PLA: new radars on the Roof of the World

On August 24, The People's Daily Online reported that three more unattended radars were soon to be installed in Tibet.

The mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party reminds us that China’s “first unattended radar station has stood eight years on the top of Ganbala Mountain, with a height of 5,374 meters above the sea level on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.”
Now, the website affirms that “another three unattended radars were going to be installed in order to form a radar network with the previous one.”
As mentioned on this blog in 2012, Kampa-la (Ganbala in Chinese) is located in Nagartse County of Lhoka/Shannan Prefecture.
At that time, we were told that a very good road had been built to serve the highest radar station in Tibet (and the world).
Kampa-la is the last pass in Nagartse county, before the road reaches Lhasa valley. Nearby is the stunningly beautiful 72 km-long Yamdrok Yumtso Lake, one of the three largest sacred lakes in Tibet. The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains. It has become a tourist attraction and literally millions of Han visitors come every year to click a selfie on its shores.
The news of a radar station in this area, first appeared in 2008, when some soldiers were demobilized from the radar regiment of the PLA Air Force. The Chinese media then commented: “The percentage of oxygen in the air on the Ganbala Mountain is only 48 % of which at the sea level. That is why the mountain is viewed as the ‘life forbidding zone’.”
Today, The People’s Daily admits that in October 1965, China had already completed the construction of Kampa-la radar station: “then the highest manned radar station in the world.”
The radar station is today unmanned.
The People’s Daily now adds: “For over 40 years, this radar station is used to secure surveillance and provide civilian air navigation services in Tibet.”

Night Military Exercises in Tibet
Incidentally, on August 11, China Military Online published photos with this comment: ‘Air force J-11 regiment boosts night combat power’.
It explained that a J-11 regiment of the PLA Air Force conducted night combat training in Tibet on August 9.
The pictures show a high plateau military airfield (Lhasa Gongkar?) surrounded by snow-clad mountains and a group of J-11 heavy fighters taking off amid twilight.
The captions said:

They were to engage in a confrontation drill in the black sky. The regiment pays much attention to the training of air battle at night, which has become a routine training program in its annual training plan. To enhance the combat capability of the air force, China began to make J-11 heavy fighters by introducing from Russia the production line of Su-27 heavy fighter in 1990s. Since 2002, the China-made J-11 heavy fighters have been among the arrays of warplanes of the PLA Air Force. The J-11 and J-11A heavy fighters are now widely serving in the aviation troop units of the Air Force and the Navy of the PLA.

Also incidentally, on August 18, The PLA Daily published an editorial, “Be Ready to Fight at All Times”.
It re-emphasized the importance of building a strong army which should be ready to fight 'at all times'.
The article was later posted on all the major state media and military websites (in Chinese only).
It stated:

Today, although the smoke of war has dispersed, the ghosts of militarism still linger. Some Japanese political organizations and politicians go against the tide of history and against peace and justice; they selectively forget the disaster they brought to another country but they always remember their own ‘misfortunate.’ They resolutely deny the barbaric crimes of the Japanese invasion, insist on paying tribute to their war criminals, forcibly lift the ban on collective self-defense, openly distort historical facts, trample on the human conscience, and undermine the post-war international order.”

It was emphasized in bold font:

Through these phenomena, we can easily see that Japanese militarism’s desire to eliminate China has never died, that is has refused to recognize the defeat in that war, and that it has secretly been gathering strength in an attempt to stage a comeback. Without vigilance and precautionary measures, there is still the risk of a repeat of this tragedy of history.

The Editorial concluded:

At present, China is at the critical juncture of becoming big and strong. Some Western countries are unwilling to see the rise of China, doing everything possible to contain and suppress China, repeatedly squeezing China's strategy for development, and bringing the focus of international strategic competition toward the Asia-Pacific region. Thus the likelihood of disturbances and war taking place on our doorstep has increased.

‘Tibet’, in other word ‘the borders with India’ needs too, to be ready for any eventuality. The radars and the night exercises are the best proof of the intensive 'preparations' which are going on.
But about China becoming 'big and strong', but it is not what the Shanghai and other Chinese stock exchanges have shown the recent days.
But a weaker China could become more aggressive.

 

 

 

Tibet: a Zone of Ahimsa or Himsa?

