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  • Fight Fire with Fire: The PLA Studies Hybrid Warfare

         Moscow’s recent escalation of its invasion of Ukraine has refocused the world’s attention on a war that began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its proxy war against Kyiv in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s successes in Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent panic over Russian interference in

  • “Made-to-Order” NCOs: The PLA’s Targeted Training NCO Program

    Over the last decade, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has rapidly expanded a program to increase technical capabilities across its enlisted corps by developing what it calls “made-to-order” noncommissioned officers (NCO). These targeted training NCOs (定向培养士官) receive technical training at

  • Competition with China: Strategic Perceptions

    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

  • PACAF's State of the Game

    In this new era of strategic competition, State of the Game aims to increase PACAF’s collective understanding of the PRC and the Indo-Pacific region. The May issue delves into disinformation about COVID-19 and the May Fourth Movement and how it sets the stage for current CCP-led nationalism. Topics

  • PRC Navy Likely Testing Carrier-Based Stealth Fighters

    Two probable prototype carrier-based FC-31 variants appeared at the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Carrier Aviation Test and Training Base at Huangdicun in early November 2021.  Satellite imagery shows the two aircraft parked on active runways, indicating they are operable prototypes rather

  • Assessment of the PLA’s 3-Star Promotions in January 2022

    On 5 January 2022, Xi Jinping chaired a promotion ceremony for seven officers as either a commander (CDR) or political commissar (PC).  Each new general has the grade of Theater Command (TC) Leader and each previously held a billet at the grade of TC deputy leader.  As a TC leader-grade officer,

  • Competition with China: The PLA Air 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

  • Control and Decisionmaking in Xi Jinping’s Military

    Over the past decade, Xi Jinping centralized control over the military through more than just reshuffling the People’s Armed Forces. Just as importantly, he stripped away control over the Party gun from other parts of the Chinese Communist Party. In doing this, the primary potential disrupting

  • Third Combat Brigade of PLA Air Force Likely Receives Stealth Fighters

    On 9 December the Dutch Aviation Society’s website Scramble reported that a J-20 bearing the serial number 61162 had been spotted the day before. The J-20 is the first and only fifth-generation fighter that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force operates. Judging from this serial

  • CMSI report on Chinese Special Operations in a Large-Scale Island Landing

    This is a report from our "Big Brothers" at the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) focused on PLA SOF.      PLA special operations forces (SOF) would likely play important supporting roles in an amphibious assault on Taiwan. Their capabilities and training are geared towards several missions

  • CASI Webinar on China and Cyber

    CASI hosted a webinar focused on Cyber issues related to the PRC.  We were joined by: Naomi Wilson, Vice president of policy for Asia at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) Prof SHEN Yi, Associate Professor of the Department of International Politics, School of International

  • In Their Own Words: 2020 Science of Military Strategy

          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. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI aims to provide Chinese texts that illustrate thoughtful, clearly articulated,

  • Competition With China: China's Military Strategy

    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

  • .....Don't Think Like a Westerner

    This article is the second in a series of essays, workshops, and events seeking to better understand the nature of deterrence, particularly from the viewpoint of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army (PLA).  This series is a joint project between the Australian Strategic

  • Sino-Russian Defense Cooperation’s Impact on Chinese Aerospace RD&A

    We should not forget that in the “Era of Great Power Competition,” the United States has two peer “Strategic Competitors” and several others with whom we compete. When our two largest competitors, namely the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, cooperate toward their common

  • Commentary on ADIZ issues and the PRC

    Dr. Mulvaney discusses increased flight activity by the PLA in the Taiwan ADIZ and in the South China Sea at the Habibie Center's Talking ASEAN Webinar on "Air Force Intrusions in the Indo-Pacific Airspace: Impacts on Regional Peace and Stability from ASEAN Perspective"A big thank you to Ken Allen

  • PLA Rocket Force Organization- Executive Summary

    While recent scholarship has gone a long way toward demystifying China’s missile force, it remains in many ways a poorly understood phenomenon, with an unusually high degree of censorship even by the already strict standards of the PLA. The following is a brief executive summary of a much longer