The People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China is distinguished by its large numbers and has been on the list of the most powerful armies in the world for a long time. Building on and consolidating the latest successes, Beijing officials continue to implement a large-scale program for the modernization of the armed forces. It implies the construction of new facilities and equipment, the deployment of new units, etc. The full implementation of the existing plans will be completed in the mid-thirties.
New tasks in the context of the renewal of the armed forces a few days ago were announced by the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Last Wednesday, October 18, the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party opened at the Beijing House of People's Assembly. During this event, it was planned to discuss the successes achieved since the previous congress, as well as to determine the range of tasks for the party and the national economy for the next five years and the next period.
After the inauguration of the congress, the President of the People's Republic of China read out a lengthy report entitled "To achieve a decisive victory in building a society of average income, to win the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era." In his report, Xi Jinping touched upon all the main areas of activity of the party and the state, including the further development of the People's Liberation Army of China. He also defined the main goals for the next decades. So, in the field of economics, two 15-year programs are planned for 2020-50, with the help of which it is planned to improve the economic situation and ensure the modernization of this sector.
According to the instructions of the President of the PRC, the development of the armed forces will continue. The process of updating and modernizing the PLA should be completed in 2035. After that, the army will fully meet the requirements of the time. According to Xi Jinping, China has already reached a new key moment in strengthening its defenses. Now it is necessary to implement the instructions of the party so that the army will enter a new era and be adapted to new conditions.
In the meantime, less complex tasks are being set. Prior to the early twenties, significant progress is needed in the field of information technology. In addition, by 2020, the strategic potential of the army should be increased by developing existing structures.
After 2035, the development of the army will not be stopped. Over the next few years, until the middle of the century, it is proposed to continue the modernization of the armed forces in order to bring them to the world level. What measures Beijing will take in the future, after 2040-50, has not yet been specified.
According to the order of the CPC leadership, in the future, the People's Liberation Army of China should have the most modern look. It is necessary to develop and modernize all types of armed forces and combat arms. Such an update will be carried out both through certain transformations, and through the development of promising samples of the material part. The bulk of this work is planned to be completed by the mid-thirties. By 2050, respectively, China should take the leading position in the world.
Traditionally, one of the ways to build up military power is to increase the defense budget. Showing high rates of economic development as a whole, the PRC has the ability to systematically increase defense spending. So, this year the growth was about 7%, and 1,078 billion yuan (about 156 billion US dollars) was allocated for defense needs. Curiously, many studies mention the existence of certain secret defense spending, and taking into account such spending, the total size of the military budget could exceed 1200-1300 billion yuan. Regardless of how the general budget is calculated, China consistently holds the second place in the world in terms of military spending.
At the same time, the Chinese army does not have any particular problems with the number of personnel. There are about two million people serving in it, and the large number of those wishing to enter the service leads to the emergence of a real competition with several applicants for one place. All this guarantees the People's Liberation Army of China the first place in terms of the number of military personnel and reservists.
In addition to increasing numerical indicators, the military and political leadership of the PRC is engaged in the development of defense structures. So, since the beginning of the year, the Central Council for Integrated Civil-Military Cooperation, headed by the President of the PRC personally, has been operating. The task of the council is to control promising defense developments and other projects. According to available data, the formation of this structure has already led to some positive consequences in the context of the creation of new weapons and equipment.
One of the main methods of modernizing the PLA should be the creation and construction of modern military equipment and weapons. At the moment, the basis of the fleet of combat vehicles, etc. are relatively old samples, primarily created on the basis of Soviet developments. In recent years, China has been actively developing and bringing new projects to a series, but so far the share of obsolete products is quite large. The process of producing and supplying new samples required to obtain the desired results can take several decades.
By now, China's defense industry has begun to renew its fleet of ground forces. To replace the obsolete Type 59 tanks still in the units, the modern Type 96, Type 99 and VT-4 are being built. A program has been launched to replace obsolete armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. Similar processes are taking place in the field of artillery, anti-aircraft systems, etc. Measures are being taken to create modern information and control systems.
The combat composition of the PLA air force now also differs in a specific state. For many decades, the Chinese army has been operating relatively old aircraft based on Soviet designs. However, in recent decades, China has been able to master the production of fourth-generation fighters and other modern aviation technology. In the near future, it is expected to launch the production of the first new generation fighters, and these can be several types of aircraft at once.
