We also saw some new pictures of Varyag coming out. And disappointingly, it seemed to have no change from previous pictures. This is supposedly taken at the end of last month.
The other semi-exciting news that we got is the SSF exercise. As we see in this link, there are many ships involved in this exercise. The article said that
in the middle of November, SSF used more than 10 ships and planes to go through a realistic exercise using real troops, real missiles. The exercise were under extremely complex electronic environment and bad weather. This is to train new techniques, new doctrine, new cooperation. This will allow the combat capability to go up for the fleet.
To me, most of that is just propaganda, but it was definitely extremely exciting to see the AK-630s on the 022s firing off. This is not on this link, but we saw in some of the other pictures coming out of the exercise. Another interesting thing is that we saw 054 and Sov also involved in the exercise. You can see that if you click on the other pages in that link. The article doesn't change, but the pictures do. So, it seems to be a combination of both the East and South Sea Fleet. That's definitely something we don't see everyone day.
And finally, it has caught my attention that I seem to be relying too much on Chinese sources. It should be noted that I'm presenting these "rumours" not as my own belief, but rather interesting rumours that people might be interested in know. Whether one accept them or not is a different story, but that should not prevent them from having the chance to decide. While I cannot say that the sources of the rumours are perfect. From personal experiences, they are some of the more accurate ones out there. And in all honesty, far better sources than Kanwa and JDW. I read both of which (Kanwa every month) and continue to shake my head at the commentary. Those who have debated with me in the past probably knows how I feel about different sources when it comes to PLA.
9 comments:
Its ok to rely on chinese sources since JDF and Kanwa also rely on it to give the latest on PLA. Its just to have an open mind and check with other sources to verify its claims. Like I said, The PLA is not transparent and thats the best for now. Thks for your hard work in keeping us up to date!
From Aviation Week:
China is starting to ramp up its scramjet propulsion work—an initiative that will benefit high-speed missile programs while also helping the country to develop advanced aerospace materials, greater computational capabilities and a cadre of young engineers who have matured as a result of cutting-edge engine and aerodynamic challenges.
Building on its ramjet experience, China is embracing the much more difficult task of developing Mach 5 air vehicle concepts in which propulsion and aerodynamics are highly coupled.
As part of this effort, an integrated scramjet model is about to begin testing at up to Mach 5.6 in a new wind tunnel in Beijing.
In addition to the technology and engineering experience to be gained, the mid-term military payoff is likely to be more advanced high-speed tactical and medium-range Chinese missiles, especially for antiship warfare that could threaten U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific or operating in support of Taiwan.
“China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the U.S. and field disruptive military technologies that could, over time, offset traditional U.S. military advantages,” the 2006 Pentagon Quadrennial Review said about overall Chinese military technology initiatives.
And over the next several decades, the scramjet work could eventually provide China with a tactical hypersonic global-strike capability beyond the country’s strategic ballistic missile force. The U.S. has similar goals for its own growing scramjet program.
The Chinese allowed a peek into multiple aspects of their scramjet efforts at the recent American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Cincinnati. Chinese engineers from several research facilities presented about a dozen papers on their scramjet developments, as well as details on the new wind tunnel.
At the same forum, their papers revealed new rocket propulsion research, including work on hybrid systems that use a combination of propellants easier to handle and store than most propellants in wider use today. New insight also was offered on Chinese solid rocket motor technology work, important for both missile and space launch applications.
The Cincinnati meeting differed from a traditional U.S. industry gathering, because nearly a dozen engineers from Iran also submitted papers on Iranian solid and liquid rocket technologies. The Iranian engineers are based at the Sharif University of Technology and the KNT Technical University, both in Tehran. They apparently did not deliver the papers in person. However, as participants, the Iranians have access to all of the highly detailed U.S. aircraft and rocket propulsion presentations made at the conference.
