CV32

From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Russian Air Force Grounds 90 MiG-29s Posted by Sean Meade at 3/17/2009 12:01 PM CDT Maxim Pyadushkin writes: On March 13 the Russian Air Force officially reported it has grounded about 90 MiG-29 fighters after the technical inspection of around 200 the aircraft. The other aircraft are cleared for flights, said the report. The inspection was undertaken as part of the investigation of two MiG-29 crashes that took place near Chita, East Siberia, in October and December 2008. On that occasion the Air Force grounded its entire fleet of MiG-29s estimated at around 300 aircraft. The first flights resumed only in the beginning of February when the investigation reportedly found out the crash was caused by the corrosion on the joint of metal plates from different alloys in the tail of the airframe. Now the Air Force continues to inspect the rest of the MiG-29 fleet. According to the military the aircraft with the corrosion problem “will be repaired by the approved procedures and return back to service”. The industry source confirmed to Ares that the problem with corrosion is not fatal and the “infected” aircraft can be restored without serious overhaul of the airframe.

From Aviation Week Boeing Unveils New Stealthy F-15 Mar 17, 2009 Amy Butler/St. Louis, Mo. Boeing unveiled the prototype of a new variant of the F-15 Strike Eagle aimed at the Asian and Middle East markets that will incorporate stealthy coatings and structure here on Mar. 17. Company officials hope the new aircraft will garner up to 190 orders, extending the F-15 line beyond the current backlog of 38 aircraft for South Korea and Singapore. Since the company lost the Joint Strike Fighter contest to Lockheed Martin, the future of its St. Louis manufacturing facility has been uncertain. Continued F-15 sales, as well as additional orders for F/A-18E/Fs and EA-18Gs, are the only work in the foreseeable future for the plant. Major design changes in the new "Silent Eagle" version include internal bays within the existing conformal fuel tanks that can carry a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. Each tank will be configured to hold two air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 and AIM-120 or a combination of the two.For the air-to-ground mission, 1,000- and 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions can be carried or four 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs per tank. Weapons loadout can also be split between the AIM-120 and JDAM for a multirole mission.The Silent Eagle configuration includes 15-degree outward-canted V-tails - a shift away from the characteristic vertical fins of the F-15 that reduces the radar cross-section. The Mach 2.5 speed of the Strike Eagle is maintained, but the cost is about 180-200 nautical miles of range capability because of the reduce fuel in the conformal tanks, says Brad Jones, program manger for F-15 future programs. The new design includes a digital electronic warfare system (DEWS), made by BAE Systems, that can operate simultaneously with the aircraft's Raytheon active electronically scanned array radar. Stealth coatings, though not yet applied to Boeing's prototype, could be added at a later time. Boeing says the coatings could contibute to an equivalent amount of front-aspect stealth as that offered by Lockheed's F-35. This includes reducing radar returns from sharp edges on the aircraft, including antennae. Stealthiness for the F-15 was explored about a decade ago for the U.S. Air Force as an alternative to the Lockheed-led F-22, but was never pursued. "The internal carriage is what is new. The stealth is not," Jones says, adding "We are not really after the F-22 market or the F-35 market" with this new design. The level of stealthiness exportable on the F-15 is up to the U.S. government to decide, Jones says. Though USAF officials have been given courtesy briefings on the Silent Eagle, talks on stealth exportability have not yet occurred. A radar blocker for engine inlets, already fitted in F/A-18E/Fs, could be added depending on how much radar cross-section reduction is required by the customer and allowed by the government. Jones estimates the cost of a Silent Eagle will be about $100 million per aircraft, including spares, if built new. A retrofit kit including the conformal fuel tanks, DEWS and coatings could be added to existing Strike Eagles, he says. The target market includes South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, Jones says. The first likely customer is South Korea, which is looking for two new fighters, including its F-X Phase III program, which calls for 60 aircraft in the F-15 class. South Korea's Agency for Defense Development is also pushing for a KFX program, which calls for about 120 domestically developed stealth fighters. Jones says coproduction of stealth materials would be subject to U.S. government review and a tough case to sell. Japan and Saudi Arabia are also looking for new F-15-class fighters. And if the Silent Eagle were sold to the Saudis, Israel likely would want a chance to buy the aircraft too to maintain balance of power in the Middle East. Boeing's willingness to integrate indigenous systems, such as electronic warfare suites, onto the Silent Eagle is an option that could be of interest to these customers - especially Israel. Israeli industry was recently rebuffed by U.S. officials unwilling to add foreign EW systems under the F-35 development program. The weapons-carrying fuel tanks, which are affixed to the aircraft with two bolts, and can be removed within about 2.5 hours. Reinstalling the original fuel tanks restores the F-15 to its nonstealthy configuration, which is capable of hauling more and larger weapons, including anti-ship missiles. The Silent Eagle prototype is based on F-15E1, the program's flight test aircraft. To date, it has been outfitted with the conformal tanks and the canted tails, which are for demonstration only and not structurally integrated. The actual canted tails would be added later if a customer requested them. Stealth coatings and engine intake blockers have not been added. Jones says Boeing hopes to begin flight testing the weapons-carrying conformal tanks on the aircraft in the first quarter of next year. Design work on the Silent Eagle concept began in September last year in response to feedback from F--15 customers, he says.

