Ever since the dawn of China as a global superpower, the diplomatic and strategic relations of the country vis-a-vis other players in the world arena has undergone changes and modifications. Particularly, the equation of the Asian giant with the former Soviet Union has been altered manifold. With China drawing inspiration from Russia in a number of military pursuits, it is inevitable that the two countries are closely bound together when it comes to strategic alliance. Below we present a comparison of the huge domain of Chinese and Russian military weapons and the underlying inferences.
STEALTH FIGHTERS
A twin-engine, mid-size fifth-generation jet fighter, the Shenyang J-31 is a Chinese multi-purpose light fighter that apparently takes ‘inspiration’ from the Pentagon’s Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Touted by Vladimir Barkovsky of Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG as a ‘good machine’, the fighter appears to be “not a copy but a well done indigenous design.”
ALL WEATHER AIRCRAFT
The 4th generation, twin-jet, all-weather, carrier-based fighter aircraft, the Shenyang J-15 is based on the Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-33. China’s first-ever domestic-built fighter jet, the J-15 has been designed for its first-ever domestic-designed aircraft carrier, however, features Russian technology.
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
A training ship that was originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft cruiser Riga, it was rebuilt as Liaoning on 25 September 2012. Liaoning is now classified as a Chinese Type 001 aircraft carrier.
FIGHTER JETS
The twin engine jet fighter, the Shenyang J-11 is based on the Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-27 air superiority fighter. Under a production agreement with Russia, the plane was initially designed to incorporate Russian avionics but was later revoked after the Soviet Union had to halt the production of its Sukhoi. Thus, this fourth generation fighter jet from Russia had to make the switch to domestic technology instead for its operations.
BATTLE TANKS
ZTZ99, a Chinese third generation main battle tank that sports a 125mm smoothbore cannon, capable of firing anti-tank warheads at a range of just over 3 miles, has two distinct advantages over the Russian T-14 Armata, given that it is really inexpensive and also employs proven futuristic technology.
COMBAT DRONES
The Chengdu Pterodactyl I, or the Wing Loong, is a Chinese unmanned drone that made its first flight in 2009. The Pterodactyl can carry almost 220 pounds’ worth of air-to-surface weapons, laser-guided bombs and missiles.
On the other hand, soon to be launched Okhotnik (“Hunter”) is a Russian sixth generation 20 ton unmanned air combat vehicle meant for dangerous, high risk strike and reconnaissance missions.
ANTI SATELLITE MISSILES
China’s DN-3 missile has been developed as apparently an use for missile defense as also Nudol, the A-235 next-generation anti-ballistic missile system from Russia. Both Russia and China however seems to be more interested in pursuit of an anti satellite weapon system. Parallely to Russia, China also conducted another test of its DN-3 midcourse hit-to-kill interceptor against a medium-range ballistic missile target.
STRATEGIC BOMBERS
China became the fourth country to build its own strategic bomber in October 2009 when the nuclear strike enabled Xian H-6K bomber, entered service. The plane is a modified version of the older H-6, which is a licensed version of the Russian Tu-16 bomber.
MILITARY STRENGTH
The comparison of military prowess between the two countries would be incomplete if we do not take into account the personnel strength of their respective armies. With Russia ranked second and China coming at a close third place in terms of numbers, both nations seem to be equally adept in war combats.
