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CASI Quarterly update #3 for 2023

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  • China Aerospace Studies Institute

CASI Quarterly update
#3 for 2023


Friends of CASI,
            While we watch the budget work its way through the process, we are still hard at work.  We wanted to take a chance and update you on all of the things CASI has been doing over the last three months. 

Personnel-

We continue to work through all of the wickets to bringing more people on board at CASI.  We have recently selected a new CASI researcher and hope to complete that in time for the next quarterly update.  We are also working with AFPC to get our Director of Education position advertised and filled.  This is a Ph.D. level position at Air University at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama.  These jobs are hard to come by these days, so if you know a sharp China expert looking to break into academia, encourage them to follow us on social media so they don’t miss the job announcement when it comes out.

On the good news side of personnel, we are pleased to welcome Lt Col Dustin Burleson as CASI’s Deputy Director.  Dustin comes to us directly from INDOPACOM, so he has hit the ground running.  He is in our Maxwell office, so if you are ever around AU, please look him up.

We are also very excited to have our first two CASI Fellows join us for their IDE (Intermediate Developmental Education) tour (in place of Air Command and Staff College).  Maj Jason Rimmelin is a career intel officer coming off an assignment where he was focused on space; and Maj Josh Campbell is an F-15E Weapons System Officer (WSO), coming to us from Air Combat Command.  Their real world perspectives have already paid dividends.  Both of them will be with CASI for the full 2023-24 Academic year.  They are the first in what we hope will be a full line of active duty officers that get a chance to come to CASI to focus on China for a full year, uninterrupted by the grind of the operational commitments. 

CASI’s Fundamentals of the PLA Course- We have been crazy busy with all of the Fundamentals Courses this quarter.  We held a course here in D.C. with our British allies, and provided mobile training at Nellis AFB, Carlisle Barracks, and Langley AFB, just this quarter alone.

The next scheduled course in D.C. is the last week of November.  If you are interested in attending the in-person version, or in hosting a mobile training team version of the three day course, please let us know and we will find open space on the calendar to work with.

The course is free and open to all DoD and U.S. government employees, as well as civilian contractors working for the DoD.  There is no requirement for a security clearance.  If you are interested in attending, please email us at PLA-Fundamentals@CASI-Research.Org

CASI Conference 2024-  Date may be in flux, but it is probably moving to Tues 21 May 2024.  The Air Force has scheduled a major event around the same time as our planned conference, so we are looking at options.  Stay tuned, and follow us on social media for the most up to date information.

Recent Publications

  1. The PLA Reconceptualizes Control of the Air
  2. PLA Naval Aviation Reorganization 2023
  3. China’s ChatGPT War
    1. This article was cited extensively: 美國防學者：共軍恐利用ChatGPT協助作戰 (Yahoo News); 美國國防大學：解放軍可能使用ChatGPT技術協助作戰 (Liberty Times); 美國防學者：共軍或利用ChatGPT協助作戰 (Epoch Times); 《中国的ChatGPT战争》：美空军智库分析中国军方如何利用生成式人工智能 (China Command and Control Society); China’s military working on AI weapons and systems for warfighting and ‘overthrowing regimes (Washington Times); China’s PLA Aims to Lead in Generative AI for Military Applications (TS2 - Poland); CMSAF Warns Airmen About ‘Being Used’ By Artificial Intelligence (Air and Space Force Magazine); China’s ChatGPT War (Royal Australian Air Force); The Potential and Limitations of China’s PLA’s Use of ChatGPT (Hong Kong Post); 美国如何看中国的“ChatGPT战争”？(China Innovation Website); 《中国的ChatGPT战争》：美空军智库分析中国军方如何利用生成式人工智能 (China's Institution of Automation - Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  4. Trends That Impact Perceptions of the Chinese Space Program
  5. PRC Media’s Coverage of Mobility Guardian Projects Self-Confidence
  6. PLA Navy Submarine Leadership - Factors Affecting Operational Performance(This is a CMSI Paper written by CASI’s Director of Research, Rod Lee)
  7. Additionally, the Center for Information on Security Trades Central published their translation into Japanese of CASI’s report on the PRC’s Defense Key Laboratories
  8. PLAN Special Mission Aviation Air Base Renovation and Expansion Activities
  9. China’s Nuclear Forces- Procedures and Process, a chapter published in Vortex magazine
  10. The PLA’s New Base for Space Situational Awareness–Opportunities and challenges for the U.S.
  11. “How China Wins the Cognitive Domain” cited in “Uncovering the Social Cybersecurity Arsenal: Defending Against China's "Weapons of Mass Persuasion" and CNAS report U.S. - China Competition and Military AI
  12. “China's Satellite Super Factories and US National Security” cited in the book "The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy"

CASI is pleased to offer hard copies of CASI full reports for free.  Please see our website at: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/CASI-Publications/ 
for the full list and for the order form.  Please note- most of the articles and short reports are available in PDF only.