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) flies at Mach 5 or faster using hydrogen fuel and oxygen out of the air for oxidizer. The engine must combine an advanced ramjet that changes configuration to swallow supersonic flow above about Mach 4.
Advanced ramjet technologies are also important for scramjet development, and the Chinese have been active in this area for decades.
Ironically, one the more interesting historical papers presented at the forum was a detailed description of how the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed combined top-secret ramjet propulsion technologies with segmented solid rocket boosters for the Mach 3 D-21B reconnaissance drones that were launched by modified SR-71s and B-52Hs in the late 1960s (see center photo). The D-21B was specifically developed to gather intelligence over China.
This was the first time details on the segmented rocket booster portion of the D-21B program have been presented publicly, says Robert Geisler of Geisler Industries, who led the analysis with retired Pratt & Whitney and ATK Tactical Propulsion engineers. Segmented boosters use individual circular sections like space shuttle solid rocket motors.
China already has such segmented solid rocket motor and ramjet capabilities today, but scramjets are a much greater challenge.
Although nowhere nearly as advanced as U.S. scramjet work, Chinese activities in this discipline will give the Defense Dept. additional impetus to argue for strong, ongoing U.S. hypersonic propulsion funding. Diverse U.S. technology programs are already underway to support development of the X-51 scramjet test vehicle (AW&ST July 23, p. 23).
As part of the Chinese effort, the engineers say new analytical centers are also being developed. For example, a Hypersonic Propulsion Test Facility has been built to support the scramjet program, according to Xinyu Chang, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics in Beijing, where the HPTF is located. Gas Dynamics lab research is specifically oriented to “the development of hypersonic flight vehicles, both aeronautics-and space-related,” according to data from the facility.
Broad studies there are “devoted to the fundamentals of hypersonic and high-temperature gas dynamics including detonation phenomena, supersonic combustion, chemical reactions, shock-wave/vortex interactions and thermal-chemical flow characteristics.” The lab helps lead several Chinese technology programs for scramjet propulsion. This includes basic hypersonic vehicle designs that could mate with a scramjet engine, as well as computational fluid dynamics work to assess the challenge of coupled ramjet/scramjet inlet flow fields at the front of the vehicle.
Scramjet ignition technology and work on cooling the internal walls of a scramjet are also being assessed, the Chinese say. Computer modeling of scramjet combustion instability is also being modeled.
“At the present time, the emphasis on rocket-based combined cycle [RBCC] scramjet research has gradually transferred from research and performance studies to some ground experiments and structures design,” says Wang Houqing, a researcher at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian. NPU is one of China’s top aerospace research centers.
“A copper model scramjet is ready for testing” in the new Gas Dynamics Laboratory facility, says Xinyu.
“The facility is to provide high enthalpy [thermal dynamic] model scramjet testing,” he says.
The facility uses a hydrogen/air and oxygen replenishment combustion heater with a flow rate of 3.5 kg./sec., with temperature capabilities up to 2,000K. It can generate test velocities up to Mach 5.6, according to Xinyu.
Many different scramjet combustor configurations have been tested so far, he says. But the new facility will allow complete scramjet engine model configurations to be evaluated instead of just the combustor alone.
Other Chinese scramjet research presented at Cincinnati included:
•Aerodynamic performance of Chinese waverider designs integrated with an inlet. “Simulation studies were conducted to investigate forebody-inlet-isolator performance in an airframe-scramjet integrated hypersonic vehicle,” according to Liu Zhenxia, also at NPU.
•Multicode computational fluid dynamics runs for coupled ramjet/scramjet inlet flowfields. This work models the transition from “ram” to “scram” propulsion. The research is underway at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
•Research of gas discharge coefficients. This work is being conducted at the College of Aerospace and Materials Engineering at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha.
•Cross-section design of a controllable hypersonic inlet. The research is being done at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
•Scramjet combustion mode translation studies. This work is also part of the scramjet effort at the National University of Defense Technology.