The answer ... The pic is an infra-red (IR) image of the moment of a successful intercept conducted by a Ground Based Interceptor, as part of a test of the Ground based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The launch was designated FTG-05 and took place on 5 December 2008. Tony's guess was certainly the closest to the mark. Post script ... Ah, good ole Ronnie. A man ahead of his time.

From Jane's Indian BMD shield could be in service by 2011 By Rahul Bedi 17 March 2009 A third successful test-firing of India's new ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in early March has given Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials the confidence to claim that the system will offer an initial operating capability by 2011. They told Jane's that the BMD system would be declared operational after six more test-firings, including an integrated trial in which two interceptors will be launched at an incoming ballistic missile: one to destroy it at an altitude of 40 km and the other to annihilate falling debris at a height of 15 km. Integrated trials will take place by the end of this year, with the remaining tests completed 12 months later, the DRDO declared. Thereafter, it will be the government's decision to induct the system as a deterrent against incoming, short-range ballistic missiles over a 200 km2 area, DRDO's chief missile scientist Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat stated. Dr Saraswat said that during the latest trial on 6 March, a modified Prithvi Air Defence II (PAD II) two-stage hypersonic interceptor ballistic missile, fired from a mobile launcher at the integrated range on Wheeler Island, had intercepted and shot down a target missile at a height of 75 km within three minutes of being fired. The incoming target, a nuclear-capable Dhanush (Bow) navalised version of the surface-to-surface Prithvi (Earth), was fired from a warship in the Bay of Bengal simulating the trajectory of neighbouring nuclear rival Pakistan's strategic Ghauri missile with a 1,500 km strike.

