System Installation on Varyag Near Complete

22/04/2011 - System installation finally began in late 2010. By March 2011 the island of the aircraft carrier was almost complete, with painting finished and scaffolding removed. The vessel is expected to enter service with the PLA Navy as a training carrier around 2012. FULL STORY

DongFeng 21 Medium-Range Ballistic Missile

04/06/2010 - Developed from the JL-1 SLBM, the DF-21 was originally intended for strategic missions but its later variants were designed for both nuclear and conventional missions. The latest DF-21D was said to be the world’s first and only anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) system. The DF-21 has also been developed into space launcher and anti-satellite/anti-missile weapon carrier. FULL STORY

PLL05 120mm Self-Propelled Mortar-Howitzer

05/04/2009 - The PLL05 is the self-propelled mortar-howitzer system based on a WZ551 6X6 wheeled chassis. The system combines features of the conventional mortar and the howitzer, firing projectiles at both short-range, high-arcing ballistic trajectories and longer-range, less steep ballistic trajectories for indirect fire. FULL STORY

New Book: Fortifying China: The Struggle to Build a Modern Defense Economy

Fortifying China explores the titanic struggle to turn China into an aspiring world-class military technological power. The defense economy is leveraging the country's vibrant civilian economy and gaining access to foreign sources of technology and know-how. Drawing on extensive Chinese-language sources, Tai Ming Cheung explains that this transformation has two key dimensions. The defense economy is being reengineered to break down bureaucratic barriers and reduce the role of the state, fostering a more competitive and entrepreneurial culture to facilitate the rapid diffusion and absorption of technology and knowledge.