[Epoch Times November 12, 2021]Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense released the 2021 CCP Military Power Report, entitled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.” This 173-page report is informative and informative, expounding all aspects of the CCP’s military power.
Continued from the previous article: U.S. 2021 CCP Military Power Report—Nuclear Arms
The report stated that the Chinese Communist Party’s standing army of approximately 2 million people is striving to modernize and improve its proficiency in all combat fields. It can conduct land, air, and sea operations, as well as space, anti-space, electronic warfare, and cyber operations. The CCP uses the United States as its adversary, but is simply called a “strong enemy” in general. It is trying to coerce Taiwan and hostile claimants in territorial disputes, continuously enhance its ability to counter the United States‘ intervention in conflicts, and accumulate projected power on a global scale.
According to the analysis of the report, the CCP’s military claimed that it has “basically achieved mechanization” in 2020, but the original goal of completing the reform in 2020 has been postponed for at least one or two years.
Chinese Communist Partyarmy
According to the report, the CCP Army has tested heavy equipment such as 120mm PCL-171 and 155mm PCL-181 self-propelled howitzers, as well as Z-8L heavy transport helicopters, but real modernization requires a lot of additional equipment.
The Chinese Communist Army has conducted extensive combined arms and joint training in 2020; it is not only prepared to deal with the situation on the border with China and India, but also to increase its projected power across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese Communist Army is distributed in five theaters, the Xinjiang Military Region and the Tibet Military Region. There are 13 group armies and a total of 78 combined arms brigades, including heavy (tracked armored vehicles), medium (wheeled armored vehicles), and light (high mobility, mountainous areas). , Air assault and mobile) brigade, each brigade of about 5,000 people. Each group army also has 6 full-time brigades, including artillery brigade, air defense brigade, aviation brigade, special operations brigade, engineer and chemical defense brigade, and support brigade. Other non-standard independent divisions and brigades are deployed in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and Beijing.
The report assesses that about 40% of the CCP’s army’s main battle tanks have been in service for 20-40 years and use a large number of other outdated equipment; however, it is trying to improve the overall combat readiness through extensive joint arms training.
Chinese Navy
The report describes that the CCP’s navy has the largest number of ships in the world, with a total of about 355, excluding 85 anti-ship missile patrol boats, of which more than 145 are the main surface warships. It is estimated that by 2025, the number of Chinese naval vessels will increase to 420, and to 460 by 2030.
In addition to the Liaoning, the first domestically-made aircraft carrier Shandong will enter service at the end of 2019; the second domestically-made aircraft carrier is expected to enter service in 2024. The CCP is developing a variant of the J-15 carrier-based aircraft with ejection capabilities, which has passed steam and electromagnetic catapult tests at the land test site; another J-15D is a two-seat electronic attack aircraft; the CCP is also improving its air police- 600 carrier-based early warning aircraft, the appearance is similar to the US E-2C/D Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
The CCP continues its huge shipbuilding plan to enhance the air defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities of multi-functional warships. The Type 055 destroyer has 112 vertical launch units, capable of surface-to-air missiles, torpedoes, anti-submarine weapons, as well as possible land attack missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles. Three ships have been in service, and a total of eight have been built. Type 052 has planned 25 ships, with 64 unit vertical launch systems.
The CCP’s second Type 075 amphibious assault ship has been launched, and the third is under construction; it can carry a large number of landing craft, troops, armored vehicles and helicopters. The CCP also has seven large amphibious dock transport ships, and the eighth ship has also entered sea trials.
The anti-ship missiles that Chinese warships can carry include the Eagle-83 and Eagle-62 anti-ship missiles; the latest will be equipped with the Eagle-18A anti-ship missile with a range of 537 kilometers. Some destroyers have been modified with supersonic Eagle Strike-12A anti-ship missiles, with a range of 285 kilometers, which should be variants or improved models of Russian anti-ship missiles.
There are 6 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, 6 nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 46 diesel-powered attack submarines in total. The CCP is improving its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, but it continues to lack strong deep-water anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
The CCP is also continuing to build a large number of auxiliary and support ships, including intelligence collection ships, marine surveillance ships, fleet supply tankers, hospital ships, submarine salvage and rescue ships, etc.
The CCP’s Marine Corps expanded to eight brigades, including six mobile brigades, one special operations brigade, and one helicopter aviation brigade; however, the reform and modernization process of the CCP Marine Corps continued to be slower than expected.
Chinese Communist Air Force
The report describes that the CCP’s Air Force and Naval Aviation constitute the largest aviation force in the Indo-Pacific region and the third largest in the world, with a total of more than 2,800 aircraft. The CCP’s 2019 National Defense White Paper stated that the CCP’s Air Force has transformed from “territorial air defense to offensive and defensive operations” in order to become a strategic air force capable of long-range air delivery. This trend is gradually weakening the United States‘ long-term and important military technological advantage.
China has a total of more than 800 fourth-generation fighters, including the J-16, J-11 and J-10, and has also begun to deploy a limited number of fifth-generation stealth fighters, the J-20. The CCP has received all 24 Su-35 advanced fourth-generation fighters imported from Russia.
The CCP’s H-6 bomber is a domestic version of the former Soviet Union’s Tu-16 bomber. The latest H-6K is equipped with a turbofan engine and has a longer range. The H-6K can carry 6 ground-attack cruise missiles, and has the ability of long-range precision strikes outside the defense zone; the naval version of the H-6J can carry 6 Eagles-12 supersonic long-range anti-ship missiles; the H-6N can mount 1 Air-launched ballistic missiles can carry nuclear warheads.