From DefenseNews Russia Considers Temporary Air Bases in Americas By CHRISTOPHER BOIAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 14 Mar 08:26 EDT (12:26 GMT) MOSCOW - Russia could use bases for its strategic bombers on the doorstep of the United States in Cuba and Venezuela to underpin long-distance patrols in the region, a senior air force officer said March 14. "This is possible in Cuba," Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of the Russian air force's strategic aviation staff, told the Interfax-AVN military news agency. The comments were the latest signal that Moscow intends to project its military capability in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defense budget and hardware that experts consider in many respects outdated. Zhikharev indicated that Russia was looking only at occasional use of the facilities - not setting up permanent bases in the region. He noted that the Venezuelan constitution prohibited establishment of military bases of foreign states on Venezuelan territory and described the Russian possible use of the facility there as "we land, we complete the flight, we take off." Zhikharev said Cuba had a several air bases equipped with the long runways needed by the heavy bombers and said the facilities there were "entirely acceptable" for use by the Russian aircraft during long-distance patrols. "If the will of the two states is there, the political will, then we are prepared to fly there" to the bases in Cuba, the agency quoted Zhikharev as saying. The general also said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered to let Russian strategic bombers use a military airfield on La Orchila island, a military base off the west coast of the country. "Yes, there has been such a proposal from the Venezuelan president," Zhikharev said. "If a relevant political decision is made, this is possible," he added. Russia resumed patrols by its long-distance strategic bombers in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus, noting at the time that it was mirroring the United States, which never suspended its global bomber patrols after the Cold War. Last year, Russia temporarily based a pair of Tu-160 bombers at an airbase in Venezuela in a carefully-choreographed display of force regarded by as a warning message to the United States. A Russian flotilla led by the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great also joined Venezuelan navy vessels for maneuvers in the Caribbean late last year, timed to coincide with a visit to the region by President Dmitry Medvedev. The previous U.S. administration of George W. Bush officially shrugged off the Russian aviation and naval moves in Latin America, characterizing them as more for show than anything representing a military worry for the United States. In July, however, a top U.S. air force officer warned that Russia would cross "a red line" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba. "If they did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," Gen. Norton Schwartz said on July 23. The Interfax report said there were three types of Russian aircraft capable of long-distance bomber patrols: the Tu-95MS, the Tu-160 and the Tu-22. It was Tu-160 strategic bombers that were sent to Venezuela for temporary basing last year. Each aircraft of this type is capable of carrying 12 cruise missiles that can be fitted with nuclear warheads.

From DefenseNews Venezuela's Chavez Offers Russia Use of Airbase By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 15 Mar 16:25 EDT (20:25 GMT) CARACAS - Venezuela has offered Russia unlimited use of an air base off its Caribbean coast for Moscow's strategic bombers, President Hugo Chavez said in a television address March 15. "I told [Russian] President [Dmitry] Medvedev that any time Russia's strategic aircraft need to land in Venezuela to meet their strategic aims, Venezuela will be at their service," Chavez said. Chavez's comments - made during his weekly television program "Hello Mr. President" - follow Russian media reports one day prior that Moscow had been offered the use of the Caribbean island base La Orchila. Russian air force general Anatoly Zhikharev told the Interfax-AVN military news agency March 14 that Russia could seek the short-term use of bases in Cuba and Venezuela, indicating permanent bases in the region were not under consideration. The bases could be used for logistics stops on long-distance bomber patrols, which Russia resumed in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus. Russian warships held joint maneuvers in November in Venezuela with the Venezuelan navy - activity not seen in the area since the Cold War - in defiance of the United States, the region's military powerhouse.

From RIA Novosti Iranian president declares his country a space and nuclear power 19:36 | 13/ 03/ 2009 TEHRAN, March 13 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that pressure from Western powers trying to keep Iran in economic isolation had in fact spurred the country to become a space and nuclear power. "Had you not been bad-tempered and blocked the way, the Iranian nation would not have been present in space, and would not have become a nuclear power," Fars news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at the inauguration ceremony of a natural gas deposit in the Bushehr province. Iran put its first communications satellite, Omid (Hope), into a near-Earth orbit on February 2. The research satellite was carried into orbit by a home-made launch vehicle, Safir (Messenger). Iranian Communications Minister Mohammad Soleimani earlier said that the country's scientists were working on the creation of four new satellites to be placed into near-Earth orbit. The Iranian president said Western powers are unable to stop Iran's technological and scientific progress with their "spiteful actions." He also called the international economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program a "grave blunder." "Of course, we believe that the Iranian nation can tread the path to progress under God's mercy," he said. Western powers led by the United States, along with Israel, have accused Tehran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology for their delivery. Iran says it needs its nuclear program for electric power generation, and its missile program for space exploration.