In 1987 in Washington DC, the Dalai Lama proposed the establishment of a Zone of Peace on the Tibetan plateau.
It was the first point of his Five-Point Peace Plan for Tibet. He said:

I propose that the whole of Tibet, including the eastern provinces of Kham and Amdo, be transformed into a zone of 'Ahimsa', a Hindi term used to mean a state of peace and non-violence.
The establishment of such a peace zone would be in keeping with Tibet's historical role as a peaceful and neutral Buddhist nation and buffer state separating the continent's great powers.  It would also be in keeping with Nepal's proposal to proclaim Nepal a peace zone and with China's declared support for such a proclamation.  The peace zone proposed by Nepal would have a much greater impact if it were to include Tibet and neighbouring areas.
The establishment of a peace zone in Tibet would require withdrawal of Chinese troops and military installations from the country, which would enable India also to withdraw troops and military installations from the Himalayan regions bordering Tibet.  This would be achieved under an international agreement which would satisfy China's legitimate security needs and build trust among the Tibetan, Indian, Chinese and other peoples of the region.  This is in everyone's best interest, particularly that of China and India, as it would enhance their security, while reducing the economic burden of maintaining high troop concentrations on the disputed Himalayan border.

Today, China is militarizing more and more the ecologically-fragile plateau.
Recently China tested again its HQ-16/LY-80 Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Air Defense System  on the plateau and posted pictures of the exercise on its official websites.
Already in September 2012, it was reported that the PLA had staged "a live-fire test of what appears to be a new fully functioning high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) somewhere in the Tibetan plateau on 20 July [2012] in a move intended to prepare for potential US strikes against Chinese interests in the region."
US strikes or Indian strikes?
Why should the US strike the Tibetan plateau?
Though geographic details of the launch site were not mentioned, The PLA Daily said the test was conducted under the authority of the Lanzhou Military Area command (MAC).
It probably meant in the Aksai Chin or Ngari area.

What is a HQ-16 missile?
According to a specialized website: "The LY-80 is the export variant of the HQ-16 mobile, medium-range, Surface-to-Air (SAM) Air Defense System and developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
The HQ-16 can be used to defend in all-weather conditions against multiple targets, such as aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles and other precision guided munitions. The HQ-16 can be integrated with other Air Defense Systems, such as the long-range HQ-9, short-range HQ-7 and close-range LD-2000 to form a multi-layer Integrated Air Defense System (IADS)."
Another defence website explains:

The HQ16A or LY-80 is a Chinese-made ground-to-air defence missile system which was introduce in the Chinese armed forces in September 2011. This is a land based version of the HQ-16 system used in ships (and fired from a Vertical Launch System) containers. The HQ-16A is based on a joint development of the Russian Buk-M1 (SA-11 'Gadfly') and Ural/Buk-2M (SA-17 'Grizzly') Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems, for use from mobile ground vehicles and later from ships. The HQ-16A is able to engage aerial targets at high altitude; the mid-range HQ-16 is also able to intercept very low-flying targets at a distance of up to about 40 kilometers, filling the gap between the HQ-7 short-range SAM and the HQ-9 long-range SAM systems. The HQ-16A missile can hit targets of an altitude from 400 to 10,000 meters.
The HQ16A (LY-80) launcher missile system is carried by an 8x8 truck that contains a command and control station behind the cab, and behind those are six firing missile containers in two rows of three. These containers are tilted back so that the missiles can be fired straight up, just as they are from Vertical launch System cells. In firing position, the wheels are raised off the ground and the carriage is supported at four points by hydraulic jacks, two at the rear and one on each side.

Missile
The HQ16A (LY-80) missile can intercept an aerial flying target from an 15 m to 18 km of altitude, while its maximum interception range for combat aircraft is 40km, and between 3.5 km and 12 km for cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 50 meters at a speed of 300 meters/second. Single-shot kill probability is a claimed figure of 85 per cent against combat aircraft, and 60 per cent against cruise missiles. The missile guidance system is of the composite type, comprising initial independent inertial guidance and intermittent illumination and semi-active homing terminal guidance.

