PLA's weapons that will blow your mind

[Akasa]

These have been posted already, but I want them to gain attention:

1. PLA hypersonic vehicle

The PLA is also focused on achieving technology breakthroughs to enable advanced supersonic (up to Mach 4) and hypersonic (Mach 5 and higher) combat. The 1986 “869 Program” to select a manned space vehicle that resulted in a preference for space plane concepts gave a boost to university and corporate level hypersonic research. Today the Chengdu and Shenyang Aircraft Corporations likely have multiple hypersonic programs underway, while the China Aerospace Corporation works on a Shuttle-like space plane. Major Chinese university centers for PLA-funded or directed hypersonic research in aerodynamics, materials and engines include: the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Northwestern Polytechnical University; Harbin Institute of Technology; National University of Defense Technology; Beijing University; the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Informal Chinese sources suggest that the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation has designed and tested a hypersonic test vehicle similar to the hydrogen-powered NASA X-43A[65]. Such a vehicle could be developed into a hypersonic weapon.[66] Chinese academic literature suggest PLA interest in multiple scramjet-powered and combined engine concepts for atmospheric and LEO capable platforms. A mid-2010 study by researchers at the Institute of Mechanics suggests PLA interest in what could develop into a nearer term option, a Mach 3 speed lifting body platform.[67] An unmanned or manned version of sufficient size could perform surveillance or strike missions at very high altitudes that would stress current U.S. interception capabilities.


2. Airborne Laser

Then in late 2009 a wall mural likely created for the then 50th Anniversary of the PLA Air Force depicted a four-turbofan powered transport aircraft using a nose-mounted laser to attack a satellite. This aircraft is similar to the Boeing AL-1A chemical laser armed Boeing 747 transport, which the Obama Administration cut back in 2009 to only a single prototype. While U.S. defense officials reportedly were concerned the AL-1A could not be defended in contested airspace in order to shoot down tactical missiles, perhaps the PLA has decided this concept works better as an ASAT weapon rather than an anti-missile platform.[10] XAC is apparently developing a four-turbofan engine transport aircraft that could carry a chemical laser system.

From Huitong: It was also rumored that the aircraft might serve as the testbed for the Chinese airborne laser weapon prototype similar to American YAL-1 which is thought to be under development.


3. Rail guns

It is known that the PLA has invested heavily in both technologies. Chinese work on railguns may extend back to the 1980s, and an unconfirmed report emerged in January 2008 that the PLA had tested a 25kg railgun round in 2006 and was able to deploy a 50kg round with a range over 200nm.Then, in early 2011, an image appeared on a Chinese web page showing what may be an early Chinese small-caliber rail gun. However, it cannot be confirmed that this represented an actual test model or perhaps an engineering model for display purposes.The prospect of an early PLA railgun deployment, however, is important when considering future U.S. offensive and defensive responses.


4. EMP weapons

China is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons Beijing could use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, a U.S. report says.

The EMPs are part of China's so-called "assassin's mace" arsenal to allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces, the report by the National Ground Intelligence Center said.

The declassified 2005 intelligence report provides details on China's EMPs and plans for their use, The Washington Times reported Friday.

EMPs mimic a gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast and can disable all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas.

"For use against Taiwan, China could detonate at a much lower altitude (30 to 40 kilometers) ... to confine the EMP effects to Taiwan and its immediate vicinity and minimize damage to electronics on the mainland," the report said.

Chinese military writings have discussed building low-yield EMP warheads but "it is not known whether [the Chinese] have actually done so," the report concluded.


5. New supersonic bomber

Not your usual science project; when the PLA funded Institute of Mechanics tests an aerial platform shape, it is usually contributing to a future military program. These shapes apparently were tested at the Institute of Mechanics.


6. Stealthy LACMs

A stealthy, supersonic cruise/anti-ship missile has been reported under development. It is reported to be equipped with a millimeter wave radar, infrared image mapping, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and Beidou satellite guidance. It has an accuracy of up to 1-3 meters and a range of 4000 km.


7. ASAT missile

China's "DEW (Directed Energy Weapons) research (is) part of a larger class of weapons known to the Chinese as 'new concept weapons' (xin gainian wuqi), which include high power lasers, high power microwaves, railguns, coil guns, (and) particle beam weapons," Stokes said. "The two most important organizations involved in R&D of DEW are the China Academy of Sciences and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND)."

To underscore Beijing's fixation with laser weaponry, the Hong Kong Standard reported Nov. 15 that the Chinese have developed a laser-based anti-missile, anti-satellite system.

