KWIC Dec.28 The Persian Gulf War of 1991 produced an unprecedented effect on the Chinese army. As the post-war new topics for research and study, such issues have been presented to the Chinese army as the US rapid reaction forces, the in-depth attack competence by means of stealthy bombers, the precision attack capability with reliance mainly on the laser- or TV- guiding system and the cruise missiles, and the electronic warfare used to paralyze the Iraqi C3I.
First of all, the Chinese army believes that only one or two types of air defence missiles are not enough to form a reliable air defence system under the circumstances of a strong electronic jam. Therefore, the Chinese army has been trying to enhance the development and deployment of the ground-to-air missiles in a big way. In succession, the LY60, KS1, FM80, and FM90,QW1,QW2 ground-to-air missiles have been developed and the S300PMU1 and Tor-M ground-to-air missiles have been imported from Russia. It is hoped that a multi-tiered air defence fire network will be established. In terms of its radar technology, the Chinese army has used the variable frequency for its ground-to-air missiles and such missiles with a multi-guidance system as the FM90 have come into being. At present, the S300PMU1, Tor-M, LY60, and FM80 have all been put to use. In face of the strong EW capability possessed by the US navy, China has also developed the FT2000 anti-radiation SAM which is specially used to confront the electronic fighter planes like the E A6B.
In terms of the development of the precision guiding weapons, China has made certain progress in the laser-guided bombs and TV-guided missiles, including the C701 TV-guided missile and at least one type of the laser-guided bombs the KWIC exclusively reported on in the past.
In the meantime, the Chinese army has always been trying to speed up the development of the cruise missile and the anti-cruise missile technology. A good technical foundation has been laid for the development of the land-based cruise missile with a certain high hitting precision. It is propelled by a small turbojet engine and has a launch range of 900 kilometers. In the area of the anti-cruise missile research, China has imported a small number of Tor-M low-altitude interceptive missiles from Russia and is now planning to import or develop on its own the new generation of air defence system with a combination of missiles and cannons. In addition, China also plans to equip its army with the Israeli-made earlier warning radar to increase its low-altitude search capability.
To counter the in-depth infiltration capability possessed by the US F117A stealthy fighter plane, China is now working vigorously on the ways to deal with the situation, for example, the expedition of the development of the meter-wave radar, the millimeter-wave radar, and the infrared or laser-wave radar. At the same time, it is reported that a small number of meter-wave radars have been imported from Russia. Besides all these, China is also in the process of developing the RCS used for its fighter planes.
With the presence of the US powerful space reconnaissance and earlier warning systems, the Chinese army has placed great importance to the development of the camouflage technology, which has been applied in a series of military maneuvers. According to the US Department of Defence, China has been trying to develop a powerful laser tracking system for the use of testing the anti-satellite weapons ( Yihong Zhang).
