A new report says Israel has helped China develop a new fighter jet built with Russian components and is weighing a Chinese request for an Israeli radar system.
A report by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation said China has
sought Israeli radar for its new J-10 Chengdu fighter-jet. The J-10 is said
to make extensive use of foreign components, largely from Russia, Middle East Newsline reported.
Military discussion between Israel and China have not been in the news since
the Jewish state cancelled the Phalcon airborne
early-warning radar to Beijing last year. The cancellation came after heavy
U.S. pressure.
The report also cited "possible Israeli design assistance" for China's HQ-9/FT-2000
surface-to-air missile and the SONG conventional submarine.
The report said the Chengdu J-10 multirole fighter was built with
Israeli help. Israel, Fisher said, provided assistance in developing the
airframe and control system.
The engine for the J-10 "will be a Russian Saturn-Alyuka AL-31FN and its radar likely
from Israel or Russia, or influenced by their technology," the report,
authored by Richard Fisher, said. "The new SD-10 active guided air-launched
anti-aircraft missile uses the radar and data link from Russia's very
capable Vympel R-77, combined with a Chinese missile motor."
Fisher, a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, is the managing
editor of China Brief. The publication focuses on China's emerging strategic
power.
Fisher, in a report entitled "Military Sales to China: Going to Pieces,"
said Beijing seeks to build indigenous weapons
with imported foreign-made components. The report said Israel's Phalcon
radar was to have been placed on a Russian Il-76 cargo plane.
"The PLA [Chinese military] was hoping to make the Phalcon, which used
modern and effective phased-array
technology, a centerpiece of its developing military information
architecture, and a critical force-multiplier for the PLAAF [air force],"
the report said. "The PLA timetable was set back several years. The
embarrassment of powerlessness over the situation would have been avoided
had the system been built in China, had China been able to develop it."
The report said China's military has still not mastered what it termed
the current intermediate stage of
coproduction. It cited a 1996 contract to coproduce 200 J-11 aircraft, a
version of Russia's Su-27SK fighter-jet. The first two jets were so poorly
assembled that Russian technicians had to rebuild them.
But the J-11, produced by China's Shenyang, has been improved and now
has a better finish that Russian-made Su-27s. Shenyang will also modify its
J-11s with a new Chinese radar that will make them multi-role fighter and
attack capable.
The report said China plans to obtain a range of systems and technology
from Britain. They include micro- and nano-satellites and airborne
early-warning radar for the Y-8 aircraft.