•Hydrogen injection and scramjet ignition testing. The research is being done in the Defense Technology university.
•Thermal and structures studies. NPU is performing heat transfer analysis and overall scramjet thermal structure design, including analysis of different materials used in the scramjet concepts.
•Numerical simulation of combustion instability. This work is also being pursued in Xian.
From Tempur:
Article about PLAN 093 & 094 subs. Technical specs is the same as written elsewhere except that 093 is double hulled, torpedo tubes is 650mm, allowing it to fire anti-ship/lkand attck cruise missile like DH-10A.
094 JL-2 missiles is MIRVs, each missile armed with 3 90-kiloton warhead and range 8,000km.
On patrols, Jin SSBN is expected to be escorted by 2 Shang SSN. Its interesting that PLAN SSBN has to be escorted by 2 SSN. Looking at China coast topography, it is in a very weak position as her navy can be bottled up by enemy subs operating in between Taiwan & Okinawa and Hainan & Phillipines. Up North, Japan Navy can patrol the straits.
Ever wonder why US is confident PLAN has not conducted that many deep sea sub patrols? With her advanced sonar and favourable bases near China, she can keep watch like a hawk!
From Aviation Week:
China is starting to ramp up its scramjet propulsion work—an initiative that will benefit high-speed missile programs while also helping the country to develop advanced aerospace materials, greater computational capabilities and a cadre of young engineers who have matured as a result of cutting-edge engine and aerodynamic challenges.
Building on its ramjet experience, China is embracing the much more difficult task of developing Mach 5 air vehicle concepts in which propulsion and aerodynamics are highly coupled.
As part of this effort, an integrated scramjet model is about to begin testing at up to Mach 5.6 in a new wind tunnel in Beijing.
In addition to the technology and engineering experience to be gained, the mid-term military payoff is likely to be more advanced high-speed tactical and medium-range Chinese missiles, especially for antiship warfare that could threaten U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific or operating in support of Taiwan.
“China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the U.S. and field disruptive military technologies that could, over time, offset traditional U.S. military advantages,” the 2006 Pentagon Quadrennial Review said about overall Chinese military technology initiatives.
And over the next several decades, the scramjet work could eventually provide China with a tactical hypersonic global-strike capability beyond the country’s strategic ballistic missile force. The U.S. has similar goals for its own growing scramjet program.
The Chinese allowed a peek into multiple aspects of their scramjet efforts at the recent American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Cincinnati. Chinese engineers from several research facilities presented about a dozen papers on their scramjet developments, as well as details on the new wind tunnel.
At the same forum, their papers revealed new rocket propulsion research, including work on hybrid systems that use a combination of propellants easier to handle and store than most propellants in wider use today. New insight also was offered on Chinese solid rocket motor technology work, important for both missile and space launch applications.
The Cincinnati meeting differed from a traditional U.S. industry gathering, because nearly a dozen engineers from Iran also submitted papers on Iranian solid and liquid rocket technologies. The Iranian engineers are based at the Sharif University of Technology and the KNT Technical University, both in Tehran. They apparently did not deliver the papers in person. However, as participants, the Iranians have access to all of the highly detailed U.S. aircraft and rocket propulsion presentations made at the conference.
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) flies at Mach 5 or faster using hydrogen fuel and oxygen out of the air for oxidizer. The engine must combine an advanced ramjet that changes configuration to swallow supersonic flow above about Mach 4.
Advanced ramjet technologies are also important for scramjet development, and the Chinese have been active in this area for decades.
Ironically, one the more interesting historical papers presented at the forum was a detailed description of how the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed combined top-secret ramjet propulsion technologies with segmented solid rocket boosters for the Mach 3 D-21B reconnaissance drones that were launched by modified SR-71s and B-52Hs in the late 1960s (see center photo). The D-21B was specifically developed to gather intelligence over China.