 

[a_chinese]

It's good to see China developing future weapons but US is way ahead in these kinds of weapons.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

It's good to see China developing future weapons but US is way ahead in these kinds of weapons.

Not really, their railgun project has just been cut down, whereas China keeps funding on those projects.

 

[akinkhoo]

Not really, their railgun project has just been cut down, whereas China keeps funding on those projects.

I don't think so, their budget is still higher.

 

[qwerrty]

this forum is becoming more and more like indian forum now. too many wet dream threads..

 

[S10]

this forum is becoming more and more like indian forum now. too many wet dream threads..

Well they're not really wet dreams since they are actual experimental projects. Whether they enter service or not in the future is another matter.

 

[Chinese Century]

what happened to the 4 engine space bomber?

 

[qwerrty]

Well they're not really wet dreams since they are actual experimental projects. Whether they enter service or not in the future is another matter.

it's no different to the indians with their super duper avatar hyperplane, and many other hot air projects. bragging is not chinese. seeing is believing, like we've seen many already. leave the hot air dreaming to them..

 

[Norboo]

I would have to wait till 2345 to see some hair and hide of these Chinese artists' conceptions! Even I have sketched a concept weapon that can destroy planet Earth from the Moon! This one would probably be ready for field testing by 9045!

Cheers!

 

[Martian2]

It's good to see China developing future weapons but US is way ahead in these kinds of weapons.

No. When I come back from the gym, I will prove with citations that China's mid-course Ground-Based-Interceptors are at least as good as, if not better than, U.S. missile defense.

 

[Zabaniyah]

So, when are they planning to field those laser based systems? The PLA hyper-sonic vehicle sounds interesting. Any pictures of the prototype?

 

[Martian2]

From my May 26, 2010 post:

China: Missile defense system test successful - USATODAY.com

"China: Missile defense system test successful
Posted 1/11/2010 8:08 PM

BEIJING (AP) — China announced that its military intercepted a missile in mid-flight Monday in a test of new technology that comes amid heightened tensions over Taiwan and increased willingness by the Asian giant to show off its advanced military capabilities.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported late Monday that "ground-based midcourse missile interception technology" was tested within Chinese territory.

"The test has achieved the expected objective," the three-sentence report said. "The test is defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country."

Monday's report follows repeated complaints in recent days by Beijing over the sale by the U.S. of weaponry to Taiwan, including PAC-3 air defense missiles. These sales are driven by threats from China to use force to bring the island under its control, backed up by an estimated 1,300 Chinese ballistic missiles positioned along the Taiwan Strait.

Communist-ruled China split with Taiwan amid civil war in 1949 and continues to regard the self-governing democracy as part of its territory. Beijing has warned of a disruption in ties with Washington if the sale goes ahead, but has not said what specific actions it would take.

In Washington, the U.S. Defense Department said it had no notice before the Chinese test but that the United States does not consider it related to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

"We did not receive prior notification of the launch," Maj. Maureen Schumann, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said. "We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors. We are requesting information from China regarding the purpose for conducting this interception as well as China's intentions and plans to pursue future types of intercepts."

China's military is in the middle of a major technology upgrade, spurred on by double-digit annual percentage increases in defense spending. Missile technology is considered one of the People's Liberation Army's particular strengths, allowing it to narrow the gap with the U.S. and other militaries that wield stronger conventional forces.

Xinhua did not further identify the system tested, although China is believed to be pursuing a number of programs developed from anti-aircraft systems aimed at shooting down stealth aircraft and downing or disabling cruise missiles and precision-guided weapons.

Such programs are shrouded in secrecy, but military analysts say China appears to have augmented its air defenses with homemade technologies adapted from Russian and other foreign weaponry. China purchased a large number of Russian surface-to-air missiles during the 1990s and has since pressed ahead with its own HQ-9 interceptor, along with a more advanced missile system with an extended range.

Foreign media reports in 2006 said Beijing had tested a surface-to-air missile in the country's remote northwest with capabilities similar to the American Patriot interceptor system. According to South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, the test involved the detection and downing of both a reconnaissance drone and an incoming ballistic missile by an interceptor, adding that it appeared to mark the official launch of China's indigenous interceptor unit.

"There is an obvious concern in Beijing that they need an effective anti-ballistic missile defense in some form," said Hans Kristensen, an expert on the Chinese military with the Federation of American Scientists.

Staging a successful test "shows that their technology is maturing," Kristensen said.

The 2009 Pentagon report on China's military says the air force received eight battalions of upgraded Russian SA-20 PMU-2 surface-to-air missiles since 2006, with another eight on order. The missiles have a range of 125 miles (200 kilometers) and reportedly provide limited ballistic and cruise missile defense capabilities.

