China upgrading air power to counter India

BEIJING: China is upgrading the air defence facilities of its Western Theatre Command, which is responsible for mountain warfare with India besides monitoring the Line of Actual Control on the India-China border.
State-run media quoted a military expert as saying on Tuesday that the upgrade was being done to “confront any threat from India”. This is a rare statement from a Chinese expert as they usually talk about India’s military inferiority compared to China.

The People’s Liberation Army tried to provide proof of its upgradation programme by releasing photographs of a J-10 fighter jet (a lightweight multi-role fighter aircraft) along with a J-11 (a single-seat, twin-engine fighter jet) flying over the high-altitude plateau in western China during the current Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holiday.

The LAC stretches 3,488 km and includes the high-altitude Tibetan plateau.

PLA’s website said the jets are attached to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Western Theatre Command.

“Strengthening the 3.5-generation fighter jets or even stationing more advanced fighters in the Western Theatre Command has been urgent for the PLA,” Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told Global Times.

It is significant for China to strengthen control of airspace over the mountainous region, Song said. Such upgrades have been usually first conducted in the South and the East Theatre Commands.

China’s stationing of its 3.5-generation jets would be able to deal with any current threat from India in view of the fact that India possesses 3rd-generation fighter jets, Song said. “With India importing new jets, China will continue strengthening its fighter jets in the Western Theatre Command,” Song said.

China has also recently commissioned a stealth fighter, the J-20, a first in the region. The PLA website reported that the PLA Air Force conducted training at the foot of the Qilian mountains in northwest China’s Gansu province, and a navy aviation regiment was on patrol in Jiaodong peninsula, in East China’s Shandong province, during the recent Chinese New Year holidays.