This was the first time details on the segmented rocket booster portion of the D-21B program have been presented publicly, says Robert Geisler of Geisler Industries, who led the analysis with retired Pratt & Whitney and ATK Tactical Propulsion engineers. Segmented boosters use individual circular sections like space shuttle solid rocket motors.
China already has such segmented solid rocket motor and ramjet capabilities today, but scramjets are a much greater challenge.
Although nowhere nearly as advanced as U.S. scramjet work, Chinese activities in this discipline will give the Defense Dept. additional impetus to argue for strong, ongoing U.S. hypersonic propulsion funding. Diverse U.S. technology programs are already underway to support development of the X-51 scramjet test vehicle (AW&ST July 23, p. 23).
As part of the Chinese effort, the engineers say new analytical centers are also being developed. For example, a Hypersonic Propulsion Test Facility has been built to support the scramjet program, according to Xinyu Chang, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics in Beijing, where the HPTF is located. Gas Dynamics lab research is specifically oriented to “the development of hypersonic flight vehicles, both aeronautics-and space-related,” according to data from the facility.
Broad studies there are “devoted to the fundamentals of hypersonic and high-temperature gas dynamics including detonation phenomena, supersonic combustion, chemical reactions, shock-wave/vortex interactions and thermal-chemical flow characteristics.” The lab helps lead several Chinese technology programs for scramjet propulsion. This includes basic hypersonic vehicle designs that could mate with a scramjet engine, as well as computational fluid dynamics work to assess the challenge of coupled ramjet/scramjet inlet flow fields at the front of the vehicle.
Scramjet ignition technology and work on cooling the internal walls of a scramjet are also being assessed, the Chinese say. Computer modeling of scramjet combustion instability is also being modeled.
“At the present time, the emphasis on rocket-based combined cycle [RBCC] scramjet research has gradually transferred from research and performance studies to some ground experiments and structures design,” says Wang Houqing, a researcher at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xian. NPU is one of China’s top aerospace research centers.
“A copper model scramjet is ready for testing” in the new Gas Dynamics Laboratory facility, says Xinyu.
“The facility is to provide high enthalpy [thermal dynamic] model scramjet testing,” he says.
The facility uses a hydrogen/air and oxygen replenishment combustion heater with a flow rate of 3.5 kg./sec., with temperature capabilities up to 2,000K. It can generate test velocities up to Mach 5.6, according to Xinyu.
Many different scramjet combustor configurations have been tested so far, he says. But the new facility will allow complete scramjet engine model configurations to be evaluated instead of just the combustor alone.
Other Chinese scramjet research presented at Cincinnati included:
•Aerodynamic performance of Chinese waverider designs integrated with an inlet. “Simulation studies were conducted to investigate forebody-inlet-isolator performance in an airframe-scramjet integrated hypersonic vehicle,” according to Liu Zhenxia, also at NPU.
•Multicode computational fluid dynamics runs for coupled ramjet/scramjet inlet flowfields. This work models the transition from “ram” to “scram” propulsion. The research is underway at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
•Research of gas discharge coefficients. This work is being conducted at the College of Aerospace and Materials Engineering at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha.
•Cross-section design of a controllable hypersonic inlet. The research is being done at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
•Scramjet combustion mode translation studies. This work is also part of the scramjet effort at the National University of Defense Technology.
•Hydrogen injection and scramjet ignition testing. The research is being done in the Defense Technology university.
•Thermal and structures studies. NPU is performing heat transfer analysis and overall scramjet thermal structure design, including analysis of different materials used in the scramjet concepts.
•Numerical simulation of combustion instability. This work is also being pursued in Xian.
The uninvited guest: Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced
By MATTHEW HICKLEY
DAILY MAIL
10th November 2007
When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed.
At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard while the technical wizardry of the world's only military superpower offers an invisible shield to detect and deter any intruders.
That is the theory. Or, rather, was the theory.
American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.
By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.
According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.
The Americans had no idea China's fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.