From RIA Novosti Bulava missile test failed due to faulty part - Defense Ministry 13:47 | 16/ 03/ 2009 MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - A faulty ejection cartridge was responsible for the failure of the latest test launch of the Bulava sea-based ballistic missile, a Russian Defense Ministry source said on Monday. The submerged launch of the Bulava ICBM took place on December 23 from the Dmitry Donskoi strategic nuclear-powered submarine in the White Sea, off Russia's northwest coast, targeting the Kura firing ground in Kamchatka in Russia's Far East. The missile left the tube, but went off course and self-destructed due to a malfunction following the first stage separation. "The cause of the latest failure during the launch of the Bulava missile was purely technical. One of the subcontractors supplied faulty ejection cartridges which were used in the separation of the missile's stages," the source said. Despite the fifth failure in 10 trials, Russia's Defense Ministry is planning to complete a series of at least five Bulava tests and put the ICBM into service by the end of 2009. The Bulava (SS-NX-30) ICBM carries up to 10 nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). The three-stage ballistic missile is designed for deployment on Borey-class Project 955 nuclear-powered submarines. Sea trials of Yury Dolgoruky, Russia's first Borey-class strategic nuclear submarine, are due to start in the spring, when navigation begins in the White Sea. Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash shipyard and are expected to be completed in 2009 and 2011. Russia is planning to build a total of eight submarines of this class by 2015.

From Defense Aerospace French Carrier Charles de Gaulle Back in Port After Propulsion Problems (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published March 16, 2009) Bad news for the French navy and for DCNS, which carried out the technical availability of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle: the ship was forced to remain at its berth at home-port of Toulon, in southern France (where she will remain for several weeks, if not months), after the navy chief of staff decided to suspend its mission when abnormal wear was found on two mechanical parts driving the propeller shafts. “During recent sorties at sea, strong vibrations were detected in the propulsion compartment. Inspections have shown that two couplings linking two of the ship’s four turbines were abnormally worn,” according to the French navy. As a similar part was found to show similar wear before the ship underwent its IPER refit, no-one can as yet provide an explanation. For the time being, the navy staff, prime contractor DCNS and the Service de Soutien de la Flotte (fleet sustainment department) “are unable to provide a credible explanation for the cause of this issue, and to estimate how much time will be required for repairs,” according to the navy staff. The “Secret Defense” blog says the fault in a reduction gear coupling may be due to a heavier steam dryer being fitted during the ship’s availability, and whose additional weight caused the coupling to wear abnormally. It estimates remedial work at three months. The navy staff and DCNS are to jointly analyze technical data and carry out additional tests, to identify what steps are required and what the consequences are for the ship’s operational schedule. “The ship may have to remain in port for several weeks up to several months,” the navy says. Operational Consequences The ship’s return to port takes place just as it was completing its post-refit work-up phase. Its air group was able to re-qualify for carrier operations, but France’s naval aviation will now be unable to train and qualify a new generation of young carrier pilots for deck landings and take-offs. This is perhaps an even greater problem than the ship’s inability to deploy, and it will create havoc in the navy’s pilot management plans.

From Jane's Su-33 talks twist and turn as China seeks carrier-borne fighter By Reuben F Johnson 16 March 2009 Negotiations for the sale of Sukhoi Su-33 carrier-capable combat aircraft to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) are still continuing with both sides interested in coming to a final agreement, Russian industry sources have told Jane's. "Previous reports that these discussions are at an end or that the 'contract has been cancelled' are incorrect," said a Russian source close to the programme. "The pattern with the PLAN and Chinese industry on this subject has been the same for several years," the source continued. "It is almost like a series of waves, you could say. They come to us with a high level of interest, asking a lot of questions, then their interest seems to fade into the background and then sometime later - the next wave - they are back with more questions again. "It is obvious they are trying to build their version of the Su-33 or some type of carrier aeroplane, but for various reasons they cannot accomplish this on their own and whenever they reach some technological impasse they come back to us to try and learn what will get them to the next step in the design process."

I've been working on one for the new Middle East battleset for quite awhile but I haven't yet found the time to finish it.

Ding ding, USS Providence arriving ... in your front yard!