CASI’s “In Their Own Words” – Translations of PRC materials

  1.  “ITOW: Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services”

Support to the Warfighter

  1. Briefed U.S service members and civilians at RAF Menwith Hill
  2. Briefed 633rd Mission Support Group on Strategic Competition with China
  3. Supported USMC Office of Net Assessment
  4. Met with USMC international affairs branch members
  5. Participated in DoD budgetary assessment seminar
  6. Participated in IDA event
  7. Featured speaker at AMC CC Leadership Offsite
  8. Met with Office of S&T Program Protection
  9. Acted as Red Team Lead for S&T wargame
  10. Featured speaker at National Strategic Research Institute event

Education

  1. Briefed USSF NCOA and SNCOA on Chinese history and military strategy
  2. Hosted 4 USAF Academy Cadets for Summer Research Program
  3. Held mobile training team version of CASI PLA Fundamentals at Nellis AFB
  4. Featured speaker for all hands National War College event
  5. Hosted Allies and Partners for CASI PLA Fundamentals course at NDU
  6. Featured speaker at Joint Flag Officer Warfighting Course
  7. Held mobile training team version of CASI PLA Fundamentals at Carlisle Barracks
  8. Featured speaker at 26 NOS event
  9. Held mobile training team version of CASI PLA Fundamentals at Langley AFB
  10. Featured speaker at Air Component Senior Leader Course
  11. Briefed Sheppard AFB NCOA
  12. Briefed Dyess SNCOPES

Engagement and Outreach
     In addition to providing support to Air Force staff, CASI has had another busy quarter supporting the USAF and the DoD, as well as our allies, partners, and friends. CASI:

  1. Panelist the Chief of the Royal Air Force’s Global Air and Space Chiefs Conference
  2. Attended Royal International Air Tattoo
  3. Met with members and staff of the UK Parliament Defence Committee
  4. Held meetings at the UK Ministry of Defence 
  5. Interviewed by Kyodo News Agency about ACE and its implications for Japan. The article was published in multiple Japanese newspapers and can be read here: https://www.at-s.com/sp/news/article/national/1287933.html?lbl=860
  6. Held an interview with Air and Space Force Magazine: How China’s PLA Could Use Tech Like ChatGPT, And What Could Hold It Back
  7. Briefed a bipartisan group of 30 congressional staffers concerning China and hybrid warfare
  8. Interviewed for The Downlink podcast
  9. Met with RAF regarding PLA Affiliated Universities
  10. Held a Hail and Farewell dinner for Japanese Attaches
  11. Briefed local Rotary chapter on Chinese global influence and effects on national security
  12. Participated in AFA Air, Space, and Cyber conference
  13. Met with WIRED Magazine Senior Staff
  14. Met with NDU faculty to discuss developments in AI
  15. Met with Australian DATT
  16. Interviewed on Defense and Aerospace Report podcast
  17. Met with Senior Policy Advisor Office of the national Cyber Director Executive Office of the President at the White House
  18. Met with British Embassy AI Liaison
  19. Met with National War College faculty to discuss great power competition and China
  20. Attended Alan Turing Institute Briefing on AI in Wargaming event at the UK Embassy
  21. Attended the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Technologies (AMOS) Conference

CASI continues its close relationship and holds regular meetings with the HAF, USSF, and SAF representatives, making sure that our research is policy and plans relevant.
 

Keep in contact with us:
CASI website www.airuniversity.af.mil/CASI/
Follow us on X (Formerly known as Twitter): twitter.com/CASI_Research
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CASI.Research.Org
Link with us on LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/china-aerospace-studies-institute


As always, please feel free to send this update, or our website/ contact information, to anyone you feel might be interested in CASI or our research. Let us know if you have any thoughts, requests for support, or ideas for future papers and projects.