Cornerstones of a world power's strategic prowess

http://www.ecns.cn/military/2017/05-27/259319.shtml

China Develops Ultrafast Anti-Missile Interceptor

2017-05-27 08:34 China Daily Editor: Wang Fan




China has developed a new type of ultrafast anti-missile interceptor capable of knocking down an incoming projectile that is flying 10 times faster than a bullet, according to the nation's largest missile maker.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, one of the major defense contractors for the People's Liberation Army, recently revealed that its Second Academy in Beijing has made a "new-generation aerospace defense missile" that incorporates top space technologies, and which it describes as one of the cornerstones of a world power's strategic prowess.

The weapon is so difficult to design that only a handful of nations in the world are able to develop it, the State-owned company said, adding that its product is capable of bringing down targets tens of kilometers above the ground that fly 10 times faster than a bullet.

The CASIC Second Academy is the country's major developer of air defense systems.

The information of such a missile defense system, a cutting-edge weapon that only the United States and Russia were previously reported to have, was disclosed in an article released by CASIC earlier this month.

The article was about the contribution by control system researchers from the Zhang Yiqun Studio, a group named after a prominent scientist, at the academy.

Although the introduction did not specify the anti-missile interceptor's capabilities, experts said the descriptions "tens of kilometers" and "10 times faster than a bullet" indicate its range should be from 10 km to 100 km and its minimum velocity around 12,000 km/h — a typical bullet used by a handgun, the slowest of all bullets, normally travels about 1,200 km/h.

The average age of the weapon's designers is 32, according to the article. They overcame numerous problems during research and development, including an explosion of one of the weapon's prototypes during a flight test, it said.

Lyu Xiaoge, spokesman for CASIC, declined to comment on the anti-missile interceptor on Friday, saying his company has developed many world-class missiles in recent years and will continue to contribute to the nation's missile arsenal.

Wang Ya'nan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge, said an advanced anti-missile interceptor requires cutting-edge technologies, superb manufacturing techniques and top materials and will only be successful after a great number of tests.

China successfully completed three land-based, midcourse missile interception tests in 2010, 2013 and 2014, according to the Defense Ministry. Whether the weapon mentioned by the CASIC Second Academy was the same used in these tests was not clear.

 

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/05-18/258025.shtml

China succeeds in mining combustible ice in South China Sea

2017-05-19 08:46 Xinhua Editor: Gu Liping









China has succeeded in collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea, a major breakthrough that may lead to a global energy revolution, Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming said Thursday.

This is China's first success in mining flammable ice at sea, after nearly two decades of research and exploration, the minister said at a trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea Thursday.

Combustible ice usually exists in seabed or tundra areas, which have the strong pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability. It can be ignited like solid ethanol, which is why it is called "combustible ice."

Approximately one cubic meter of "combustible ice" is equal to 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas.

China found flammable ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in the South China Sea in 2007.

International scientific circles have predicted that natural gas hydrate is the best replacement for oil and natural gas.

According to Zhong Ziran, head of the China Geological Survey Bureau, combustible ice is more environmentally friendly and in large reserves.

Mining of combustible ice started in the 1960s, but China began research in 1998.

Trial mining of combustible ice in the Shenhu sea, about 320 kilometers southeast of Zhuhai City in Guangdong, started on March 28. Experts first tapped natural gas hydrate at a depth of 1,266 meters underwater last Wednesday.

An average of 16,000 cubic meters of gas with high purity was extracted each day.

Experts believe that the success shows China has mastered combustible ice mining technology.

Natural gas hydrate is an efficient, abundant and clean energy and is also strategically important for future global energy development, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council said in a congratulatory letter.

The success marks a historic breakthrough after nearly two decades of continuous efforts and independent innovations by China in theory, technology, engineering and equipment for natural gas hydrate exploration and exploitation, according to the letter.

It is a great technological breakthrough in accessing the deep sea, deep-sea exploration and exploitation, said the letter.

It is another landmark achievement by Chinese people to bravely scale new heights of science and technology, and will have a profound impact on driving the revolution in energy production and consumption.

However, this is merely a critical step in a very long journey, with a daunting task ahead, said the letter, encouraging the staff to promote the industrialization of natural gas hydrate exploration and exploitation.

"Many countries along the Maritime Silk Road have a demand for combustible ice mining," said Qiu Haijun, director of the trial mining commanding headquarters.

"With the advanced technology we could help resolve the energy resource problem and boost economic development and exchanges between countries," Qiu said.


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"Guys, after going through CCTVs report, I now understand why this is such a big breakthrough. The Japanese and Canadian attempts were more like tests using drillships and they couldn't maintain the output pressure. This is the first time in the world where the well was drilled using a commercial oil rig and the production was able to be maintained stably."

ie. The Japanese and Canadians used test drillships to attempt the same thing. But, their wells collapsed just after a couple of days. Meanwhile, China uses the world's most advanced oil rig and produced stable, economically feasible ouputs!

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1050098.shtml

China’s new ramjet engine to enhance firing range of missiles, combat ability of J20 (5th -generation stealth fighter)
By Deng Xiaoci Source:Global Times Published: 2017/6/5 20:48:39

China has successfully tested its solid-fuel variable flow ramjet engine in two recent airspace experiments, a breakthrough in the engine research fields which could enhance real combat ability of China's stealth aircraft including the J20 jet fighters, according to military experts.

A research team from No. 4 research institute affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation revealed on May 31 that the team has successfully conducted two flight tests with the solid-fuel variable flow ramjet engine. The team said the new ramjet engine is ready for further engineering application, paving the way for China's next generations of hypersonic missiles, the Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the solid-fuel ramjet engine is a member of the ramjet engine family, which has the advantage of low cost, high power, and high controllability with compact size. And it is hardly accessible in the world as it demands sophisticated and highly difficult research on technology.

The new engine, can remarkably increase the firing range and mobility for air-to-air missiles and antiship missiles equipped with China's stealth aircraft including the J20 jet fighters, Song Zhongping, a military expert who used to serve in the PLA Rocket Force, told the Global Times.

The engine will enable the J20 fighters to fire from greater range and the missiles to fly faster at a hypersonic speed, which will increase their combat ability, Song said.

The research institute has established a special research team to work on the project since 2000, and in recent years, the research institute has conducted eight flight tests with the new ramjet engines.

It is a milestone in the field of engine research, which has been a bottleneck for China for quite a while, Li Jie, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Monday.

Once the engine achieves miniaturization, it will very likely enable China's air-to-air missiles to strike targets up to 300 kilometers at a speed faster than Mach 5, Song estimated, adding that the engine can be applied to China's latest missiles including PL12 missiles.

A lot of research needs to be done in the future to achieve that. For example, China should also conduct research on building up a super range detection network to support such a long-range strike, and the precision guiding system should be capable of processing information at super high speeds, Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of the Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times.

At present, such an engine will be mainly used on missiles, as for the manned aircraft, there is still a long way to go, since the thrust of such engines are still not enough for that, Song said.

Cruise missiles and experimental aircraft including drones can also adopt such technology to realize high-speed travel within the atmosphere, Wang added.



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Dogfight? What dogfight? Imagine being able to shoot down an airplane from a safe distance of 300km away. (For comparison, China's current PL-12 AAM can only strike a target within 70-100 km)