From DefenseNews Russian Air Force Withdraws 90 MiGs: Report By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 13 Mar 11:48 EDT (15:48 GMT) MOSCOW - Ninety of Russia's MiG-29 fighter jets have been rejected by military inspectors during checks after a crash in December, an air force spokesman said March 13, quoted by Interfax. "So far from the overall fleet of MiG-29s, about 200 planes have been examined, of which 100 have been permitted to fly. About 90 MiG-29s have been withdrawn from flying," Col. Vladimir Drik said. He added that checks were continuing on the rest of the MiG-29 fleet and that faulty planes would be repaired and put back in service as funds became available. Interfax estimated Russia's total number of MiG-29s at 300. Russia suspended MiG-29 flights in December when one of the jets crashed in Siberia, killing its pilot. The crash was attributed to a technical fault and followed another MiG-29 crash in October in the Chita area. First produced in the 1980s, MiG-29s have been exported through much of the world, notably being used by India's air force and by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Despite a revival in Russia's financial position in recent years, the country's military has continued to suffer embarrassing technical failures, most notably with its accident-prone submarines.

This one should be easier. What is this?

Thanks for the suggestions, JMS. I'll certainly look at accommodating them.

After Action Report: Bear Goes South 2 A scenario by jugasa77 This is a pretty short AAR, but I felt I owed the author at least a few comments. Bear Goes South 2 is a new HCE scenario for the EC2003 GIUK battleset. I played the scenario using beta 2009.017 and the HCDB database. This is a fairly large and busy scenario. And challenging. I lost both the HMS Illustrious and the HMS Invincible to brutal SS-N-19 SLCM attacks from Oscar class submarines at short range. So short in fact that I had virtually no opportunity to defend. My base at Orland, Norway, was also under constant threat. In the end it sustained only minor damage, but there were several occasions when I thought it might be lost. Eventually I was able to maneuver my USN carrier strike group into the Iceland-UK Gap and focus my assets on the numerous Russian surface groups in the Norwegian Sea. There was also a vigorous little surface and submarine battle along the Norwegian coast. The scenario kept me occupied and I enjoyed it. Thanks for writing it, jugasa77.

From Aviation Week's ARES Blog JSF, F-22 and the F-Word Posted by Bill Sweetman at 3/13/2009 7:17 AM CDT The F-word dropped by US Navy Capt Wade Knudson, Joint Strike Fighter development program manager, at our DTAR conference on Thursday was "fall" as in that the first vertical landing test for the F-35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter will take place in "late summer or early fall". Given the general principle of such time brackets, which is that the later date is usually the time when something is most likely to happen, we're looking at a first vertical landing in September or October. That's three-to-four months later than the last date mentioned by the JSF team, nine long weeks ago - a statement which itself confirmed my own prediction of six months earlier, which drew a metric...er.. fall-ton of criticism on my head. And as the earlier piece points out, that's the end of the beginning of STOVL testing. (See page 28 of the current issue of DTI for a step-by-step guide to the vertical landing process.) Knudson did not go into detail about the reasons for the delay, but commented that discussions were continuing about what engineering changes will be incorporated into the first STOVL aircraft, BF-1, before the first STOVL tests. However, he says, the plan is still to complete operational testing by mid-2014. "Flight testing is premised on getting to 12 flights per month per aircraft", he says, noting that the first aircraft, AA-1, had flown 15 sorties in a four-week period at Edwards AFB last fall. But that productivity level won't be reached this year, he says - "We'll be getting new aircraft in the air" - and last year at Farnborough Lockheed Martin's F-35 senior vice-president, Tom Burbage, predicted that the program would be at the 12-per-day-per-jet mark by now. Knudson acknowledges that the program has set a high bar for flight test, "but if we'd planned a ten-year flight test program that wouldn't have been affordable either." He says that the JSF team "will go with an alternative plan if we can't meet our goals, but we'll wait and see before we make any radical changes." But delays, and the cost increases that would come with them, will also affect the US Air Force's view of how many F-22s and F-35s it wants to buy. Operational studies and analysis "favor more F-22s" in an F-35/F-22 mix, Maj Gen Jay Lindell, director for Global Power Program's in the USAF's acquisitions office, told the conference. The main limit is how many F-22s the service can afford, Lindell said, but timing is also a factor. Although the USAF expects initial operational capability for the F-35 in 2013 (with the limited Block 2 software), full operational capability, defined as the ability to sustain combat with deployed aircraft, won't happen until 2017. And Lindell says he won't even try to speculate about the F-35's price, apart from saying "it won't be as much as the F-22." But given that the service reckons that six F-22s could cover a large theater as well as ten F-35s, and that it sets F-22 flyaway cost as $142 million, the math says that the USAF gets equal value - but no better - with an F-35 flyaway of $85 million. Which happens to be a bit less than the USAF expects. So, one could assume that delays and further overruns are the last thing that the JSF needs right now.

