‘“The crux of the Four Modernisation is the mastering of modern Science & Technology. Without the high-speed development of Science & Technology it is impossible to develop the national economy at high speed.” – Deng Xiaoping at the National Science Conference March 1978.
Gunpowder was reportedly invented in the 9th Century in China, and the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th Century Song Dynasty text, Wujing Zangyao.
This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China. Chinese military forces used gunpowder-based weapons (rockets, guns, cannons) and explosives (grenades and different types of bombs) against the Mongols who attempted to invade and breach city fortifications on China’s northern borders. The first recorded use of a rocket in battle is said to be in 1232 BCE against the Mongol hordes at Kai Feng Fu.
While the DRDO is struggling with its Light Combat Aircraft and Advanced Light helicopter, the Chinese AVIC is developing over 75 types of aircraft. Make in India, anyone?
In comparison, gunpowder came to Europe only in the 13th century, and rocket technology when the Mongol Khans, Genghis and Ogedei, ravaged parts of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe.
China was the world leader in Science and Technology (S&T) until the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Chinese discoveries and innovations such as paper-making, printing, the magnetic compass and gunpowder, (the Four Great Inventions), besides porcelain, stern post rudder and lift lock for canals, contributed greatly to the economic development of Asia and Europe.
Things changed in the 19th century, after China was repeatedly defeated by the Western nations, and the restrictive Communist regime post 1949 focussed on collectives for society rather than individual effort.
Then came Chairman Mao’s catastrophic Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which sought to eradicate “bourgeois” influences and attitudes. The scientific community and formal education were easy targets. Intellectuals were forced into manual labour. University and academic journals were closed, most research ceased. For a whole decade, China trained no new scientists and engineers.
China’s AVIC is developing several next generation aircraft. These include:
The XianY-20, a strategic four-engine heavy-lift transport aircraft, likely to be inducted in 2017.
Chengdu J-20, an air superiority fighter expected to be inducted in service by 2018, ,, is a fifth generation fighter design with stealth characteristics said to have been acquired through cyber-espionage.
Shenyang J-31 is an air superiority fighter also of the fifth generation mould, to compete with the US F-22 Raptor/F-35 Lightning II and Russian T-50 (PAKFA). It commenced its test flights in 2014. It is alleged that the design and development were considerably accelerated by the Chinese accessing classified material of US Department of Defence files on F-35 project.
Shenyang J-15 is an indigenous multi-role carrier based fighter solution to coincide with the commissioning of the China’s first air-craft carrier “Liaoning”. It is likely to be inducted in service in 2016 subject to the successful outcome of its flight testing and systems trials.
The AVIC TA-600 an amphibious aircraft which has its roots in the design of its Russian predecessor SH-5. The aircraft will be employed for maritime patrolling and over-water Search and Rescue. Its significance increases with the extending Chinese presence on small islets and atolls in the East and South China Seas. It is designed to lift water from lakes/ reservoirs for fire-fighting in the remote mountainous regions of central China.
Hongdu Lijian UCAV, in tune with other military powers China too has delved in to the realm of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) –“Sharp Sword” – a remote-piloted vehicle capable of weapon delivery. The aircraft represents the first foray by the Chinese into the jet-powered stealth UAV serving as a technology demonstrator for future combat aircraft systems.
The Guihzou “Soar Eagle” UAV (also referred to as “Soar Dragon) is an advanced platform for reconnaissance, tracking and target engagement. It is intended for reconnaissance service in the PLA Air Force, with weapons support added later in its developmental life.
It was only after the death of Mao that S&T was established as one of the fundamentals of the Four Modernisations (the others being agriculture, industry, and national defense) by Deng Xiaoping, who comprehensively reversed the policies of the Cultural Revolution.
But the scientific community had been reduced to a small number of elderly senior scientists, often trained abroad before 1949, and a small group of middle-aged personnel with relatively lower educational and professional attainments.
Most of these scientists and engineers were concentrated in the states specialised research institutes, in heavy industry, and its military research and military industrial facilities. The latter had the highest standards and the best-trained people. S&T flourished under “two bombs, one satellite” (liangdanyixing) concept.
The military research and industry was and continues to be China’s first priority in funding in S&T. Although the sector remains shrouded in secrecy, its work has resulted in the largely independent development of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines, submarine launched ballistic missiles, successful launch and recovery of communication satellites and manned space missions and development of anti-satellite weapon.
Very little information on Chinese military research sector has been made public, and the secrecy was reinforced by locating military research centres in remote deserts and mountainous areas of the western region of China. This isolation from civilian research also ensured that this sector contributed little to the national economy.
It was the rapid development in electronics and computer applications in the 1970s and 1980s which finally compelled more synergy between the defence and civil industry.
Today, China is no longer just the world’s low-tech workshop. Manned space ventures, electric cars and the world’s fastest super-computers, all make it clear that China is ascendant in Science &Technology. It’s low-emission coal energy, third and fourth generation nuclear reactors, high-voltage transmission lines, alternative energy vehicles, harnessing solar and wind energy, and high speed trains are either more advanced than those in the West or provide serious competition to Western and American technologies.
The Xian Y-20, a strategic four-engine heavy-lift transport aircraft, likely to be inducted in 2017.