Such interceptor missiles are believed to be deployed near major cities and strategic sites such as the massive Three Gorges Dam, but they could also be used to protect China's own ballistic missile batteries that would themselves become targets in any regional conflict.

Such interceptors would be of relatively little use against U.S. cruise missiles, although they could be effective against ballistic missiles deployed by Russia or India, China's massive neighbor to the south with which it has a growing military rivalry and lingering territorial disputes.

Monday's report continues a growing trend of greater transparency over China's new military technologies typified by last year's striking Oct. 1 military parade marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the communist state. Large numbers of missiles were displayed in the show, including ICBMs, together with tanks, amphibious craft and latest-generation jet fighters.

China's anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles — capable of striking U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle groups and bases in the Pacific — have drawn the most attention from analysts in recent months.

Military displays and announcements of successful tests help build public pride in the military's rising capabilities and bolster support for rising defense spending that increased by almost 15% last year to $71 billion. The figure is thought by many analysts to represent only a portion of total defense spending, although it still amounts to only a fraction of the U.S. military budget.

Meanwhile, showing off such capabilities also helps put adversaries on notice, Kristensen said.

"It's the new Chinese way to signal that they are now able to do these things," he said."

----------

From my December 12, 2010 post:

0 for 2. U.S. long-range missile defense test fails again.

America is encountering serious setbacks in its missile defense program. Will this provide China with an opportunity to catch the Americans? Only time will tell. The race is on.

Long-range missile defense test fails - CNN.com

"Long-range missile defense test fails
By the CNN Wire Staff
December 15, 2010 9:49 p.m. EST

An interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Wednesday. The test failed.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Missile Defense Agency is investigating how the "kill vehicle" missed the target

* A similar test in January failed because of a problem with sea-based radar

* Nearly half of the systems tests have failed

(CNN) -- A test of the United States' only long-range missile defense system failed Wednesday -- the second failure this year in two tries.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said both the intermediate-range ballistic missile target and the long-range interceptor missile launched successfully, radar and sensors worked properly and the "kill vehicle" deployed. But the "kill vehicle" didn't hit the target.

"Program officials will conduct an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure to intercept the target," the agency said. "The next flight test will be determined after identification of the cause of the failure."

The last test, in January, failed because of a problem with the sea-based X-band radar, the agency said.

The X-band radar sits atop a modified floating oil platform and provides information about incoming missiles so military officials can launch a response.

In both Wednesday's test and the test launched earlier this year, the target missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The $100 billion missile shield program has had numerous problems. In December 2008, an interceptor launched from Vandenburg "killed" a target launched from Kodiak, Alaska. But the test wasn't able to determine a key aspect -- whether the interceptor could tell the difference between a decoy and a real missile -- because the decoy failed to launch.

Riki Ellison, chairman and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the deployment of missile defense systems, said the failure "is a tremendous setback," noting three major test failures in the past two years.

Ellison said many of the country's interceptors are nearly identical to the one that failed Wednesday, and he questioned the military's confidence in the ground-based system deployed in Alaska and California.

So far, the Defense Department has deemed eight of the program's 15 tests successful."

 

[Martian2]

1. Hypersonic Vehicle - Both U.S. prototypes failed. The United States is making little progress. China has plenty of time to catch up and surpass the United States in hypersonic vehicles.

http://www.brahmand.com/news/US-hypersonic-plane-test-fails-for-second-time/7752/1/10.html

"Aug 12, 2011 – US defence agency DARPA, lost contact with Falcon HTV2 before the vehicle ... US hypersonic plane test fails for second time ... We'll try again. ..."

2. Airborne Laser - U.S. has hit a technological roadblock. The airborne laser has a range of only 50 to 100 miles. It is useless against continental China. The United States does not need an airborne laser to fight weak powers. It is desperately searching for superweapons to deter China.

Like the hypersonic vehicle comparison, I'm going to call this a tie between China and the U.S. The U.S. is stuck and China has decades to match the U.S.

My post from October 23, 2010:

An airborne laser is a waste of money. America does not need an airborne laser to establish air superiority and penetrate North Korean or Iranian airspace. An airborne laser with a 50-mile to 100-mile range is useless against ICBM targets inside continental China (e.g. 3,000 miles across). There is no foreseeable technology that will enable the development of a laser that is "20 to 30 times more powerful" (e.g. with a 1,000 to 3,000 mile range).

Boeing's Airborne Laser Defense Fails the Test - FoxNews.com

"Boeing's Airborne Laser Defense Fails the Test
Published October 22, 2010 | Reuters

Boeing's Yal 1A Airborne Laser Aircraft works its way through initial tests at the company's Western Test Range.

