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AllAfrica
2 days ago
- AllAfrica
China's fifth-gen jets sharpen edge for drone swarm war
China may be skipping the sixth-gen fighter leap—for now—and doubling down on drone swarms, loyal wingmen and stealth upgrades to supercharge its fifth-gen fight force. This month, The War Zone (TWZ) reported that China is poised to unveil its latest autonomous air combat drones, likely 'loyal wingman' types, during a high-profile military parade in September, marking the 80th anniversary of its victory over Japan. Satellite imagery from June of the Yangfang base near Beijing—routinely used for parade preparations—reveals a diverse array of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), including five tailless designs not previously identified, indicating the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) active development of manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) capabilities. The push underscores China's strategic ambition to integrate unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs), like the GJ-11 Sharp Sword, and aircraft such as the J-20S and KJ-500 into a future air combat ecosystem augmented by AI-driven swarming and networked systems. Supplementary evidence, including recent flight footage and mockups at Shenyang's aircraft plant, supports China's accelerating investment in stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) and crewed-uncrewed operational integration. Underscoring this trend, TWZ notes that China's two-seat J-20S stealth fighter has likely entered operational PLA Air Force (PLAAF) service. The redesigned fuselage accommodates a second crew member, likely tasked with controlling loyal wingman drones for suppression and support in contested zones. Instead of pursuing a clean-sheet sixth-generation fighter, China appears to be enhancing existing systems by integrating autonomous loyal wingmen and AI-connected combat networks. This points to a shift toward scalable, distributed airpower built on human-machine teaming and drone swarms—raising questions about China's future trajectory in air combat and how it stacks up against US efforts under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The Asia Times has noted that China's newly unveiled J-36 stealth fighter signals a significant advance in long-range combat capabilities. Th e tailless, triple-engine jet—reportedly the largest Chinese fighter to date—features a double-delta wing and expansive weapon bays, enabling supersonic performance and carrying heavy payloads. It features design elements that enhance overall stealth and high-altitude endurance, with diverterless supersonic inlets hinting at supercruise capability. While exact specifications remain unconfirmed, the 23-meter airframe and 7.6-meter main bay suggest potential for deep-strike missions and air dominance well beyond the First Island Chain. While Chinese media and analysts have touted the J-36 as a 'sixth-generation fighter,' the term remains loosely defined and could be exaggerated for propaganda purposes. More plausibly, the J-36 resembles a long-range fighter-bomber in the mold of Soviet and Russian designs such as the Su-34 Fullback, emphasizing payload and endurance over air-to-air dogfighting. In a potential US-China conflict over Taiwan, China's nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) might operate in heavily defended bastions, with surface and air forces committed to protecting these zones. Supporting that view, David Logan notes in a November 2023 China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) report that should China adopt a bastion nuclear ballistic missile (SSBN) strategy instead of open-water patrols, it could position its boats in the South China Sea or Yellow Sea—with the former being more ideal, as the latter's shallow depth, maritime traffic, and physical characteristics favor anti-submarine warfare (ASuW) operations. However, Logan also points out that a bastion strategy would compel China to divert significant naval and air assets to defend its SSBNs, while precluding optimal launch positions south of the US to avoid American ballistic missile defense (BMD) coverage. He adds that Chinese SSBNs with the older, shorter-ranged JL-2 SLBM cannot strike the US from bastions in the South China Sea or Yellow Sea, although the newer JL-3 would allow such attacks. These bastions would likely become hunting grounds for US nuclear attack submarines (SSNs). A March 2025 report by the Chinese think tank South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) highlights intensified US submarine activity in the South China Sea. It states that in 2024, the US Navy deployed at least 11 nuclear attack submarines (SSNs), including the USS Seawolf and various Los Angeles- and Virginia-class vessels. Additionally, the report notes that two guided-missile submarines (SSGNs) and one SSBN were deployed in the region, signaling a firm US deterrence posture. While US submarines threaten China's bastion strategy beneath the waves, US carrier-based fighters—or land-based aircraft operating from Japan, Taiwan, or the Philippines—would contest the airspace above. This environment would be hostile to China's long-range strike aviation, air-based nuclear deterrent platforms such as the H-6K/N strategic bomber, and anti-submarine warfare (ASuW) aircraft like the Shaanxi KQ-200. As these bastions are close to Chinese territory, a large, specialized strike fighter such as the J-36 could provide on-station fighter escort and conduct strikes against US and allied naval forces. With its size, endurance, and weapons load, the J-36 could plausibly support air defense of the bastion while threatening US naval formations beyond the First Island Chain. In this evolving force structure, China's fifth-generation aircraft, such as the J-20S, and new platforms like the J-36, may be part of a high-low mix. The J-20 may