Alan Dron
The head of China's air force talked yesterday of his service's move away from a purely defensive posture in a speech which is likely to be studied carefully in foreign ministries around the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
Lt Gen Liu Shunyao, commander of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), said that for some time his country had espoused the policy of 'active defence'. This role included facets such as safeguarding China's territorial and maritime rights and conducting active operations in the airspace over them.
Following a decision by Jiang Zemin, the Chairman of China's Central Military Commission, the PLAAF was shifting from a strategy based on purely national air defence toward one which combined both defence and attack, so it could better implement the policy of active defence.
"Though influence by air power on the progress and outcome of war relies on tight air defence deployment and effective air defence operations, it relies much more on air offensive operations, air domination, undermining the enemy's war potential and seizing the initiative of war," he told the Millennium Air Power Conference.
"It is only with both offensive and defensive capabilities that we can effectively deter aggression and realise what Sun Tsu, a Chinese pioneer military strategist said: 'Achieve victory without fighting.'"
The PLAAF is buying a substantial force of Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers from Russia. The type gives it a range and capability far beyond that of older aircraft in the air arm's fleet.
The PLA Navy, meanwhile, is buying a batch of Sovremenyy-class guided missile destroyers from Russia, which will also greatly enhance its strategic reach in the region, and has been in talks over buying an aircraft carrier from the same source.
China has for some time been involved with disputes with neighbouring states over island groups such as the Spratlys and Paracels, which lie some distance from its shores.
It could be predicted, added Lt Gen Liu, that air wars in the early 21st century, as well as being more strategic in nature, would have the following features:
* air power would become the main fighting force in local wars
* the scope of air operations would extend from within the atmosphere to outer space.;
* information superiority would become a precondition for fighting to achieve that air and space superiority.
Source: Flight Daily News
