The Chinese air force is accelerating some of its fighter pilot training but likely won't fully modernize until 2030. Tradition and the tempo of graduating aviation academy classes constrains pilot production.
When China’s air force and coast guard engaged recently in apparently provocative actions in the East and South China Seas, most Western media framed the events as evidence of Beijing’s aggressive and potentially destabilizing behavior. While aggressive is often an apt term for People’s Liberation ...
INDOPACOM head Navy Adm. John C. Aquilino said China is soon to have world's largest Air Force as well as Navy at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 21.
A Chinese fighter jet closed within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber in a nighttime intercept over the South China Sea on Oct. 24 that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command deemed “unsafe and unprofessional.” The incident marks the latest close call between Chinese and ...
The Pentagon's latest report on China's military power says the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter is being significantly upgraded, and that the People's Liberation Army Air Force is experimenting with manned/unmanned teaming for air combat.
China’s military is looking to expand its reach around the globe and build up its strategic capabilities, with aggressive conventional and nuclear missile programs, according to a Pentagon report released Oct. 19. Among the new developments noted in the updated annual China Military Power Report, the People’s ...
Dangerous intercepts by Chinese and Russian aircraft of U.S. aircraft are an attempt to gain insight into how U.S. aircraft will behave and respond, but are also a sign that those air forces feel capable of challenging USAF, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. ...
Pentagon and Air Force officials have repeatedly warned in recent months that China is making rapid progress in building up its arsenal of nuclear weapons. But as that growth continues, key questions are still unanswered about how the Chinese will structure their strategic forces, according ...
Pacific Air Forces is pushing back against a Chinese military propaganda video depicting an H-6K bomber targeting Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, calling it attempted intimidation in the region. The video, released Sept. 19, shows the bombers flying alongside fighter aircraft, and firing a missile ...