A converted Boeing 747 equipped with a powerful laser failed to shoot down a mock enemy ballistic missile, the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday, the system's second botched flight test in a row.

Preliminary indications are that the so-called Airborne Laser Test Bed tracked the target's exhaust plume but did not hand off to a second, "active tracking" system as a prelude to firing the high-powered chemical laser, said Richard Lehner, an MDA spokesman.

"The transition didn't happen," he said. "Therefore, the high-energy lasing did not occur."

Boeing produces the airframe and is the project's prime contractor, while Northrop Grumman supplies the high-energy laser and Lockheed Martin has been developing the beam- and fire-control systems.

About $4 billion has gone into it since the Boeing-led team won the contract for it in 1996. The system is designed to focus a super-heated, basketball-sized beam on a pressurized part of a boosting missile long enough to cause it to fail.

For fiscal 2011 that began Oct. 1, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $98.6 million for all of the Defense Department's directed energy research, including the Airborne Laser Test Bed.

Previously, the flying raygun had been under development as a potential part of a layered U.S. ballistic missile shield against weapons that could be fired by countries such as Iran and North Korea. Pentagon planners initially envisaged using the aircraft to shoot down ballistic missiles near their launch pads.

"The reality is that you would need a laser something like 20 to 30 times more powerful than the chemical laser in the plane right now to be able to get any (safe) distance from the launch site to fire," Gates told the House of Representatives Appropriations Defense subcommittee last year after scaling it back.

The technology is now being tested for other potential missile-defense applications.

The United States has been spending about $10 billion a year to build a bulwark against missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

The MDA said in a statement on its website that officials would investigate the cause of the Airborne Laser system's "transition failure" in the test that took place late Wednesday off the Southern California coast.

"The intermittent performance of a valve within the laser system is being examined," the statement said. A spokeswoman for Boeing's directed energy program, Elizabeth Merida, referred calls to the MDA.

The Airborne Laser system successfully shot down a target ballistic missile in February in the first such test of a flying directed-energy weapon.

The initial success demonstrated the potential use of directed energy against enemy ballistic missiles shortly after they are launched, Pentagon and Boeing officials have said.

The system's second shoot-down test, also at the Point Mugu military test range off California, failed on Sept. 1.

That test was designed to double the distance between the 747-400F aircraft and the target to about 100 miles. But it ended early when corrupted beam control software steered the high-energy laser slightly off center, apparently because of a communications software error, the MDA said.

Lehner said the range of the latest test was "the same as the successful February experiment" -- that is about 50 miles, although the exact range remains classified.

The MDA still considers directed energy "in some form," possibly a solid-state laser, to have a lot of potential for missile defense, he said.

The system carried a price tag of $1 billion to $1.5 billion per aircraft before Gates canceled a possible second aircraft in June 2009."

3. Railgun - The U.S. railgun won't be ready until 2035. If China can't match U.S. railgun technology by 2035 then it is not worthy of being called a superpower. This is also a tie. China has at least 24 more years to catch the United States.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011...on-lose-senate-funding-face-uncertain-future/

"www.foxnews.com/.../railgun-laser-weapon-lose-senate-funding-fac...
Jun 20, 2011 – America's News HQ ... General Atomics tests the Blitzer railgun, a prototype weapon that fires slugs propelled by electromagnets ... But the project wouldn't have been completed until 2035 at the earliest, officials had said. ..."

4. EMP weapons - China and U.S. both have them. This is another tie.

5. Supersonic stealth bomber - The U.S. wants to build one, but it doesn't have the money. China will most likely build a supersonic stealth bomber based on J-20 Mighty Dragon technology. However, the J-20 won't become a mature platform until after 2018. I'm calling this a dead-heat as well. U.S. is financially-challenged and China needs another 7 years to mature its technology.

There is no point in discussing non-stealth bombers. Non-stealth bombers cannot survive against modern air-defense systems.

6. Stealthy Land Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) - The United States built the AGM-129A. China has built or is very close to building its own stealth cruise missile. China possesses the technology to build a complex manned J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter. It is a certainty that China possesses the technology to build a far more simplistic unmanned stealthy LACM.

My post from June 9, 2011:

Does China already possess an "AGM-129A class" stealth cruise missile?

The United States has retired its most advanced stealth cruise missile, the AGM-129A. The more interesting question is whether the Chinese have an equivalent stealth cruise missile in their arsenal.

