Chinese Peril

Japan bolsters military to counter China

Reuters

A Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft is seen at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, Germany, Apr 25, 2018. 

TOKYO -- Japan will accelerate spending on advanced stealth fighters, long-range missiles and other equipment over the next five years to support US forces facing China's military in the Western Pacific, two new government defence papers said.
The plans are the clearest indication yet of Japan's ambition to become a regional power as a military build-up by China and a resurgent Russia puts pressure on its US ally.
"The United States remains the world's most powerful nation, but national rivalries are surfacing and we recognise the importance of the strategic competition with both China and Russia as they challenge the regional order," said a 10-year defence programme outline approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on Tuesday (Dec 18).
The United States, followed by China, North Korea and Russia, are the countries that most influenced Japan's latest military thinking, the paper said.
China, the world's second biggest economy, is deploying more ships and aircraft to patrol waters near Japan, while North Korea has yet to fulfil a pledge to dismantle its nuclear and missile programmes.
Russia, which continues to probe Japanese air defences, said on Monday it had built new barracks for troops on a northern island it captured from Japan at the end of World War II.

MORE STEALTH FIGHTERS
Japan plans to buy 45 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters, worth about US$4 billion, in addition to the 42 jets already on order, according to a separate five-year procurement plan approved on Tuesday.
The new planes will include 18 short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) B variants of the F-35 that planners want to deploy on Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea.
The islands are part of a chain stretching past Taiwan and down to the Philippines that has marked the limit of Chinese military dominance east of the disputed South China Sea.

The F-35 hides all its fuel and weapons inside its skin of stealth. 

 
The navy's two large helicopter carriers, the Izumo and Kaga, will be modified to accommodate F-35B operations, the paper said.
The 248m long Izumo-class ships are as big as any of Japan's aircraft carriers in World War II.
The ships will need reinforced decks to withstand the heat blast from F-35 engines and could be fitted with ramps to aid short take-offs, two defence ministry officials told Reuters.

TRADE WAR THREAT
The new F-35 order may also help Japan avert a trade war with the United States.
US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose tariffs on Japanese car imports, thanked Abe for buying the F-35s when the two met at a summit in Argentina this month.
Other US-made equipment on Japan's shopping list includes two land-based Aegis Ashore air defence radars to defend against North Korean missiles, four Boeing Co KC-46 Pegasus refuelling planes to extend the range of Japanese aircraft, and nine Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye early-warning planes.
Japan plans to spend 25.5 trillion yen (US$224.7 billion) on military equipment over the next five years, 6.4 per cent higher than the previous five-year plan. 

Cost-cutting will free up another 2 trillion yen for purchases, the procurement paper said.
Japan only spends about 1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, but the size of its economy means it already has one of the world's largest militaries.
"The budget is increasing and there has been an acceleration to deploy capability as soon as possible," Robert Morrissey, head of Raytheon Co's unit in Japan, said this month.
Wary of North Korean promises to abandon ballistic missile development, Japan's military is buying longer-range Raytheon SM-3 interceptor missiles to strike enemy warheads in space.
The defence papers assessed non-traditional military threats as well. 

A new joint-forces cyber unit will bolster Japan's defences against cyber attacks. 

More electronic warfare capabilities are planned.
Japan's air force will also get its first space unit to help keep tabs on potential adversaries high above the Earth's atmosphere.

There's no better example of President Trump's trade fight with China than Lockheed Martin's crown jewel

• White House trade advisor Peter Navarro on Tuesday tore into Chinese trade practices aimed at stealing American companies' intellectual property.
• The Chinese J-31 fighter jet is believed to be a knockoff of Lockheed Martin's F-35.
• The F-35, a fifth-generation stealth fighter, is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons system.

By Amanda Macias 

As the world's largest economies threaten tit-for-tat tariffs, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro tore into Chinese trade practices aimed at stealing American companies' intellectual property.
U.S. officials have long complained that intellectual property theft has cost the economy billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs.
"China has targeted America's industries of the future," Navarro said Tuesday citing aerospace, robotics and artificial intelligence as technologies threatened by Chinese cybertheft.
"If China successfully captures these emerging industries of the future, America will have no economic future and its national security will be severely compromised," he said adding that "economic security is national security."
For the Pentagon, there is no better example of Navarro's comments than the most expensive U.S. weapons system: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
On Oct. 26, 2001, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $200 billion to build the next-generation stealth strike fighter.
The Pentagon's request was colossal: Develop a fifth-generation aircraft capable of replacing four existing kinds of U.S. military aircraft that also satisfies the needs of international partners.
What's more, design three variants of the fighter in order to accommodate the unique missions of each sister-service branch: the F-35A for the Air Force, F-35B for the Marine Corps, and F-35C for the Navy.

Lockheed Martin's F-35A Lightning II fighter jet for the Israeli Air Force.
As America's next fighter jet came to life, some of its sensitive design and electronics data were believed to be compromised in 2009. 

Chinese hackers were believed to be behind the cyber-intrusion since its stealth Shenyang J-31 jet bears a remarkably striking resemblance to the F-35.
And before the J-31 mimicked the F-35, there was the curious case of the J-20 and the F-22.
In another instance of alleged industrial espionage, the prototypes of China's Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter jet looked suspiciously similar to the sleek design of Lockheed's F-22 Raptor.
While the U.S.-made Lockheed Martin jets are believed to have better computer software, more sophisticated sensors and sensitive stealth coating, the theft of intellectual property gives adversaries the opportunity to avoid the expense and delays involved with research and development.