Similar significant progress has been made in telecommunication and Information Technology (IT). Substantial budgetary commitments for research in nano-technology, new materials and other cutting edge scientific fields have allowed China to play a lead role in the next generation of important discoveries. And it has also turned China into an arms exporter.
A recent report in the Financial Times quotes the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or SIPRI as saying that ‘China lifted exports of military weapons and equipment by 143 per cent over the past five years to usurp Germany as the world’s third-largest arms trader.’
According to the report, ‘China’s biggest client during the past five years was Pakistan, India’s rival in South Asia, which bought 41 per cent of the country’s exports….In total, 28 per cent of China’s arms exports went to Bangladesh and Myanmar, while further shipments went to 18 African countries, according to Sipri.”
However, “China’s most lucrative arms contract over the period 2010-14 was the sale of 50 JF-17 fighters to Pakistan…..The JF-17 was developed jointly by Pakistan and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation of China — much of the assembly was also done in Pakistan. The contract is valued at $800m, according to Sipri. Pakistan has ordered a further 110 aircraft as of last year.……Other big deals over the past four years include the sale of armoured vehicles and transport and trainer aircraft to Venezuela; three frigates to Algeria; hundreds of anti-ship missiles to Indonesia and armed drones to Nigeria,” says the FT article.
According to Wikipedia, “Before 1980 China provided arms to friendly Third World countries at concessionary prices. Because China transferred arms based on ideological and foreign policy considerations, terms were generous. Around 1980 China decided to sell weapons for profit to absorb excess capacity in the defence industry, make defence enterprises more economically viable, and earn the foreign currency required to purchase foreign military technology…. In the 1980s the defence industry and the PLA established a number of trading corporations to sell Chinese military hardware and to acquire foreign technology.
All this despite Chinese scientists and scientific managers admitting to serious problems of research creativity, fraud and dishonesty, lax accountability for research expenditures and troubled institutional arrangements.
A report on “China’s Progress for Science and Technology Modernisation” prepared for the US-China Economic and Security Commission reveals that China has launched a “comprehensive effort to become an innovative nation by 2020 and a global scientific power by 2050”.Consequently, it has positioned itself to reap the benefits of global commercial and scientific networks. Despite the arms embargoes and technological restrictions, China’s military capabilities are enhanced by spillovers from transfers from the advancing civil technology base worldwide.
The “2006 Medium to Long-Term Plan for Development of Science and Technology (2005-2020)” is the guiding document on innovation policy, and represents an important milestone in China’s scientific modernisation. Under this plan 16 mega projects were identified. One of the mega projects is the development of large aircraft. Three unannounced projects remain classified.
The Chengdu J-20 is fighter with stealth characteristics said to have been acquired through cyber-espionage.
Military aviation had been neglected, particularly after the Chinese Air Force’s close identification with Minister of Defence Lin Biao and leftist radicals during the Cultural Revolution. After Lin Biao’s death in 1971, Mao shredded the PLAAF officer corps and severely disrupted the country’s aviation manufacturing infrastructure by totally sidelining it.
However, the air force’s critical role as evidenced in the Gulf War and the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s, and the use of Precision Guided Munitions spurred a debate on how to modernise and develop Chinese air power.
The US show of force in the Taiwan Straits crisis in 1996, in which US deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups near Taiwan in response to Chinese military intimidation of Taiwan, further motivated Beijing to undertake doctrinal reform and institutionalise technology modernisation efforts. The PLAAF’s desire for a strategy of “quick reaction”, “integrated coordination”, and “combat depth” had to be operationalised.
But to execute its air campaigns of “air offensive”, “air defence”, and “air blockade”, it needed aircraft to suit the missions.
In October 2008, the government merged the two large aerospace entities AVIC 1 and AVIC 2 (Aviation Industrial Corporation). AVIC, earlier responsible for all aircraft production, civil and military, was split in 2002.. With the re-merger, it became the largest State Owned Enterprise in China, owning nearly 200 subsidiaries and over 20 listed companies.
AVIC develops series production fighters, fighter bombers, bombers, transport, trainers, reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, attack aircraft, general aviation aircraft, UAVs, and more. It also develops engines and missiles, such as turboprop engines, turbo-shaft engines, turbojets, turbofans, air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles and ground-to-air missiles.Italso provides advanced aviation-weaponry to Chinese military forces.As a major developer and supplier of various aircraft, it will play a key role in the large aircraft program.
AVIC also applies its advanced aviation technology to products like automobiles, motorcycles, engines and spare parts. It develops mechanical electrical products including gas turbines, refrigerating equipment, electronic products, environment protection equipment, new energy equipment. It also provides services such as: aircraft leasing, general aviation, air transportation, medical service, construction survey and design, civil engineering contracting and construction, real estate/property development.
The Chengdu and Shenyang aviation firms – both with decades of experience with Soviet/Russian designs – are the two top companies for military aircraft. With the recent rapprochement between Beijing and Moscow, these firms are now likely to get access to fourth generation aircraft engines and technology.
So at a time when the Indian DRDO is struggling with its Light Combat Aircraft and Advanced Light helicopter, the Chinese AVIC is developing over 75 types of aircraft.
Make in India, anyone?
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