Flight International – 6 August 2019

DEFENCE

ightglobal.com 6-12 August 2019 | Flight International | 17

Wing Spirit grows

HondaJet Elite fleet

for Hawaii service

Business Aviation P

J-20 was the only prominent development programme mentioned

ImagineChina/Shutterstock

June deal comprises 76 fighters, with first delivery by end of 2019

Sukhoi

B

eijing has used its first new de-

fence white paper since 2015

to reaffirm its commitment to

building a stronger and more capa-

ble People’s Liberation Army Air

Force, but the document is other-

wise tantalisingly short on detail.

Entitled China’s National De-

fense in the New Era, the report

lists several aims, including de-

terring and resisting aggression,

ensuring political and social se-

curity, opposing Taiwan’s inde-

pendence and safeguarding over-

seas interests.

“China’s armed forces conduct

air defence, reconnaissance and

early warning, monitor China’s

territorial air and peripheral air

space, carry out alert patrols and

effectively respond to emergen-

cies and threats to maintain order

and security in the air,” it says.

A key focus for the air force will

be on transitioning from territorial

defence to offensive and defensive

operations, it says. Activities in-

clude strategic early warning, air

strikes, air and missile defence,

and information countermeasures.

The report makes no mention

of prominent development pro-

grammes such as the AVIC FC-31,

Xian Y-20 strategic transport and

Xian H-20 strategic bomber: it

briefly refers to only one aircraft

type, the Chengdu J-20, which it

says has been “commissioned”.

Elsewhere, the report points to

the air force’s training activities,

which it says are conducted based

on operational plans. They in-

clude “combat patrols” in the

South China Sea and “security pa-

trols” in the East China Sea, it says.

“By sailing ships and flying

aircraft around Taiwan, the

armed forces send a stern warn-

ing to the ‘Taiwan independence’

separatist forces,” it cautions.

The stark warnings about Tai-

wan come amid reports that Wash-

ington is poised to approve the

sale of an undisclosed number of

Lockheed Martin F-16Vs to Taipei.

Despite such assertions, West-

ern analysts point to the report’s

lack of detail. “Four years was a

long time to wait for a document

that generally restates what ex-

perts already know,” says Andrew

Erickson, professor of strategy at

the US Naval War College. ■

See Feature P

strategy greg wAldron SIngApore

Chinese report emphasises air power

White paper outlines offensive transformation and restates warnings over Taiwan, but is otherwise lacking in detail

S

ukhoi has commenced serial

production of its Su-57 fighter,

according to a report by Russian

news agency TASS, citing deputy

prime minister Yuri Borisov.

“A state contract was signed at

the Army 2019 international

arms exhibition between the de-

fence ministry of Russia and Suk-

hoi for the delivery of a batch of

Su-57 fifth-generation fighter

jets,” Borisov says. “Sukhoi has

started to fulfil its contractual ob-

ligations,” he adds.

Covering 76 examples, the late

June deal was reached after

Sukhoi pledged to reduce

procurement greg wAldron SIngApore

Moscow agreement launches Su-57 production

programme costs by 20%.

Russian President Vladimir

Putin earlier this year committed

to a significant expansion of the

Su-57 fleet operated by the coun-

try’s air force. After meeting

defence chiefs and industry

representatives on 15 May, Putin

said the service required three

full regiments equipped with the

type by 2028. At that time, Mos-

cow was contracted to buying

only 16 examples by 2027.

The first aircraft covered by the

new deal could be handed over to

the air force before the end of this

year, says the TASS report. ■

Download the 2019

World Air Forces Report

http://www.flightglobal.com/waf

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