CHINA WATCHRising Dragon, Slumbering Sam
Last week was one for the books. President Donald Trump rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War, while China held a remarkable parade and flyover in Beijing. It was clearly intended to demonstrate that China’s armed forces had at least attained technical parity with the United States and possibly surpassed it. The week closed with a report of the Pentagon’s plan to prioritize focusing on domestic threats while downgrading other missions, such as deterring China and countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow.
Last week was one for the books. US President Donald Trump rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War. And China held a remarkable parade and flyover in Beijing. It was clearly intended to drive home the fact that China’s armed forces had at least attained technical parity with the United States and possibly surpassed it.
The message was not lost on the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute think-tank, which rolled out a report on Friday comparing US Air Force capability with the Chinese air force. The doleful list of comparisons—including the usual complaints about the USAF’s aging fighter force and an assessment that China is producing 120 heavyweight Chengdu J-20 stealth fighters per year—ended with a call to boost F-35 production for the USAF to 72 per year.
Fat chance. The week closed with a Politico report that an in-work strategic review would focus on domestic threats and the Western Hemisphere and downgrade the importance of deterring China.
China’s 3 September display indicated an active lack of interest in being deterred. It was the Beijing debut of the Shenyang J-35, China’s second stealth fighter, in both land-based and carrier-based versions. The new two-seat J-20S and the upgraded J-20A also made their debut, as did the Xian KJ-600 airborne radar and control platform, a faithful reproduction of the 60-year-old Northrop Grumman E-2. Three Xian Y-20B transports showed off China’s first indigenous high-bypass-ratio engine.
At ground level, airborne weapons included the massive and unique JL-1 air-launched ballistic missile, to be carried by the specially configured Xian H-6N bomber, and a range of unmanned combat aircraft designs, with very different configurations ranging from conventional to entirely tailless.
The individual hardware items were interesting enough, but the messages were more so. This was not just Soviet-style muscle-flexing but a signal of progress, an outline of strategy, and a display of innovative thinking.
For example, most of the fighter formations were led by support aircraft: China sees air power as an integrated enterprise where those aircraft are as important as the fast jets. Air Force groups were led by tankers, two types of airborne early warning aircraft (the KJ-500 and the Shaanxi KJ-200) and signals intelligence and maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
