China’s flexing of hi-tech military muscle Xi’s warning to ‘bullies’ of the West
Beijing's Victory Day parade has revealed previously unseen missiles and autonomous weapons, as Western experts warn of China's rapidly advancing military capabilities | WATCH
China has showcased new killer drones, giant autonomous submarines and an array of next-generation missiles in its Victory Day parade, sending a highly choreographed message to the world that its military power is drawing close to that of the US.
The weapon systems on display – many of which are likely not operational – included new hypersonic and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets across the Australian mainland.
Four types of “loyal wingman” style drones – similar to Australia’s in-development Ghost Bat – were on show, designed to operate with manned fighter jets. They included the stealthy GJ-11, a tailless “flying wing” with two internal weapons bays.
“The outside world can clearly perceive China’s ‘explosive progress’ in the field of combat drones,” a military blogger known as Korolev said on Chinese social media.
A new hypersonic “carrier killer” missile, the YJ-20, made its debut at the parade. According to Chinese reports, it is capable of delivering “a precision strike against large surface combatants while manoeuvring in flight to evade interception”.
Two other anti-ship hypersonic missiles, the YJ-15 and YJ-19, were also displayed for the first time, along with the DF-61 – a road-transportable intercontinental ballistic missile with a reported range of at least 12,000km.
Another updated missile, the DF-26D, has been dubbed by Chinese media as the “Guam Killer”. It can reportedly carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, and reportedly has a range of up to 5000km.
Two massive underwater drones were unveiled at the parade, each measuring up to 20m long. It was unclear what tasks they were designed to perform, but they could potentially be equipped with torpedoes or mines.
Chinese military commentator Bai Mengchen said the extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles were ideal to protect undersea infrastructure.
“The deep sea is a cutting-edge area of multi-domain operations, attracting considerable attention,” he told Phoenix TV. “Previous experiences like the Nord Stream sabotage remind us to be vigilant in this domain.”
The parade also showcased an updated model of the H-6 long-range bomber – China’s answer to America’s B-52 – along with its most modern carrier-based stealth jet, the J-35. New air defence systems were also on display, including truck- and ship-mountable laser weapons.
Presiding over the massive display of military firepower at the Victory Day parade, Xi Jinping declared China was “unstoppable” and would “never be intimidated” by bullies.
Western military experts will pore over vision of the event to gain fresh insights into the People’s Liberation Army’s capabilities, which have advanced rapidly but are believed to not yet outmatch those of the US.
Lowy Institute international security program director Sam Roggeveen said the US remained “peerless” in its global military reach, but “the gap is closing really fast, particularly in the Pacific”.
“China is focusing its efforts on the region. And so in the Pacific, the military balance is very quickly tilting in China’s favour,” Mr Roggeveen said.
“I think there is now plenty of evidence that if there was a war with the US over Taiwan, China would win, or at least that the US would suffer so much damage that they would be reluctant to fight in the first place.”
He said while much of the newest hardware on display was not yet in service, the parade offered a preview of what was to come.
“It speaks to the scale of the effort. The US is obviously investing in (new military capabilities) as well but not to this scale.
“It speaks to massive ambition on China’s part and to the fact that they want to build a fully indigenous military-industrial complex.”
General Kevin Schneider, the US’s top air force officer in the Pacific, told a conference ahead of the parade that the US was not intimidated by such Chinese shows of force.
“Nations like China, and North Korea, and Russia, and others, do these kind of events,” he said.
“You know, messaging is certainly a factor there, but I think the takeaway for this is we are not deterred.
“We will continue to stay ahead of the challenges. We will continue to find ways to advance our capabilities and to deal with potential adversary systems as they are developed and fielded.”
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout