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  • Tiananmen Square: The Declassified History - w/ postscript 2024

    The Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests killed thousands of people, up to 10,000 according to released declassified UK documents. The figure was given in a secret diplomatic cable from then British ambassador to China, Sir Alan Donald written on 5 June 1989.  The cable is in

  • China’s Space Capability and What This Means for the West

    The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has rapidly advanced in the space domain on several fronts simultaneously. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command testified in early 2024 that, “The PRC is moving breathtakingly fast in space. America must rapidly increase the timeliness, quality

  • Army Fuel Keeps Air Force Aircraft Flying

    In mid-February it was reported that a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was receiving aviation fuel and other supplies from a supply base of the PLA Army. The report provides more evidence that the PLA is improving its joint logistics capability, as previously assessed by

  • Status of the 41st Aviation Brigade transition to the J-20

    By late last fall, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) 41st Aviation Brigade active out of Wuyishan Airbase in Fujian province appeared to be transitioning to the J-20. Commercial satellite imagery from 29 November 2023 shows six J-20 airframes in the open at Wuyishan Airbase. This

  • The PLA’s New Information Support Force

    The PLA’s New Information Support Force Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney  On Friday, 19 April, Xi Jinping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Chinese Communist Part (CCP), attended a ceremony where he established a new ‘force’ of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Information

  • Hypersonics Research Collaboration Between the United States and the PRC

    This report is the fourth in our series describing the state of research into Hypersonics in the People's Republic of China.  The first report detailed the current state of research into hypersonics in China, the second report detailed Collaboration Efforts on Hypersonic Research Between the PRC and

  • The PLA Navy Coastal Defense Missile Force

    The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is comprised of five branches (兵种): the surface fleet, the submarine fleet, naval aviation, the marine corps, and coastal defense. As the PLAN modernizes, each of the branches has undergone its own modernization. This includes the PLAN Coastal Defense force

  • CASI Quarterly Update #1 for 2024

    CASI Quarterly update #1 for 2024Friends of CASI,            Yet another busy quarter to start off the year.  The team at CASI continues to do great work, digging in to source material and providing top notch analysis, reporting, and support to senior leader and the force writ large.  I couldn’t be

  • Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company overview

    This paper provides a brief overview of Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. (CGST) [长光卫星技术股份有限公司], its operations, and connections to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Previously known in English as

  • PLA On-Orbit Satellite Logistics

    The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is preparing its satellite operators to perform on-orbit satellite refueling, for peacetime and wartime space logistics.  They are also already integrating lessons learned into corresponding military doctrine and training tools.  To further ready a PLA in-space

  • Chinese Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications

         The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) and China’s Nuclear Deterrence Capabilities Have Grown Considerably in the Past 15 Years.     Originally, the PLARF was constructed as purely a delivery force for China’s nuclear weapons. However, that role has expanded dramatically in recent

  • Coercive Space Activities: The View From PRC Sources

    The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is developing space technologies, in part, to deter and compel the United States from taking actions that Beijing deems counter to its national security interests. PRC coercive space efforts are intended to achieve effects in, from, and to space. People’s

  • In Their Own Words: On Maritime Strategic Access

    The “In Their Own Words” series is dedicated to translations of Chinese documents in order to help non-Mandarin speaking audiences access and understand Chinese thinking. CASI would like to thank all of those involved in this effort. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim

  • Organization of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)

         Established in 1951, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is China’s largest aviation enterprise, responsible for producing essentially all of China’s domestic military aircraft, UAVs, and helicopters, as well as a wide range of civilian aircraft and other aviation and non-aviation

  • Dragons Fly

    Dragons Fly! Dr. Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute at Air University, looks at China’s 2023 in the air and what’s likely in 2024. Plus this week’s headlines in #airpower. From the Defense & Aerospace Report 

  • China-Russia Nuclear Industry Cooperation

         In May 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for their countries’ biggest joint nuclear energy project to date: the construction of four new nuclear reactors in China’s Jiangsu and Liaoning Provinces. The 20 billion