Of particular interest is the PLA's naval modernization program. Over the past few years, the Chinese shipbuilding industry has managed to pick up an impressive pace of new ships in a number of major classes. A significant number of Type 051 and 052 destroyers, Project 054 frigates and other ships have already been built. The construction of multi-purpose landing ships, corvettes, missile boats, etc. is also underway. The most important project in the development of the Navy is the construction of new aircraft carriers. One such ship has already been accepted into the fleet; the second was launched this spring. It is expected that in the foreseeable future, Chinese shipyards will be able to build new aircraft carriers.
The program for the construction of Type 094 strategic nuclear submarines is approaching its completion. By the end of the decade, eight such ships will serve in the Chinese Navy. There is information about the beginning of construction of the first Type 96 boats with enhanced combat characteristics. Also, the submarine fleet should strengthen several nuclear and non-nuclear multipurpose submarines.
Despite the understandable atmosphere of secrecy, certain information about the development of the PLA's missile forces still becomes public knowledge. In recent years, information has appeared on the development of promising strategic missile systems of several types. In addition, new connections were formed. Over the past several years, a project for the development of a railway-based missile system has been discussed.
In parallel with leading foreign countries, China is reportedly studying the topic of hypersonic strike systems. According to foreign press reports, in 2014-2016, American intelligence recorded seven test launches of a hypersonic vehicle known as the DF-ZF. There is no detailed information about this project, but it naturally raises concerns of foreign experts. Such an aircraft can be used as a carrier of a warhead of one type or another.
Since 2015, China has been building its own space constellation of reconnaissance satellites used in the missile attack warning system. Several such vehicles have already been sent into orbit. Several more launches will take place in the foreseeable future. The deployment of the Beidou navigation system is also continuing. There is already a group of reconnaissance satellites in space. In the future, the PRC will continue to send new vehicles for various purposes into orbit, which will expand the range of tasks of the space group.
Current projects to create promising technology in the foreseeable future will lead to a serious upgrade of the material part of the People's Liberation Army of China. At the same time, certain problems are observed in some areas. Due to the lack of promising projects that correspond to modern trends, there is a certain lag behind foreign countries, and in the future it may further increase.
Leading foreign countries are already working on fourth-generation tanks, and a Russian project of this kind is already approaching the start of mass production. The Chinese industry, as far as we know, cannot yet go beyond the previous third generation. The creation of a completely new tank will take some time - and it may appear only by the mid-thirties.
A far more serious problem for the PLA is the lack of a modern strategic bomber. All long-range aviation is built on Xian H-6 aircraft, which are a further development of the long-term and hopelessly outdated Soviet Tu-16. Earlier there were various reports about Beijing's intention to create a new aircraft of this class, but real work in this direction, apparently, is still far from the desired finale.
By creating new models of weapons and equipment of existing and promising classes, China is theoretically able to reduce the gap with foreign countries not only in quantity, but also in quality. At the same time, such works, planned for the near future, will not be the last in the framework of a long and ambitious program for the modernization of the PLA.
For obvious reasons, even the newest technology that is currently being put into service will have time to become obsolete morally and physically by 2035. If the new samples lag behind their foreign counterparts, then such difficulties will appear several years earlier. However, such problems will be solved as they become available and in the most obvious way - through the timely development of new samples that meet current requirements.
Thus, already now, in 2017, it can be assumed that new projects of various weapons and equipment will follow the well-known and so far only being developed. Thanks to this, modern products will eventually give way to newer and more perfect ones. As a result, in 2035, the role of samples requiring replacement will not be hopelessly outdated Type 59 tanks or J-7 aircraft, but the current Type 96 and J-11.
Over the past several years, the Chinese military department, in cooperation with the defense industry, has been engaged in the modernization of the armed forces, primarily in the context of the renewal of the materiel. In the future, similar processes will continue, which will lead to new results.
According to Xi Jinping's instructions, announced at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China, by 2035, the defense industry and related industries should jointly ensure a radical renewal of the equipment and weapons park, maximizing the share of new material. Over the next 15 years, such work will continue, and their goal will be to create the most powerful army in the world. It is too early to say whether the Chinese specialists will cope with such tasks. Beijing is showing great zeal in the development of its armed forces, and therefore has every chance of realizing its plans, both in the short and in the distant future.