assume air superiority roles, while the J-36 could be optimized for deep-strike missions. Both would likely be supported by stealthy UCAVs such as the GJ-11 or loyal wingmen like the FH-97A to extend sensor coverage, suppress enemy air defenses or saturate targets with drone swarms. These penetrating stealth aircraft could be augmented by non-stealth platforms such as the J-15 and J-16, upgraded derivatives of the Su-27. While lacking stealth, these heavy fighters may function as 'missile trucks,' with beyond visual range (BVR) missiles like the PL-17 guided by loyal wingman drones, allowing them to engage targets from outside air defense envelopes. Meanwhile, the lower end of China's fighter mix may include multi-role platforms like the carrier-based J-35A and J-10C. These general-purpose fighters are built for contested airspace rather than deep-penetration missions, fleshing out China's layered airpower scheme. In response to these developments, the US would be well-advised to accelerate NGAD development and tightly integrate Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to stay ahead of China's MUM-T momentum and retain qualitative superiority in the air. Equally important is fast-tracking US loyal wingman drone deployment to achieve 'affordable mass,' diluting China's potential local numerical edge and improving survivability in an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environment. Lastly, the US should intensify efforts to harden, disperse and network its forward-deployed airpower. Ensuring US and allied forces can fight, survive, and regenerate in contested conditions is critical to avoid being taken out on the ground in the opening salvos of a Taiwan contingency.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ukraine Marks First Loss Of Mirage 2000 Fighter
A Ukrainian Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter has crashed, the first loss of one of the jets that were donated by France. 'On the evening of July 22, 2025, while performing a flight mission on a Mirage-2000 fighter jet, an aircraft equipment failure occurred, which the pilot reported to the flight manager,' the Ukrainian Air Force reported. 'He then acted competently, as is expected in crisis situations, and successfully ejected. The search and rescue team found the pilot, his condition is stable. There were no casualties on the ground. A special commission has been appointed to establish the causes of the aviation incident.' The Ukrainian Air Force received its first Mirage back in February. Before delivering the jets, France performed unspecified modifications to allow them to fly air-to-ground missions. You can read more about that here. This is the latest loss of a donated fourth-generation fighter. Ukraine has also seen at least three of its donated F-16s destroyed. This is a developing story. Stay with The War Zone for updates. Contact the author: howard@ Solve the daily Crossword
AllAfrica
11-07-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
US containerized missiles: steathy firepower, high strategic cost
The US military's turn to containerized missile launchers reflects a push for stealthy, mobile firepower that complicates targeting and enables rapid deployment but comes with operational, legal, and political concerns – especially regarding their use on allied soil and civilian cargo vessels. This month, The War Zone identified a prototype launcher known as the palletized field artillery launcher (PFAL) at Fort Bragg, after it appeared unannounced in footage from US President Donald Trump's June visit. Currently owned by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), PFAL can fire most munitions in the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) family – such as 227 millimeter guided rockets and Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) – from two pods housed in a standard container, though it cannot launch the precision strike missile (PrSM). Concealable on trucks, railcars, or ships, PFAL supports the Army's strategy to complicate adversary targeting. Originating from the US Department of Defense's Strike X program, it also informed designs for future uncrewed systems like the autonomous multi-domain launcher (AML). Although no longer funded after FY2021, PFAL remains strategically relevant for distributed, expeditionary operations, especially in the Indo-Pacific. Containerized launchers like PFAL offer operational benefits– concealability, rapid mobility and modular integration across partner platforms. Yet their covert nature also introduces tactical weaknesses, legal risks and political complications. While these systems enhance deterrence through ambiguity and dispersion, they risk civilian targeting, escalation and backlash from host nations wary of entanglement. At the tactical level, containerized launchers complicate detection and response. In remarks delivered at a June 2025 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US Army Pacific Commander General Ronald Clark stated that such systems 'literally operationalize deterrence,' likening them to 'a needle in a stack of needles' due to their ambiguous electromagnetic signatures and visual resemblance to civilian containers. He emphasized that their dispersed posture enables US forces to hold Chinese targets at risk across the Indo-Pacific, while avoiding traditional launcher vulnerabilities. In a June 2025 Proceedings article, Rear Admiral Bill Daly and Captain Lawrence Heyworth IV emphasized advantages of modular, containerized payloads: low cost, ease of production and quick scalability. They noted that mounting them on unmanned or optionally manned vessels increases survivability and complicates targeting. A standardized interface allows for rapid reconfiguration, while adaptability enables distributed maritime operations with flexible firepower suited to near-peer conflicts. However, Ajay Kumar Das noted in a July 2023 piece for the