Control and command systems
The HQ16A (LY-80) SAM components comprise a searching radar vehicle, command vehicle, radar tracking and guidance vehicle, launcher unit vehicle, and missiles canister. Technical support equipment includes missile transportation and loading vehicle, power supply vehicle, maintenance vehicle, and missile-test equipment. A single radar guidance vehicle controls two to four launcher units with six missiles ready to launch. The command vehicle is responsible to send target information and combat orders.
The searching radar vehicle is equipped with solid-state S-band 3-D passive phased-array radar mounted on the top of a mast. When the target is detected, the searching radar vehicle performs automatic IFF (Identification Friend-or-Foe), threat judgment, flight path processing and provide target engagement information for the tracking-and-guidance radar. The S-band radar has a range of 140 km and can detect targets flying at an altitude of 20 km.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But that is not all.
A few days ago, The People's Daily reported that J-11 fighters from the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) based in the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) practice 'in actual-combat training' over the Tibetan plateau.
Impressive pictures!

 

 

 

 

Last week, it was reported that the People's Liberation Army Air force (PLAAF) of the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) conducted night actual-combat training somewhere in Tibet.
The report says: "China's J-11 fighters from the air force of the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) took part in night actual-combat training in complex meteorological conditions over plateau. "

 

 

 

Another exercise: on May 11, 2014, the Scouts of the Shigatse Military Sub-Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Tibet conducted 'a military skills training on the plateau'.
According to The People's Daily the objective was to improve their combat capability.
The photos seem to have been taken near the Indian border, as the landscapes appear to be near the gorges of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra)

 

 

 

 

A few days back, I already wrote an article on a similar subject (The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in wartime).

Today, 'Tibet as a Zone of Peace' seems a faraway concept.

Chinese Multirole Combat Aircrafts stationed in Lhasa Airport

J-10 stationed at Lhasa Gongkar Airport

A few days ago, I wrote about the dual use of airports in Tibet.
More information has come on the military use of one of these airports. According to Open Source Imagery Intelligence (OSIMINT), the latest satellite imagery release from Digital Globe shows a new flight of aircrafts at Lhasa’s Gonggar [or Gongkar] airfield in Tibet.
The website says: “This time a flight of J-10s have appeared further reinforcing prior analysis.”
Three months back, OSIMINT had confirmed that some J-11, the Chinese version of the Su-27, were deployed at the Lhasa airfield. At that time, OSIMINT contradicted Indian news reporting suggesting that these deployments were ‘new’ or related to the events in Ladakh.
OSIMINT says that ‘historical’ imagery shows a J-10 flight as far back as 2010 and argues that the fighters usually do yearly rotations.
However, older imagery does not show any IL-78 refueling aircraft, at the Gonkar airfield (as it was claimed by the IBN in its report), says OSIMINT which also asserts that some other imagery (dating of June 11, 2013) demonstrates that there is no deployments of surface to air missiles (SAM) on a site located less than 2 miles from Gongkar.
In May, India’s IBN Live had affirmed that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) had deployed Su-27 (J-11) fighters at the Gongkar airfield to 'put additional military pressure' on India and as a direct answer to the Indian Air Force (IAF) stationing Su-30MKI fighters in Chabua and Tezpur in Assam, “these fighters [the Sukhois] can hit targets deep in Tibet and mainland China”, had said the news channel.
The IBN report added: “Due to the altitude, the fighters can take off only with less weapons payload or fuel. China has probably solved the problem by stationing an aerial refuelling aircraft at Gongkar or nearby. This will increase the range and endurance of the Su-27s”.
It had made a link with the border tensions in Ladakh and the ‘new’ deployment: “China has been engaged in a deliberate upping of the diplomatic and military pressure on India, probing for weaknesses, testing India’s resolve with the expectation that India will blink and back down.”
For OSIMINT, “the narrative painted by IBN and its related sources appears to be far off the mark. Firstly, the statements suggesting hardened positions such as underground aircraft hangars at Gongkar, is a complete fabrication. Likewise, are the statements suggesting China has positioned air-to-air refueling aircraft at Gongkar or nearby airfields”.

