Asia Looks Seaward

the Type 071 as ‘‘the PLAN’s largest indigenously designed combat ship to

date.’’^49

PLANAF

The PLAAF (PLA Air Force) and PLANAF (PLAN Air Force), which are

finally beginning to recover from grave setbacks suffered during Mao’s Cultural

Revolution, currently possess 2,300 operational combat aircraft. Of these,

over 700 are capable of conducting operations against Taiwan without aerial

refueling.^50 China still relies on massive imports of Russian planes and their

components, particularly tankers and jet engines. The PLAAF uses one hundred

twenty H-6 (B-6) twin-engine, medium-range bombers, derivatives of Russia’s

Tupolev Tu-16/Badger, as its medium- to long-range strategic and tactical

air-strike platform, and continues to produce slightly improved versions of this

aircraft.^51 The PLANAF uses an H-6 variant for antiship missile attack. Other

H-6 variants serve as aerial refueling tankers. These will be supplemented by

eight Ilyushin Il-78M four-engine tankers ordered in September 2005,^52 the

deployment of which ‘‘will extend the range and strike potential of China’s

bomber and fighter aircraft.’’^53 Some H-6s also conduct reconnaissance and

collect electronic signals intelligence (ELINT).^54

China is finally beginning to achieve comprehensive domestic production

capacity, even as it acquires advanced Russian platforms. A 2006Jane’sreport

concludes, ‘‘Since the end of the Cold War, there have been more research and

development activities into fighter aircraft in China than anywhere else in the

world. There are now at least 16 active purchase, co-production, production or

development programmes for combat aircraft and combat helicopters in

China.’’^55 A secondJane’sreport explains that China’s ‘‘aviation sector is showing

the fruits of massive investment,’’ particularly in skilled personnel and cutting-

edge production facilities, as well as machine and development tools.^56 The

growing stable of modern aircraft resulting from these efforts, along with the

increasingly potent weapons these aircraft carry, is increasing China’s chances of

achieving air superiority over the Taiwan Strait and even the island itself. While

coordination between the PLANAF and the PLAAF has long been problematic

and subject to speculation, it seems that some of these recent equipment

upgrades, coupled with improved training and doctrine, will increase the pos-

sibility of effective joint operations in the future, particularly operations against

aircraft carriers venturing into East Asian waters.^57 Were the European Union

to lift its 1989 Tiananmen arms embargo, China could further step up its

progress in these areas.

The PLA accepted shipments of twenty-six Su-27s in 1992, twenty-two in

1996, and twenty-eight in 2002. It has manufactured an additional one hundred

of these aircraft indigenously, dubbing them the J-11. The J-11 has served as a

82 Asia Looks Seaward