United Service Institution of India (USI) that these systems are tactically vulnerable due to their deliberate lack of radar and active defenses. Das explained that containerized launchers are designed to blend with civilian traffic, leaving them unable to detect or repel threats. He said that while concealment aids deception, it undermines survivability. He warned that such launchers, often aboard civilian-manned vessels, become 'soft targets' in high-threat environments, exposing both cargo and crew to disproportionate risk in legally ambiguous zones. Gabriele Steinhauser highlighted in a March 2025 Wall Street Journal article the operational advantages of containerized platforms such as the US Army's Typhon system. She reported that the Typhon – mounted on trucks and deployable via transport aircraft – is 'relatively easy to move,' unlike shipborne systems that are more visible and vulnerable in the early stages of a conflict. Steinhauser stressed that such mobility enables pre-positioning across the Indo-Pacific and opens avenues for allied use, injecting unpredictability into adversary calculations. R. Robinson Harris and Colonel T.X. Hammes argued in a January 2025 article for the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) that containerized launchers support rapid, cost-effective fleet expansion. They estimated that converting surplus merchant ships into missile platforms with modular payloads can be done in under two years for $130 to $140 million each, dramatically faster and cheaper than building destroyers or frigates, which take seven to nine years and billions to construct. They advocated shifting force metrics from ship numbers to missile capacity, arguing that distributed firepower across many modest platforms complicates enemy targeting and boosts resilience. At the strategic level, US missiles on allied territory in peacetime can be politically fraught due to sovereignty sensitivities and domestic opposition. According to Jeffrey Hornung and other authors in a September 2024 RAND report, the Philippine government is especially cautious, given legal and political constraints alongside historical baggage, requiring that any US deployment serve Philippine interests and be framed as a joint effort. Hornung and others also point out that, in Japan, hosting offensive US systems raises concerns about escalating regional tensions and inviting preemptive strikes. They note that Japan has avoided hosting US ground-based missiles and prefers deployments on US territory or with regional partners, reflecting fears that such basing could entangle Japan in US-China conflict dynamics. Further, Raul Pedrozo writes in a 2021 report for the Stockton Center for International Law that using merchant ships to launch precision strikes without formally converting them into warships may violate Hague Convention VII, which requires overt identification, military command and crew discipline. According to Pedrozo, failure to meet these criteria could strip such vessels of protected status and make their use a violation of the law of armed conflict. Moreover, he adds that disguising launchers as civilian cargo risks being deemed perfidious – guilty of a treacherous act under the law of armed conflict – thereby endangering civilian mariners and undermining legal protections for commercial shipping. Containerized missile systems may be stealthy and scalable, but the ambiguity that makes them operationally effective also renders them legally and politically contentious. Their fusion of warehouse and warship invites hard questions about survivability, legality, and escalation, especially when deployed on allied soil in a region primed for great power confrontation.
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First Post
10-07-2025
- Science
- First Post
It's a ship, it's a plane… Is China using Soviet technology to build a flying boat?
Images on social media reveal that China has built its own flying ship, dubbed the 'Bohai Sea Monster'. This wing-in-ground effect (WIG) craft, commonly known as an ekranoplan, was first seen during the Cold War and developed by the Soviet Union read more We have all heard tales about the Loch Ness sea monster. What if we said there's a new sea monster that has surfaced in China? But this isn't an ordinary sea monster — it's one that could transform warfare. Before you get confused, let us clarify. New images have emerged on social media revealing what is believed to be China's wing-in-ground effect (WIG) craft, unofficially dubbed the 'Bohai Sea Monster.' This new experiment is a combination between a ship and an aircraft, promising stealthy speed but raising strategic questions. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But what do we know about the Bohai Sea Monster? What is the significance of this maritime cargo lifter? Is that China's Bohai Sea Monster? Around 10 days ago, images of China's wing-in-ground effect (WIG) craft, dubbed the 'Bohai Sea Monster', began circulating on social media with Naval News reporting on its presence first. It was originally spotted in an image with its nose section hidden. In that image, the flying-boat was pictured sitting on a pier situated on the Bohai Sea, which sits at the northwestern reach of the Yellow Sea. China's own Ekranoplan was first spotted around two weeks ago. Image Courtesy: X According to the South China Morning Post, the images revealed a buoyancy float fitted to each wingtip and four engines mounted side by side on top of the craft's wings. The engines are widely considered to be jet-powered but military website The War Zone suggested they could be propeller engines. But what exactly is this flying boat? Also known as an ekranoplan, it's not a boat, not even a plane — it borrows from both. It essentially rides on the surface of water or a cushion of air using the ground effect — the aerodynamic interaction between the moving wing and the surface below. Amid