Marillyn Hewson, the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum that penalized China for trade practices such as industrial espionage.
The measures impose retaliatory tariffs on about $60 billion in Chinese imports.
On hand for the signing was Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, who oversees the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
"We buy billions and billions of dollars worth of that beautiful F-35," Trump said before asking Hewson to say a few words.
Hewson said intellectual property is the "lifeblood" of the defense industry and welcomed the action taken by the Trump administration.
"This is a very important moment for our country, in that we are addressing a critical area for the aerospace and defense industry and that is protecting our intellectual property," she said.

China Is Rushing Its Stealth Fighter into the Sky

The U.S. Air Force has not fully developed a plan to protect its tanker, ISR and command and control assets from Chinese air attacks.

 By Dave Majumdar

China’s first fifth-generation stealth fighter, the Chengdu J-20, has entered operational service with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in limited numbers.
While the new fighter is technically operational, the J-20 must still overcome technical hurdles before it enters service in large numbers.
According to CCTV—China’s state television network—the J-20 participated in exercises with other People’s Liberation Army (PLA) assets including ground, air, naval and rocketry forces.
However, the J-20 is only in service in very limited numbers because China is unable to mass-produce the aircraft’s indigenous WS-15 engines.
Indeed, most western analysts had believed the J-20 was powered by Russian-made Salyut AL-31FN motors, but sources told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) that was not the case for production aircraft.
“There are still a series of technical problems that need to be tackled [on the J-20], including the reliability of its WS-15 engines, [and the plane’s] control system, stealth coat and hull materials and infrared sensor,” a Chinese source close to the PLA told SCMP.
China made the decision to operationally deploy the J-20 despite its technical problems because of the threat posed the by Lockheed Martin F-35, according to the SCMP’s source.
Indeed, more of the stealth fighters are scheduled to join the PLAAF later this year.
“It’s urgent for China to show off its achievements as soon as possible,” the source said.
However, while Beijing is trying to rush the J-20 into service to counter the F-35, the Chinese machine is not likely to be a directly analogue to the American jet or its stablemate, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
The J-20—which appears to be larger than Raptor—is more likely designed to attack the support elements that hold American air operations together such as tankers, AWACS and JSTARs radar planes.
Over the vast reaches of the Pacific, where fuel is at a premium, destroying a tanker could achieve the same result as shooting down an enemy fighter.
China is developing the ramjet-powered PL-15 that could have a range as great as 120 miles.
The PL-15 weapon has caused consternation within the top-ranks of the U.S. Air Force with Air Combat Command commander Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle citing the Chinese weapon as one of the pressing reasons for the United States to develop a next-generation replacement for the decades-old AIM-120 AMRAAM.
“How do we counter that and what are we going to do to continue to meet that threat?” Carlisle asked during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2015.
Later, during an interview with Flightglobal, Carlisle said that countering the new Chinese missile was an “exceedingly high priority” for the U.S. Air Force.
“The PL-15 and the range of that missile, we’ve got to be able to out-stick that missile,” Carlisle said.
Indeed, the problem is not just that the PL-15 would out-range the AMRAAM, when coupled with the J-20, the Chinese could attack the tankers and ISR aircraft that would be the key enablers during any air campaign over the Pacific. 
A 2008 RAND briefing suggested that in order to sustain F-22 operations over Taiwan from Guam, the U.S. Air Force would need to launch three to four tanker sorties per hour to deliver 2.6 million gallons of fuel.
That’s a fact that has not likely escaped Beijing’s notice.
While there is not much concrete data available about the J-20, the aircraft appears to have been optimized to high-speeds, long-range, stealth and a heavy internal payload.
With a combination of reduced radar cross-section and high supersonic speed—armed with internally carried PL-15 missiles—it is possible that the J-20 could be used to threaten U.S. Air Force tankers and ISR assets in the Pacific theatre.
As pointed out in the 2008 RAND study—Chinese derivatives of the Su-27 Flanker all but annihilated U.S. tanker, ISR, maritime patrol and command and control aircraft during a simulation using long-range air-to-air missiles.
The U.S. Air Force has looked at dispersed basing and developing robust logical trains to supply those austere airstrips to counter China's A2/AD capabilities in the Pacific theatre.
However, the Air Force does not appear to have fully developed a plan to protect its tanker, ISR and command and control assets from Chinese air attacks. 
The only answer the service has to the problem is that those aircraft will have to be pulled back to safety outside the effective range of the Chinese threat.
However, that would also shorten the effective range of the Pentagon’s short-range tactical fighters—reducing their ability to strike deep inside Chinese territory.
Air Combat Command acknowledges the problem and is designing its forthcoming Penetrating Counter Air sixth-generation replacement for the F-22 to operate at extreme long ranges.
“That is a strategy others have advertised and we’re familiar with,” Col. Tom Coglitore, chief of Air Combat Command’s Air Superiority Core Function, told me last year.
“We’re analyzing what Chinese have indicated they would do and then we obviously have to come up with our own capability to make sure we can still conduct the mission and create the effects desired. So, we’re aware is the short answer and we will be prepared to counter it.”