Rapid Fire May 18, 2012: Chinese Military Assessment
Not a “heart” emoticon
The US Department of Defense released its annual report [PDF] to Congress on Chinese military developments. Analysis of spending is pretty bare-bones: “Using 2011 prices and exchange rates, DoD estimates China’s total military-related spending for 2011 ranges between $120 billion and $180 billion.” The report is thankfully more detailed on capabilities. For context, earlier reports in this series from 2010 and 2011 [PDFs] estimated military spending at $150B and $160B respectively. Last month the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated that many observers are drawing false conclusions from fixating their rear view mirror.
This comes as a good backdrop for recent news:
- Do these capabilities now include naval VTUAVs? Bought from Austria??
- Japan to provide patrol ships to the Philippines.
- Russia is considering fitting foreign weapons on export helicopters.
- Coming next week: a NATO summit in Chicago where discussions on when to withdraw from Afghanistan, and what capabilities to sustain there in the long run, may prove contentious.
- Meanwhile large chunks of northwestern Africa seem to be turning into the sort of safe haven for terrorists that the war in Afghanistan was meant to prevent.
- An engineer at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, has been working on safer hand grenades. His design also intends to make grenades easier to operate for left-handed soldiers. It’s too bad stick grenades are bulky.
