China modernizará su flota de guerra

De acuerdo con una información publicada el pasado 31 de Diciembre por el diario chino Quanzhou Evening News, la marina del PLA está llevando a cabo un ambicioso programa de modernización. El programa persigue dotar a la marina de un número suficiente de portaaviones, destructores y submarinos para mantener el equilibrio de fuerzas en aguas del Pacífico.

Destructores

• China está desarrollando en la actualidad un programa encaminado a la construcción de un destructor Tipo 052C y siete destructores Tipo 052D. Ambos pertenecen al Tipo 052, también conocido como el "Aegis chino".

• Actualmente cuenta con cinco destructores Tipo 052C y cinco destructores Tipo 052D, que escoltan al portaaviones Liaoning. Según los expertos, el Tipo 052C pretende competir con el destructor clase Arleigh Burke de la US Navy, si bien el clase Arleigh Burke es bastante más grande, está mejor armado y puede almacenar más misiles que el Tipo 052C.

• Está en desarrollo el Tipo 055, que se pretende sea similar al clase Arleigh Burke

Portaaviones

• China planea establecer sus propios grupos de batalla de portaaviones
• Actualmente cuenta con sólo un portaaviones (el Liaoning) 

Submarinos

China está desarrollando en la actualidad un programa encaminado a la construcción de cuatro submarinos Tipo 094s y dos submarinos Tipo 096 durante los próximos cinco años, dotados ambos de misiles balísticos capaces de alcanzar la costa oeste de Estados Unidos.

¿Is India ready to defend itself against the Chinese threat?

After decades of pursuing Pakistan-centric war planning, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force are recalibrating their sights towards the hitherto neglected northern frontiers with China, giving a hard push to improving its war-fighting capabilities against its more powerful neighbor.

But the Chinese need not worry, as it will take almost a decade for India to come anywhere near the infrastructure that the Chinese have built just in TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region): Since the 1990s, China has built a network of roads, airports and railway in the sparsely populated TAR which gives the People's Liberation Army (PLA) a distinct advantage when it comes to mobilizing its forces if needed in double quick time.

YJ-12: A big headache for US Navy

Robert Haddick, an American military analyst, unveiled recently why the PLA YJ-12 missile may be "the most dangerous threat to the US Navy". Among other reasons, Haddick mentions the maximum range as one of the key points to bear in mind, because the YJ-12 has an operational maximum range around 400 kilometers. This range represents really a threat, due to the SM-6 has a range of 240 kilometers, and the Harpoon has 315 kilometers, depending on the launching platform. 

Read more at: http://warontherocks.com/2014/07/chinas-most-dangerous-missile-so-far/

DF-15C can be equipped as bunker buster

China’s DF-15C short-range ballistic missile, equipped with a deep-penetration warhead, would be able to damage or destroy underground command facilities in Taiwan and other security partners of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region, according to The Weapon, a military magazine operated by China North Industries Group Corporation, a state-run company that manufactures military vehicles.

The Weapon reported that the DF-15C, with a warhead between 2-2.5 meters in length, has the largest warhead section compared to other missiles in the PLA’s arsenal, and can be used by the Second Artillery Corps, the PLA’s strategic missile detachment, to take out enemy command centers in a potential conflict. The Chinese missile has a range of 700 kilometers, and can be used against most targets in East Asia, including an underground hangar located at Chiashan Air Force Base in Hualian in eastern Taiwan. However, the warhead must be fitted to a DF-21 and DF-25 missile to increase its range to strike at targets such as the US base at Guam.

Chinese military helicopter launches air-to-air missile

China's first self-developed modern military attack helicopter WZ-10 has launched its first air-to-air missile and successfully intercepted low-altitude targets.

The WZ-10, meaning "armed helicopter", carried out the launch during a live-fire drill involving army aviation troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the eastern waters off south China's Guangdong Province last week.

The WZ-10 is designed primarily for anti-tank missions and was first seen in public at the 9th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in the southern city of Zhuhai in Guangdong in 2012.