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China Aerospace Studies Institute Articles

  • The PLA Reconceptualizes Control of the Air

    The PLA is now promoting a more nuanced and modern understanding of control of the air. Consequently, the PLA is unlikely to seek command of the air in future military campaigns, and it is likely to reduce its spatial and temporal requirements for control of the air as its capabilities to conduct

  • Where are the PLA’s other laser dazzling facilities?

    In December 2022, U.S. researchers again updated their analysis of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) laser research, development, and testing facilities in the desert of China’s Xinjiang province.  This time, they described how their review of commercial satellite imagery had led them to

  • UK Cable on Tiananmen Square Massacre June 4th, 1989

    The Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests killed at least 10,000 people, 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 the UK

  • What is China Doing at the Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit?

    Written by CASI's Kristin Burke, Originally published by The Space Review at: https://thespacereview.com/article/4365/1Click here for PDF versionChina’s Chang’e 5 (CE-5) orbiter, which as of January 2022 has likely moved to the lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO), is probably conducting enabling

  • CASI Webinar: PRC Hypersonics Research Landscape

    As part of CASI's quarterly webinar series, we explored the hypersonics research landscape in China. This webinar was held in March of 2023 and is based on the recent publication by CASI and BPL. The views and opinions expressed in this webinar are the personal views of the participants, and do not

  • Competition with China: PLA Rocket Force

    Part of CASI's "Competition With China" video series which helps Airmen better understand the strategic competition with China broadly, and takes a deep look at many of the military and security aspects of that competition. CASI uses source documents to research and report on China’s aerospace

  • The PLA Hopes B-21 Will Follow in B-2’s Footsteps

    The B-21 was unveiled to the public on December 2, 2022. In the following two months several assessments of the B-21 were published in the media of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Almost all the articles avoided assessing the capabilities of the B-21

  • ITOW: Language Confrontation in Cognitive Domain Operations

         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

  • PRC Defense S&T Key Lab Directory

    The following directory is Part Two of The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System, a report released by the China Aerospace Studies Institute and BluePath Labs in April 2022. Part One of the report, entitled "The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System: An Overview", described the general structure and

  • PLA Air Force Expands Fourth-Generation Transition Training to Another Academy

    Late in December 2022 the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indicated that the training of pilots transitioning from trainers to fourth-generation fighters has expanded to another of the PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) flight academies. Consequently, two of the PLAAF’s three flight academies are now conducting

  • In Their Own Words: China's Aerospace Security Strategic Concept

    According to the idea of defining concepts, analyzing the situation, determining goals and achieving goals, this book involves the basic issues involved in China's aerospace security strategy, including the core concepts of the national aerospace security strategy, the strategic situation facing

  • How China Wins the Cognitive Domain

    The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) believes the cognitive domain is imperative to achieve victory in any conflict. While kinetic attacks have a specific physical target, in the cognitive domain the target is the mind. In conflict, great physical damage can be achieved, but if the adversary still has

  • CSAF Announces CASI Toolkit for China

    Leaders,Understanding China is the pacing challenge as articulated in the National Defense Strategy, we must accelerate learning across the Air Force to stay ahead of the pace.  To ensure all Airmen understand China, the Chinese Communist Party, and the People's Liberation Army, their organization,

  • An Exploratory Analysis of the Chinese Hypersonics Research Landscape

    According to reports, China conducted tests of hypersonic glide vehicles in July and August 2021, which Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley described as “concerning.”1 China’s hypersonic weapons program has drawn significant global attention and research interests in recent years.

  • CASI Webinar on the CCP's 20th Party Congress

    CASI will hold its next Webinar on Wednesday, 7 Dec, at 13:00 Eastern Time via ZOOMGov. This iteration will be an in-depth look at the recent 20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.