J-10 at Gongkar Ariport

OSIMINT continues: “The deployment of fighters does not appear to be related with recent events in Raki Nala [in Ladakh]. Satellite imagery suggests that Chinese PLAAF aircraft may have started making ‘winter’ rotations to the airfield since at least 2011.”
In May 2013, OSIMINT did not believe that the J-11, then deployed in Gongkar, was a response to Su-30MKI at Chabua and Tezpur: “that notion even seems ludicrous considering that one small flight is hardly a match against two entire Su-30MKI squadrons in Assam.”
Apart from the above controversy, it is a fact that the Gongkar Airport near Lhasa comes under the Chengdu Military Region (MR) while Ladakh functions under Lanzhou Military Region.
Developments in Chengdu MR are a priori not linked to happenings in Lanzhou MR.

Gongkar is also a civilian airport

In an article The Organizational Structure of the PLAAF, Kenneth W. Allen explains: “According to PLAAF 2010, the PLAAF currently has a three-tiered vertical command structure for its operational forces: PLAAF Headquarters, Military Region Air Force (MRAF) Headquarters, and the unit and subunit tier, from air corps level down to platoon and even squad level.”
There are seven MRAF headquarters which comprise the second tier, Allen says: “Each MRAF is organized according to its missions and battlefield environment. Thus, no two MRAFs are organized exactly the same way. However, each MRAF has subordinate air divisions, SAM brigades or regiments, and antiaircraft artillery (AAA) regiments, as well as radar brigades and regiments, communications regiments and companies, and support units and subunits.”
It would be strange to reinforce the airfields in a Military Region [Chengdu] to support another MR [Lanzhou].
But that it not all, ‘things’ have been happening in both Lanzhou’s and Chengdu’s MRAFs.
In December 2012, I wrote on this blog: “China is prepared to any eventuality. A Chinese military website recently reported that China's Air Force (PLAAF) staged one of its largest-ever drills.”
At that time foreign commentators had linked the drills with the tensions with Japan and China's southern neighbors over territorial claims, though according to The People's Daily the exercises were conducted in Xinjiang (Lanzhou MR): the "air combat exercises involving more than 100 pilots were held over 11 days last month in the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang. Pilots practiced engaging in dog fights and countering electro-magnetic interference."
I had asked: “why to organise the drills in Xinjiang, which part of Lanzhou Military Region (MR) bordering Central and India (Ladakh/Aksai Chin), if the exercises are meant to improve the preparedness for an eventual conflict in East China Sea.”
The report had mentioned: “Aircraft taking part came from 14 separate units and included China's most modern jet fighters, the J-10 and J-11, along with older models and two-seater Sukhoi Su-30s purchased from Russia. The exercises are a vivid demonstration of China's vastly improved military capabilities that have unnerved other Asian nations and spur a renewed U.S. focus on the region.”
Also in December 2012, China Military Online announced that the PLAAF "recently conducted a comprehensive support drill for multi-types of aircraft on double-runway under information conditions at an airport in southwest China. Nearly 100 fighters of over 10 different types open the curtain of the base-oriented transformation of the combat support mode of the PLA Air Force."
This time it was in the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chengdu Military Region which borders Arunachal, Bhutan and Nepal.
China Military Online asserted that the aircraft took off and landed on the double-runway for 12 sorties within 10 minutes, adding: "At the same time, more than 200 support vehicles of various types and hundreds of officers and men were making preparation before aircraft's taking-off and carrying out maintenance after aircraft's landing for various types of aircraft on the parking aprons on the east and west sides of the airport."

J-10

A few words about the Chengdu J-10 (J-10 Vigorous Dragon) aircraft:
It is a multirole combat aircraft, manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation in Chengdu, Sichuan. It was inducted in the PLAAF in 2005. More 270 planes are said to have been built till date; the cost of one plane is being about 28 million US dollars.
Apparently the project started in 1988, in response to the Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27, then being inducted in the Soviet Air Force. The aircraft was initially designed as a specialized fighter, but later became a multirole aircraft capable of both air to air combat and ground attack missions.
The first pictures of the J-10 appeared in January 2007, when photographs were released by Xinhua. Some sources said a J-10 prototype had crashed during flight test. This was denied by The PLA Daily.
The last test flight programme and live firing of air-to-air missiles, was carried out in December 2003.
During the Musharraf’s days, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) would have signed a contract for 36 planes, making it the first export contract for the J-10.