One Nato figure said the effect was "as big a shock as the Russians launching Sputnik" - a reference to the Soviet Union's first orbiting satellite in 1957 which marked the start of the space age.
The incident, which took place in the ocean between southern Japan and Taiwan, is a major embarrassment for the Pentagon.
The lone Chinese vessel slipped past at least a dozen other American warships which were supposed to protect the carrier from hostile aircraft or submarines.
And the rest of the costly defensive screen, which usually includes at least two U.S. submarines, was also apparently unable to detect it.
According to the Nato source, the encounter has forced a serious re-think of American and Nato naval strategy as commanders reconsider the level of threat from potentially hostile Chinese submarines.
It also led to tense diplomatic exchanges, with shaken American diplomats demanding to know why the submarine was "shadowing" the U.S. fleet while Beijing pleaded ignorance and dismissed the affair as coincidence.
Analysts believe Beijing was sending a message to America and the West demonstrating its rapidly-growing military capability to threaten foreign powers which try to interfere in its "backyard".
The People's Liberation Army Navy's submarine fleet includes at least two nuclear-missile launching vessels.
Its 13 Song Class submarines are extremely quiet and difficult to detect when running on electric motors.
Commodore Stephen Saunders, editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, and a former Royal Navy anti-submarine specialist, said the U.S. had paid relatively little attention to this form of warfare since the end of the Cold War.
He said: "It was certainly a wake-up call for the Americans.
"It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do, which appears to be to deter the Americans from interfering or operating in their backyard, particularly in relation to Taiwan."
SORRY, THE SUB INCIDENT HAPPENED LAST YEAR, NOT IN 2007.
interesting. the sub story I think could be overplayed. But as for scramjet, I think it's quite obvious that China does not release its latest development. So, they can be sure that China is further along than that.
Quite right. The PLAN knows that the US Navy ASW is more sophiscated and that its capabilities has not been tested.
What do you think of Tempurs article about the 093&094 having 650mm torpedo tubes to fire the DH-10A cruise missile? Most navies have VLS to fire these missiles. The Indian navy is developing a sub VLS to fire its Brahmos anti-ship missile.
Tempur also reported on the Beijing International Aerospace Expo. J-11B was featured with digital glass cockpit, 2 WS-10A Taihung turbofans and mechanically steered JL-10A pulse doppler radar.
How far has PLA aircraft radar evolve?
FYI, Europe's CAESAR AESA Radar is being developed since 2003 and is expected to be ready for Euro Fighter Typhoon only in 2011, a development time of 8 yrs. Thales RBE-2 AESA radar is still being tested and development started in 1997 and only series production in 2010, 13 yrs later.
I read that PLA is trying to leapfrog to AESA and bypass passive phase array radar altogether. Its going to take some hardwork and capabilities to do it.
first for the sub situation. I guess it's possible, although we haven't seen any evidence for it. For example, I would've expected a 650 mm torpedo by now, but there is no sign that such a torpedo exists. Of course, it makes sense for China to create a SSN with VLS launchers. But once they convert some of the 092s to SSGNs, that will be able to fire off far more LACMs than 093 could ever do. And currently, I'm guessing China's LACMs are developed to a stage where it can accomplish most of the goals from Chinese soil. For example, they can pretty much hit anything within the first chain, India, Russia and Afghanistan + possibly Iraq. The only other target that it can't do would be Hawaii and continental USA, but then US ASW capability is too strong for 093s to get within LACM range.
As for JL-10A, I'd be very surprised that domestic J-11Bs are using it, since J-11B is currently more focused on A2A modes. Of course now, an export J-11B might be using JL-10A, since that's something that's cleared for export. As for AESA development, China has been working on it for a while. And it has had a lot of AESA experience with the Y-8 radars, KJ-2000 and 052C. So, it's not going into a totally unknown territory. I would expect the new variants of J-10 coming out to be equipped with AESA when it reaches mass production.
Post a Comment