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Citing civilian satellite imagery, US broadcaster Fox News reported on February 16 that the Chinese military has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of its contested islands in the South China Sea. The report, which was based on pictures from ImageSat International, said the missiles appeared to be the HQ-9 air defense system. US officials and Taiwan's defense ministry were later quoted as saying that the missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island in the Paracels. China has controlled all of the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, since the mid-1970s and the...

The Chinese People's Liberation Army recently staged an intercept exercise targeting the U.S.' latest stealth fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor, Hong Kong's Apple Daily reported Thursday. Japanese media on Oct. 3 reported that the Japanese and U.S. militaries will carry out a joint exercise to practice recapturing the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyutai Islands in November, in case the Chinese capture them in a surprise attack. It said the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington and F-22 Raptors will take part in the exercise. On Oct. 8, five days after the report, a Chinese Air Force brigade in the Chengdu military...

: China recently received the last of 15 battalions of S-300MPU anti-aircraft missile systems bought from Russia. Increasingly, however, China is using its own, locally designed and built, HQ-9 systems. These are also being pushed aggressively to export customers as well. Unlike the S-300, China can upgrade the HQ-9 and sell it to anyone. Thus, earlier this year, an HQ-9 anti-aircraft system successfully shot down a ballistic missile. This capability is important to many potential export customers. China offers HQ-9 for export as the FD-2000. The HQ-9 is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Patriot. While about 30 percent of Chinese...

Iran, in response to Russia's refusal to deliver S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems it bought several years ago, announced that it had gone ahead and designed its own, which will have similar capabilities as the S-300. Now Iran regularly announces it has designed and built modern weapons (which it cannot buy because of three decades of embargos). These weapons rarely show up, although some are seen in prototype form. Meanwhile, the S-300, and similar systems, have not been delivered because Western nations have told Russia and China that if they arm Iran with modern weapons, there will be consequences. But an...

China announced that its domestically developed and manufactured HQ-9 anti-aircraft system had successfully shot down a ballistic missile. No details were released, indicating this was an intercept most anti-aircraft missiles of this type are capable of. In other words, a short range missile like a SCUD. It's unclear why China is doing this, although the fact that they could is probably the most likely one. Although China continues to buy Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, most of their air defense systems are home made. The best of these are the HQ-9. Roughly equivalent to the U.S. Patriot, the Russian built...

The Australian think-tank, Air Power Australia (APA), has released another in their series of techno-strategy papers, this time analysing the advancements in Russian-built Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) (http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-02.html), and what it means in global strategic terms for the Americans. The APA report is direct and unequivocal – Russian radar and missiles have improved to the point where the US fleet of F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s, as well as the planned Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), are not capable of surviving against these systems and unless the Americans build another four hundred-plus F-22s, they will lose the strategic advantage they have...