China: Peaceful, but prepared

"China pledges more contribution to world peace"!
It is what China has been saying for years; it is what Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi repeated during the CCP's 18th Congress.
Yang stated: "China will, together with all other countries, share opportunities, tackle challenges, and make new and greater contribution to the lofty cause of peace and development for mankind."
Yang was briefing foreign diplomats during a reception hosted by the Foreign Ministry. He explained that "China will continue to hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit; promote equality, mutual trust, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutually beneficial cooperation in international relations; firmly pursue an independent foreign policy of peace; unwaveringly follow the path of peaceful development and grow friendship and cooperation in all fields with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence."
In other words, China is a peaceful country, holding the Panchsheel spirit high.
At the same time, China is prepared to any eventuality.
A Chinese military website recently reported that China's Air Force (PLAF) staged one of its largest-ever drills.
Foreign commentators  linked the drills with the tensions with Japan and China's southern neighbors over territorial claims. But according to The People's Daily, the "air combat exercises involving more than 100 pilots were held over 11 days last month in the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang. Pilots practiced engaging in dog fights and countering electro-magnetic interference."
One question can be raised, why to organise the drills in Xinjiang, which part of Lanzhou Military Region (MR) bordering Central and India (Ladakh/Aksai Chin), if the exercises are meant to improve the preparedness for an eventual conflict in East China Sea.

Lanzhou MR

Let us come back to the report:

Aircraft taking part came from 14 separate units and included China's most modern jet fighters, the J-10 and J-11, along with older models and two-seater Sukhoi Su-30s purchased from Russia.
The exercises are a vivid demonstration of China's vastly improved military capabilities that have unnerved other Asian nations and spur a renewed U.S. focus on the region.

The Global Times termed these exercises "the largest in recent years in both firepower and numbers of aircraft, [as] they involved large numbers of technicians and experts on missiles, radar and other related technologies."
The Western press said that the drills came "amid stepped-up sea patrols around East China Sea islands claimed by China but controlled by Japan that followed an explosion of violent anti-Japanese protests across China in September."
Fine, but why to exercise near the Indian (and Central Asian countries) borders?
It has also been reported that while the exercises were being held, for the first time, China's navy launched and recovered aircraft from the country's first aircraft carrier, a refurbished Ukrainian craft that will be armed with J-15 fighter-bombers, a Chinese adaptation of the Russian Sukhoi Su-33.

J-15

China is peaceful, but definitely getting prepared.

But that is not all, China Military Online announced yesterday that the PLAF "recently conducted a comprehensive support drill for multi-types of aircraft on double-runway under information conditions at an airport in southwest China. Nearly 100 fighters of over 10 different types open the curtain of the base-oriented transformation of the combat support mode of the PLA Air Force."
This time it was in the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chengdu Military Region which borders Arunachal, Bhutan and Nepal.

Chengdu MR

According to Zhan Houshun, Chief Commanding Officer of the drill and Deputy Commander of the Militray Command Air Force "there was only one runway for taking-off and landing at the airports of the PLA Air Force in the past, which could only support relatively a few types of aircraft to simultaneously implement the combat and training missions. But the airports with two runways for aircraft to take off and land at the same time can not only simultaneously support the flight of various types of active fighters, but also be used for the taking-off and landing of all types of domestic civil airplanes."
As often mentioned on this blog, it is clear that all the 'civil' airports recently built in Tibet can also have a military use.
China Military Online asserted that the aircraft took off and landed on the double-runway for 12 sorties within 10 minutes, adding: "At the same time, more than 200 support vehicles of various types and hundreds of officers and men were making preparation before aircraft's taking-off and carrying out maintenance after aircraft's landing for various types of aircraft on the parking aprons on the east and west sides of the airport."

China is a peaceful nation

Zhang Jian, the Commanding Officer of the main control tower of the airport told the press: "The aircraft throughput per hour for the first drill was one third more than that at the airport in the past, and the peak throughput was even doubled, exceeding the aircraft throughput per hour at the civil airport with the same size, which was beyond the imagination of an old pilot with more than 20 years of flying experience like me."
Fang Dianrong, Air Force Commander for the Chengdu MAC asserted that "the goal of the drill is to explore the new mode for base construction, operation and management of multi-type-aircraft comprehensive support."
Well, China is a peaceful country, but is prepared.
India is also a peaceful country, but is India prepared?