Yes, well, okay .. you twisted my arm.

From Jane's US and Israel differ on Iranian nuclear ambitions By Alon Ben-David 12 March 2009 United States and Israeli assessments of Iran's nuclear aspirations appear again to be at odds, following a new assertion by Tel Aviv that Tehran has "crossed the technological threshold" in its bid to produce a nuclear weapon. In testimony to the Israeli cabinet on 8 March, Major General Amos Yadlin, head of military intelligence, said that for Iran, from this point on, "reaching a military-grade nuclear capability is a question of synchronising strategy with production of a nuclear bomb". While acknowledging that Iran is keeping its options open, such predictions are in line with Israel's "worst-case approach", US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Armed Services Committee on 10 March. Appearing jointly with Lieutenant General Michael D Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Blair said the overall impression within the intelligence community was that "Iran has not decided to press forward... to have a nuclear weapon on top of a ballistic missile".

This one sounds like it should be a lot of fun. I'd encourage anyone who wants to get their feet wet with the paper rules to sign up. If I weren't up to my eyeballs and beyond with Bill Jennings' MBX and HCE, I'd want to join myself.

From Navy Times Rising navy, assertiveness behind China flap By Christopher Bodeen - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday Mar 11, 2009 16:42:05 EDT BEIJING — China’s weekend scrap with a U.S. Navy surveillance ship is drawing attention to a new submarine base that Beijing is using to strengthen its presence on the strategically vital South China Sea, which it claims as a whole. U.S. claims that the the Navy mapping ship Impeccable was operating legally when it was harassed by Chinese boats in international waters about 75 miles off China’s southern island province of Hainan. China’s foreign ministry has said the U.S. claim isn’t true. In Washington on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged from a private meeting to say the countries agreed on the need to reduce tensions and avoid a repeat of the confrontation. But neither side yielded in their conflicting versions of events — indicating neither side was prepared to back down, even as they prepare for a much-anticipated first meeting between Hu and President Barack Obama at next month’s G20 summit in London. Defense Department officials say the Impeccable was on a mission to seek out threats such as submarines and was towing a sonar apparatus that scans and listens for subs, mines and torpedoes. With its numerous Chinese military installations, Hainan offers rich hunting for such surveillance. Of particular interest is the new submarine base near the resort city of Sanya that is home to the Chinese navy’s most sophisticated craft. Photographs of the base taken last year and posted on the Internet by the Federation of American Scientists show a submarine cave entrance and a pier, with a Chinese nuclear-powered Jin class sub docked there. While little else is known, its location on the South China Sea offers the People’s Liberation Army Navy access to crucial waterways through which much of the shipping bound for Japan and Northeast Asia must travel. High-seas encounters such as the Impeccable incident are likely to grow more common because China wants to assert its right to protect its secrets in the area, while the U.S. wants to gain as much knowledge as possible about China’s subs and the underwater terrain, according to maritime policy analyst Mark Valencia. “Thus such incidents are likely to be repeated and become more dangerous and they do not pertain to China and the U.S. alone,” Valencia wrote in an article posted Wednesday on the Web site of the Far Eastern Economic Review. China’s claim to the entire South China Sea and its hundreds of islands and reefs overlaps with those of a half-dozen other nations, leading to occasional clashes and standoffs. Increasingly, China’s rapid naval upgrade, exemplified by the Hainan base, is putting muscle behind its arguments. From Russia, China has purchased a dozen Kilo-class diesel submarines, Sovremmenny class destroyers and supersonic Sunburn and Sizzler anti-ship missiles. China’s own advanced Shang, Song and Yuan class submarines are being produced at a rapid tick, and there is increasing talk of an aircraft carrier being launched in coming years. President and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, who also heads the commissions overseeing the armed forces, called on the military Wednesday to pick up the pace of modernization to “resolutely safeguard the country’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.” China’s territorial claims are sharpened still more by Beijing’s interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. China sees the convention as giving it the right to ban a broad range of activities within its exclusive economic zone. That grates against the U.S. position that the Navy ships were in international waters and therefore have the right to conduct surveying. Those dueling claims also lay at the heart of the last major confrontation between the two militaries, a 2001 mid-air collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. spy plane in international air space south of Hainan. This time, Beijing appears to be pressing its stance even harder, citing both the U.N. convention and its own domestic laws and regulations. “The Chinese government always handles such activities strictly in accordance with these laws and regulations,” the Foreign Ministry’s Ma said in his statement.