I suspect the Chinese already possess a Chinese version of the AGM-129A nuclear-capable stealth cruise missile. A stealth cruise missile is much easier to design and build than a complex manned stealth fighter. Indeed, "the first [AGM-129A] test missile flew in July 1985." Five years later, the first flight of the YF-22 (i.e. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter prototype) was on September 29, 1990.

Using the American experience as a reference, an advanced stealth cruise missile tends to precede the more complex manned stealth fighter by five years. The first confirmed flight of China's J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter was on January 11, 2011. The Chinese should have the technological capability and may have developed an "AGM-129A class" stealth cruise missile in 2006.

At the 60th anniversary parade in 2009, China unveiled its DF-21D ASBM (i.e. anti-ship ballistic missile) as an asymmetric weapon. Also, we have seen China's successful anti-satellite shoot-down (i.e. ASAT test in 2007). I believe the Chinese version of the AGM-129A is another of China's "Assassin's Mace" weapons. "The US Navy has no known defense against these weapons."

America's stealthy AGM-129A, the "most modern cruise missile in the U.S. nuclear arsenal," in flight. The U.S. "Air Force acknowledged the retirement decision" of the AGM-129A under the "U.S.-Russia arms reduction deal signed in Moscow in May 2002."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1797431/posts

"USAF to scrap AGM-129 stealth cruise missile
Seattlepi.com ^ | March 7, 2007 | ROBERT BURNS

Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 11:30:44 AM by sukhoi-30mki

Wednesday, March 7, 2007 · Last updated 7:15 p.m. PT

Air Force scraps stealth missile fleet

By ROBERT BURNS AP MILITARY WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The Air Force said Wednesday it will retire the most modern cruise missile in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, a "stealth" weapon developed in the 1980s with the ability to evade detection by Soviet radars.

Known as the Advanced Cruise Missile, the weapon is carried by the B-52 bomber and was designed to attack heavily defended sites. It is the most capable among a variety of air-launched nuclear weapons built during the Cold War that remain in the U.S. inventory even as the Pentagon is reducing its overall nuclear arms stockpile.

The Air Force had said as recently as February 2006 that it expected to keep the missile active until 2030.

If the retirement is carried out as planned, the Advanced Cruise Missile will be the first group of U.S. nuclear weapons to be scrapped since the last of the Air Force's 50 MX Peacekeeper land-based missiles was retired in September 2005.

The decision to retire the Advanced Cruise Missile fleet has not been publicly announced. It was brought to light by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists. He noticed that funds for the program were cut in the Air Force budget request for 2008, and that no money is budgeted for it beyond 2008; when he inquired, the Air Force acknowledged the retirement decision.

An Air Force spokeswoman, Maj. Morshe Araujo, confirmed it on Wednesday. She and other Air Force public affairs officials were unable to provide additional details, including the rationale for the decision.

Araujo indicated that the retirement was part of a "balanced force reduction" being carried out to reduce the number of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons to between 1,700 and 2,200 by Dec. 31, 2012, as required under a U.S.-Russia arms reduction deal signed in Moscow in May 2002.

The treaty does not require that any specific group of nuclear weapons be retired, only that the total number in the U.S. and Russian arsenals be cut to the prescribed range of 1,700-2,200. The Russians still have a nuclear-tipped cruise missile in active service, according to Robert S. Norris, an expert in American, Soviet and Chinese nuclear weapons.

The decision to get rid of the Advanced Cruise Missile comes amid U.S. efforts to modernize what remains of the nuclear arsenal, even as it presses Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs."

----------

AGM-129A stealth design characteristics

AGM-129A manufactured at General Dynamics

Advanced Cruise Missile (AGM-129) mounted on B-52

"The B-52H bomber can carry up to six AGM-129A missiles on each of two external pylons for a total of 12 per aircraft. Originally, an additional 8 ACMs could be carried internally in the B-52 on a Common Strategic Rotary Launcher, for a total of 20 per aircraft. The AGM-129A provides the bomber the ability to attack multiple targets without penetrating an air defense system."

7. Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile - Both China and the U.S. have proven ASAT missiles.

In conclusion, when it comes to advanced-weaponry technology, an item-by-item analysis shows the U.S. and China are basically on equal footing.

 

[Chinese Century]

I would have to wait till 2345 to see some hair and hide of these Chinese artists' conceptions! Even I have sketched a concept weapon that can destroy planet Earth from the Moon! This one would probably be ready for field testing by 9045!

Cheers!

its gotta hurt that indian ego knowing that in every industry india is ATLEAST a decade behind china.
and china is the fastest growing and extending the lead over india.

 

[SpArK]

WoW.... Mind blaaasting.... minnndddd blaaasting....