Cold War tensions, the Soviet Union developed the most famous WIG aircraft, known as the 'Caspian Sea Monster'. Designed by Soviet designer Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeyev, it was the biggest and heaviest aircraft in the world of its time. It was 92 metres (302 feet) long and had a maximum take-off weight of 544 tonnes. A Lun-class Soviet-made ekranoplan, which is a naval craft and a ground-effect vehicle, on the Caspian Sea coastline in Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. File image/Reuters The ekranoplan flew just one-to-five metres above the waves, taking advantage of the 'ground effect', 'a cushion of high pressure that forms under the wings of extremely low-flying aircraft'. The ship's proximity to the ground reduces drag, which in-turn increases speed and fuel efficiency. The combination of stealth and speed made the ekranoplan a formidable military vehicle, and could give the Soviet Union an edge in Cold War naval warfare. Even today, the biggest advantage favouring ekranoplans are that they are faster than ships, more fuel-efficient than low-flying aircraft, and are able to stay under radar horizons. The WIG is also believed to be able to withstand tougher weather and sea conditions compared to helicopters. But despite its apparent advantages, it never took off, becoming the mainstay of any country's naval forces. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Why? Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retired), the current Director General of the Centre for Air Power Studies, in a 2022 report explained that the WIG or Ekranoplan has multiple limitations. He noted that the WIG has manoeuvrability constraints and that while they would be advantageous owing to radar evasion, they are dependent on stable seas, impairing mission continuity. What's the significance of China's Bohai sea monster? It is believed that Russia, the United States, Germany, Canada, Japan have all developed smaller models of the ekranoplan. However, China's is believed to be jet powered. Some defence analysts note that the Chinese WIG's full-scale appearance and build quality make it one of the most ambitious ekranoplan projects seen in decades. Some analysts note that China's Bohai Sea Monster could play critical roles in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. A 2023 report published by the South China Morning Post that an ekranoplan could reach the South China Sea within four hours and transport passengers or cargo in and around the region. Experts further note that in case of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the Bohai Sea Monster would be perfect for amphibious landing operations. A Naval News report explained that the Soviet WIG were able to deliver troops and armoured vehicles directly on to enemy beaches. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While China hasn't confirmed or denied the development of a WIG, it's in line with Beijing's ongoing push for innovative maritime and amphibious technology. It has the AG600 – the world's largest amphibious plane with a maximum take-off weight of 60 tonnes and payload capacity of 12 tonnes – which has recently entered mass production. Check out our new video! Aurora's Liberty Lifter seaplane concept for @DARPA maximizes efficiency by flying in ground effect and provides fast, heavy-lift transport that does not require an airstrip or shipping port. — Aurora Flight Sciences (@AuroraFlightSci) September 24, 2024 Does the US have its version of an ekranoplan? Yes. The US Defence Department's research arm, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), is reportedly working to develop an ekranoplan called the Liberty Lifter. According to Darpa, the 'Liberty Lifter could also provide sea-based search and rescue and disaster response at the scale of ships with the speed of air transport.' According to Aerospace America, the Liberty Lifter programme is currently in initial stages and it is planned to have a preliminary design review in 2025. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
South China Morning Post
09-07-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Is China's ‘Bohai Monster' a revival of Soviet-era cargo transport technology?
A large wingship has been spotted in China's Bohai Sea , revealing Beijing's progress in developing its own version of the maritime cargo lifter while Washington races to revive this Soviet-era technology. Advertisement Two pictures purporting to show the mysterious Chinese wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) craft – dubbed the 'Bohai Monster' by some observers – emerged on social media last week, with one giving a full view of it above the water's surface. The other image shows the craft sitting on a pier, facing away from the camera. The vehicle has a boat-shaped fuselage with a horizontal stabiliser on top of the joined V-shape tail – a common configuration for WIG craft. A buoyancy float can be seen fitted to each wingtip and four engines appear to be mounted side by side on top of the craft's wings. The engines are widely considered to be jet-powered but military website The War Zone suggested they could be propeller engines. A WIG craft – also known as an ekranoplan, as it is called in Russian – works on the 'ground effect' principle, which describes an interaction between the underwing airflow and the surface below that produces a rise in static pressure and a reduction in drag. Advertisement The most famous WIG craft was a Soviet prototype developed in the 1960s – the 'Caspian Sea Monster', which was the biggest and heaviest aircraft in the world of its time. It was 92 metres (302 feet) long and had a maximum take-off weight of 544 tonnes. By travelling over flat surfaces – ground or water – at low altitudes, WIG craft can take advantage of the reduced drag to travel more efficiently in terms of fuel and payload capacity than higher-flying aircraft.