Lol. Very nice.

Just how much is a "Sea Raptor" going for these days?

From Defense Talk Russian-Chinese Su-33 fighter deal collapses RIA Novosti | Mar 11, 2009 MOSCOW: Russia has refused to sell its Su-33 carrier-based fighters to China over fears that Beijing could produce cheaper export versions of the aircraft, a Russian daily said on Tuesday. The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said that China and Russia had been in negotiations on the sale of 50 of the Su-33 Flanker-D fighters, to be used on future Chinese aircraft carriers, since 2006, but that the talks collapsed recently over China's request for an initial delivery of two aircraft for a "trial." Russian Defense Ministry sources confirmed that the refusal was due to findings that China had produced its own copycat version of the Su-27SK fighter jet in violation of intellectual property agreements. In 1995, China secured a $2.5-billion production license from Russia to build 200 Su-27SKs, dubbed J-11A, at the Shenyang Aircraft Corp. The deal required the aircraft to be outfitted with Russian avionics, radars and engines. Russia cancelled the arrangement in 2006 after it discovered that China was developing an indigenous version, J-11B, with Chinese avionics and systems. The decision came after China had already produced 95 aircraft. This time, Russia refused the Chinese offer even after Beijing had offered to buy 14 Su-33 aircraft, saying that at least 24 jets should be sold to recoup production costs. However, the Moskovsky Komsomolets said that the Su-33 deal may be reviewed later because China desperately needs carrier-based aircraft to equip its first indigenous 48,000-ton aircraft carrier, due to be built by 2011. Beijing has also announced plans to build a nuclear-powered aircraft-carrier by 2020. Chinese media recently quoted China fleet commander Adm. Xu Hongmeng as saying: "China will very soon have its own aircraft carrier." The Su-33 is a carrier-based multi-role fighter, which can perform a variety of air superiority, fleet defense, air support and reconnaissance missions. The aircraft entered service with the Russian Navy in 1995 and are currently deployed on board the Nikolai Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. Russian Su-33 naval fighters are significantly cheaper than any similar foreign models, such as the French Rafale-M, or the U.S F-35C or the F/A-22N Sea Raptor.

Interesting info here, from the FAS Strategic Security Blog: "The latest incident allegedly occurred in international waters only 75 miles south of a budding naval base near Yulin on Hainan Island from where China has started operating new nuclear attack and ballistic missile submarines. ... Among Chinese submarines the USNS Impeccable was monitoring is probably the Shang-class (Type-093) nuclear-powered attack submarine, a new class China is building to replace the old Han-class, and which has recently been seen at the Yulin base. ... An earlier image from February 2008 showed a Jin-class (Type-094) ballistic missile submarine at the Hainan base for the first time. The Jin-class is not visible on the later image. China has been reducing its submarine fleet by replacing old boats with fewer modern ones. The submarines normally stay close to shore, but in 2008 sailed on 12 longer patrols – twice as many as in 2007."