The Chinese Communist Air Force has also launched the latest Y-9 communication jam/electronic countermeasure aircraft, and the most advanced Air Police-500 AWACS continues to be produced and delivered quickly. The CCP continues to improve the H-6, Yun-20, and IL-78 variants, and adds a small number of aerial tankers to improve its combat capabilities outside mainland China and outside the first island chain. The CCP’s Y-20 large transport aircraft is trying to supplement and eventually replace the current small strategic air transport fleet.
The CCP has continuously displayed various drones, including Yunying, Rainbow, Pterosaur, Xianglong, Non-Detective-8 and Attack-11 stealth drones.
The CCP purchased S-300 air defense missiles from Russia, imitating the Hongqi-9(b) missile; it also purchased the S-400 air defense missile system from Russia; and is developing the Hongqi-19, which may have ballistic missile defense capabilities; the CCP is also Conduct a land-based mid-range missile interception test.
The CCP’s airborne army has 6 brigades, including 3 light motorcycle brigades, 2 mechanized brigades, 1 air raid brigade, 1 special operations brigade, 1 combat support brigade, and 1 air transport brigade; From a simple airborne infantry to an airborne joint arms force.
Chinese Communist PartyRocket Army
The CCP’s Rocket Force controls strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles and also manages short- and medium-range tactical missiles. The CCP continues to increase its inventory of Dongfeng-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which can carry out conventional and nuclear strikes against ground targets and conventional strikes against naval targets. The CCP deployed the first hypersonic Dongfeng-17 medium-range ballistic missile.
The CCP’s conventional missile forces have short-range missiles such as Dongfeng-11, Dongfeng-15, and Dongfeng-16, with a range of hundreds of kilometers, totaling more than 1,000; there are also Dongfeng-21 medium-range ballistic missiles, which can attack ground and have anti-ship variants. ; There are also Changjian-10 and Changjian-100 land-based cruise missiles, with a range of about 1,500 kilometers and 2,000 kilometers, possibly hundreds of them in total.
Chinese Communist PartyStrategic Support Force
The CCP’s strategic support forces have concentrated space, network, electronics, information, communications, and psychological warfare capabilities.
The CCP continues to develop anti-space capabilities, including space launch, common rail, electronic warfare, and directed energy weapons.
The CCP is obviously worried about the gap between its network capabilities and the United States. CCP leaders believe that it is necessary to establish an information advantage and counter electromagnetic interference in order to maintain strategic initiative in conflicts.
The CCP also continues to implement the “three wars” concept, including psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, and legal warfare. The goal is to shape international diplomacy, politics, and public narratives and weaken the enemy’s will.
In 2020, the CCP will put more than 70 spacecraft into orbit, including navigation, surveillance, communication, and test satellites. The total number has reached more than 200; the Beidou satellite system has been completed, reducing its reliance on the US GPS. The CCP also carried out the first launch of a reusable space shuttle and is building a space station; however, the CCP’s space program in 2020 has encountered four failures.
The joint logistics support force established by the CCP in 2016 is establishing a support relationship between the joint logistics force and other service logistics departments, and integrating civilian logistics.
Combat readiness
In 2020, the CCP’s Military Commission will continue to demand higher levels of combat readiness, increase the authenticity of training, and strengthen and evaluate commanders’ joint combat capabilities.
Due to the epidemic, the CCP Army delayed and reduced the scale of most training exercises. Single brigade or theater level exercises replaced most joint military exercises.
The Chinese Navy and Marine Corps seem to have balanced important training activities with epidemic restrictions; the Shandong aircraft carrier conducted planned sea trials and training. The Chinese navy conducted three simultaneous exercises in the Bohai Sea, the South China Sea and the Yellow Sea.
The Chinese Communist Air Force conducted a record-breaking flight over the Taiwan Strait. The CCP Rocket Force tested four medium-range ballistic missiles into the South China Sea.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Strategic Support Force and the Joint Logistics Support Force also conducted their own drills and held a skill competition.
The CCP’s standing reserve personnel are about 510,000, and the ground forces are still the center. Less than 10% of the reserve personnel hold positions in the active military. There are still major issues with the mobilization of the CCP’s reserve forces, including which equipment should be used, what level of fees the government will pay for the mobilization, and the company’s resistance to the sudden recruitment of employees. The main equipment of the CCP’s reserve forces is outdated, and more than 70% of the air defense systems and artillery have reached or exceeded their service life.
The militia is another reserve force of the CCP that can be mobilized. It includes the maritime militia that often appears. The main tasks include disputed island claims, which are usually carried out jointly or in coordination with the CCP’s navy and maritime police.
The CCP’s Coast Guard is rapidly expanding and modernizing to improve its maritime claims capabilities; since 2010, its large patrol fleet of more than 1,000 tons has increased from approximately 60 to more than 130; the new ships are larger and equipped with helicopters. , Large-capacity water cannons and artillery from 30 mm to 76 mm.
summary
The report believes that the CCP is further developing its capabilities in order to increase its anti-intervention capability to reject US intervention in large-scale battles in the Taiwan Strait; it is also attempting to launch offensive operations deeper in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and even on a global scale.
In addition to long-range missiles, air strikes, and anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the CCP also focuses on information, cyber, space, and anti-space warfare.
U.S. bases in Japan are within the range of more and more Chinese missiles. The Chinese Navy can pose increasingly deadly multiple threats to enemies approaching Chinese waters and combat areas.
The U.S. 2021 CCP military power report should continue to remind loudly that the gap between the CCP and the U.S. military is shrinking; the U.S. military must not only improve its combat readiness, but also accelerate its technological advancement to achieve the best policy of using strength to promote peace; at the same time, it must be prepared when possible To ensure victory in the conflict, but may suffer unexpected losses.
——The Epoch Times debut
Editor in charge: Gao Yi#
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