http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/19-11-2009/110601-china_russia-0
China Humbly Launches Serial Production of Stolen Russian Fighter Jets
China has launched the serial production of J-10, J-11 and FC-1 fighter
jets, which are rip-offs of Russia's Su-27/30 and MiG-29 aircraft. The nation
intends to build and sell not less than 1,200 planes at the prices which will
be much lower than those of the Russian planes.
The report is not the news for the Russian defense industry. In 2003,
China refused to prolong the license for the production of Su-27CK planes and
started working on the construction of its own jet - a copy of the Russian
analogue. China will put competitive pressure on Russia on the market of spare
parts too.
Beijing plans to challenge Russia on its traditional defense industry
markets and become the maker of inexpensive and efficient air materiel.
Malaysian military officials have already expressed their readiness to
cooperate with China at this point. A senior official of Malaysia's Air Force
said that his nation was going to purchase a batch of spare parts to Russian
fighter jets from China.
Malaysia 's Royal Air Force has 18 Russian-made Su-30MKM aircraft. Their
technical servicing is the corner stone of Russia's entire arms export. There
were a number of serious incidents when Russian manufacturers could not execute
their contracts with delivering spare parts to Malaysia. Malaysia had to refuse
from the exploitation of MiG-29 planes. The promised technical center in India
was never materialized either.
Russia has delivered 76 Su-27 fighter jets to China since 1992. In 1995
Moscow granted a license to Beijing to assemble 200 more of those planes. As a
result, Russia's renowned Su-27 fighter jet was "cloned" in China as J-11.
Russia was originally delivering spare parts to China, but Beijing refused to
prolong the license in 2003. By 2008, China had designed its only analogues of
the Russian engine, radar and other equipment.
Chain started the licensed and non-licensed production of analogues of
Soviet planes a long time ago. The nation's J-6 and J-7 fighters were created
on the base of MiG-10 and MiG-21. H-6 bombers were copied from Tu-16; Y-5, Y-7
and Y-8 are rip-offs of Russia's An-2, An-24 and An-12.
The military cooperation between Russia and China has had a 62-percent
reduction since 2007. There are practically no new contracts between the two
countries.
The Pentagon traditionally evaluated China's defense technologies in its
recent report about the level of the nation's defense power. US officials
believe that China's level of technological development in the defense industry
was much lower than that of the United States. Nevertheless, the Pentagon
acknowledged that China's defense budget was growing faster than the nation's
economy.
China is going to start the production of large vessels and develop a new
generation of arms and military hardware for its navy. Priority will be paid to
the construction of superships, a new type of submarines, supersonic jets,
missiles and other arms.
After 2020, Beijing plans to build two nuclear-powered aircraft-carriers
in addition to two other conventional vessels which are going to be launched in
2015. When it happens, China will establish control over the entire western
part of the Pacific Ocean.
Izvestia
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