China

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A U.S. Air Force B1-Lancer assigned to the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron sits on a runway during post-flight maintenance in support of Pacific Air Forces’ Bomber Task Force mission at Misawa Air Base, Feb. 20, 2025. Through combined training, the U.S. and intercontinental defense forces work together to promote interoperability, thus furthering our investments and strengthening our relationships.
Air

B-1B Bones Make Unprecedented Bomber Task Force Deployment To Japan

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 17, 2025

J-50 tailless fighter's canopy seen for first time.
Air

Canopy Seen Clearly On China’s Next Gen Tailless Stealth Fighter For First Time

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Apr 16, 2025

China’s full-size aircraft carrier test facility, a key part of the country’s path toward establishing a carrier fleet and associated air wings, has been modified once again. The latest reworking suggests that the aircraft carrier mockup is now intended to represent a layout similar to the U.S. Navy’s Ford class. This may well point to the configuration of China’s next homegrown carrier design, or at least one of the configurations now under study.
Sea

China’s Giant Land-Based Carrier Mockup Grows In Size, Now Resembles Ford Class

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 16, 2025

We have gotten our best look so far at China’s enigmatic KJ-700 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft in service with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). This latest addition to China’s rapidly proliferating family of AEW&C platforms remains somewhat mysterious, although multiple accounts suggest that it’s something of a unique ‘dual-mode’ aircraft, combining both airborne radar as well as an array of electro-optical and infrared sensors, likely intended to track stealthy and low-radar-signature targets.
Air

China’s New KJ-700 Multi-Intelligence Radar Plane’s Interesting Features

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 14, 2025

200925-N-PL200-0001 PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 25, 2020) From left, USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2), USS Germantown (LSD 42), USNS John Ericsson (T-AO 194), USS Antietam (CG 54), USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), USS America (LHA 6), USS Shiloh (CG 67), USS New Orleans (LPD 18), and USS Comstock (LSD 45) steam in formation while E/A-18G Growlers, FA-18E Super Hornets and an E-2D Hawkeye from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 fly over in support of Valiant Shield 2020. Valiant Shield is a U.S. only, biennial field training exercise (FTX) with a focus on integration of joint training in a blue-water environment among U.S. forces. This training enables real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces through detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Lauren Chatmas)
Sea

Navy Is About To Go Big On Massive Joint War Training Across The Pacific

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 8, 2025

J-36 flies over highway
Air

China’s J-36 Tailless Fighter Zips Over Road On Landing Giving Us Our Best Look Yet

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 7, 2025

J-50 images out of china of the new stealth fighter prototype
Air

China’s ‘J-50’ Tailless Stealth Fighter Seen In New Imagery

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Apr 4, 2025

China’s KD-21 air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM), a shadowy weapon that is widely seen as part of the country’s rapidly developing anti-shipping armory, appears to now be in operational service. The missile, carried by the H-6K bomber, made its public debut at Airshow China in Zhuhai in November 2022, but until now had not been confirmed as being carried by aircraft assigned to frontline unit.
Air

China’s KD-21 Air-Launched Ballistic Missile Appears To Be Operational

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Apr 1, 2025

J36 second flight from its base in Chengdu.
Air

China’s J-36 Tailless Stealth Fighter Seen Flying For Second Time

By Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Mar 17, 2025

More imagery has appeared of China’s new ‘invasion barge,’ which involves a temporary pier that can be connected to other vessels via a barge, or series of barges, with jack-up supports. The development of jack-up barges is widely seen as part of preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan. On the other hand, they also reflect the growing use of ostensibly non-military maritime assets to support amphibious operations by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Sea

Our Best Look Yet At China’s New ‘Invasion Barges’

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Mar 13, 2025

U.S. Air Force officials remain focused on the ability to disperse forces to far-flung operating locations as the primary means of reducing vulnerability to enemy attacks.
Air

USAF Generals Downplay Calls For More Hardened Aircraft Shelters In Pacific Theater

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Mar 5, 2025

China’s Massive WZ-9 Divine Eagle Drone Now Operating From South China Sea Base
Air

China’s Massive WZ-9 Divine Eagle Drone Now Operating From South China Sea Base

By Joseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway

Updated on Feb 25, 2025

A rare Chinese naval drill with a previously unannounced live-fire component has disrupted air traffic over and around the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
News & Features

China’s Sudden Live Fire Naval Drills Off Australia Rattle Canberra

By Joseph Trevithick

Updated on Feb 21, 2025

Satellite imagery shows the extent of the massive amount of work that has been done in the past year to restore more than 20 million square feet of runways and other World War II-era infrastructure at historic North Field on the U.S. island of Tinian in the Western Pacific.
Air

Massive WWII B-29 Bomber Base Fully Reclaimed For Future Pacific Fight

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 19, 2025

We may have just gotten our first sight of China’s next-generation aircraft carrier, generally referred to as the Type 004. Construction work at a shipyard in Dalian, in China’s Liaoning province, reveals a module that is consistent with an aircraft carrier — which would be China’s fourth — although there remain many questions about the precise nature of the object.
Sea

Structure At Chinese Shipyard May Point To China’s Next Aircraft Carrier’s Capabilities

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Feb 13, 2025

At least 20 U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft, 10 KC-46s and an equal number of KC-135s, supported the first day of the latest Bamboo Eagle exercise off the California Coast, according to online flight tracking data.
Air

Tankers Flood Airspace Off The California Coast For China-Focused Air Combat Exercise

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Feb 11, 2025