopters en UAVs.

[Lex]

Wat is de detectie range van schepen op zee (ivm kromming van de aarden enzo)? Ik vraag me dit steeds af als ik het bereik van verschillende nieuwe raketten hoor.

Mij is eind jaren 60 van de vorige eeuw geleerd:

Simplified Radar Horizon Against a Target at a Specific Height for Earth (English Units)

RadarHorizon = 1.23 * ( sqrt [HeightAntenna] + sqrt [HeightTarget])

RadarHorizon = Distance to the Radar Horizon in Nautical Miles.

AntennaHeight = Height of Radar Antenna in Feet.

HeightTarget = Height of Target in feet.

Maar als je een zoekslag doet naar "Radar horizon" dan kom je tig berekeningen tegen.

[HM]

Wat is de detectie range van schepen op zee (ivm kromming van de aarden enzo)? Ik vraag me dit steeds af als ik het bereik van verschillende nieuwe raketten hoor.
Je zult toch eerst het doel moeten identificeren ipv op de gok een dergelijke raket afvuren?