China has 3-D topographic maps of Ladakh
As Deputy Chief of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), Lt. Gen. Wang Guanzhong arrives in India for the annual Defence Dialogue, some interesting news has just come from China, which apparently possess the latest 3-D topographical maps of the Ladakh front.
It raises an important question: will the Indian Defence Secretary R K Mathur, when he receives Lt. Gen. Wang Guanzhong, discuss an exchange of maps in Ladakh/Aksai Chin?
Probably not! It is a pity.
According to PTI, “The talks are expected to cover defence exchanges, joint military exercises as well as steps to increase confidence building measures between the two forces in the light of the signing of the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA).”
A fourth round of military exercises, to be held in India, should also be discussed.
The Defence Dialogue will be followed by a Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) on March 18-19. The Indian delegation will be headed by Deputy Chief of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Regarding the Defence Dialogue, the Indian Defence Secretary will probably be too shy to raise the issue of exchanging maps showing the Indian and Chinese ‘perceptions’ of the Line of Actual Control.
In any case, Lt. Gen. Wang Guanzhong would certainly say that he is not in a position to supply proper maps of Beijing’s ‘perceptions’.
However, an article in
The People’s Daily recently boasted of high quality of 3D topographic maps available in Lanzhou Military Area Command, which looks after the Ladakh front, particularly places such as Daulat Beg Oldi, Chumar or Demchok.
The People’s Daily reported: “Chinese military has unveiled its world advanced three-dimensional (3D) topographic map of Lanzhou city”.
It explained: “A measuring and mapping information center under the Lanzhou Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used world-advanced 3D printing technology in the topographic map-making and successfully developed China’s first 3D topographic map on November 20, 2013.”
Rest assured that the maps are not for Lanzhou City only.
This practically means that the Chinese troops posted in the Aksai Chin and other parts of Ladakh possess the most accurate maps of these disputed areas. The Communist mouth piece affirmed: “Compared with the traditional man-made sand tables, the latest 3D topographic map has lighter weight and portability. Obsolete maps were used as the printing materials instead of professional and expensive printing materials such as gypsums. It has cut down the cost to the maximum and made the map highly promotable [portable?].”
The People’s Daily, quoting an official of the Lanzhou MAC, further asserted: “The 3D topographic map can provide accurate and reliable basis for military topographic analysis, for commanders to make decisions and for troop units to carry out their missions, thus it possesses high military application values.”
Wang Mingxiao, the director of the research team told the Chinese newspaper: “The research team had been dedicated to upgrade the map by improving the precision of the A4-sized 3D topographic map from the previous 1.0 mm to present 0.1 mm, and shortening the printing time from the previous 24 hours to 8 hours. They also expanded the scope of the 3D topographic map as well.”
However Lt. Gen. Wang Guanzhong is bound to tell the Indian Defence Secretary that China can’t provide maps of what it 'perceives' as China’s Line of Actual Control.
Beijing still believes that its interests are better served, if confusion over the LAC continues to prevail.
India: China's main enemy?
Indian defence ministry had announced that it had prioritized its expenditure for the remaining months of the financial year.
The ministry had decided to focus on purchases that would impact on the armed forces' operational preparedness.
For example, the ministry planned to speed up infrastructure development in Arunachal Pradesh, buy ammunition to end shortages and acquire high-value assets, from aircraft to warships.
Defence minister A.K Antony asked then the three forces to focus on operational preparedness.
In May, A.K. Antony had declared in Parliament that he would seek a hike in the Rs 1,93,408 crore defence outlay of the 2012-13 budget.
He spoke of 'new ground realities' and 'changing security scenario'. Only a hike of the budget could take care of the threat of the China-Pakistan military nexus, he said.
Now, the finance ministry has decided otherwise.
It has been announced that the modernization budget of the armed forces will be slashed by around Rs 10,000 crore in the forthcoming budget.
The Times of India
commented: "The move will lead to a major slowdown in the ongoing acquisition projects ranging from aircraft and helicopters to howitzers and missiles. It also makes it clear that the already much-delayed $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 fighters will not be inked anytime before March 31," adding "IAF had been assured an additional Rs 10,000 crore to cater for the first instalment of the MMRCA projectunder which final commercial negotiations are underway for French Rafale fighters, if inked within this fiscal."
While Delhi prevaricate, China is testing a new “Air Force tactical level combat simulation system” which has been co-developed by the Chinese Air Force Command College and Sichuan Wisesoft Co. Ltd..
It apparently includes 4 sub-systems: air combat simulation, Tactics Research, Tactical command confrontation and AWACS simulation.
But that is not the most interesting!
Watch the YouTube video posted below.
What do you see near the simulation equipment?
The Indian and Chinese flags.
It probably means that China takes seriously India's preparedness (though it was before the latest budget cuts which will delay many of the important modernization projects!).
One should not forget that for the first time in October an Air Force Officer, General Xu Qiliang has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).
It opens interesting perspectives for the Air Force; General Xu was Air Chief (known as Commander of the PLAAF) from 2007 to 2012; he had become ‘ex-officio’ CMC member in October 2007, though ‘ex-officio’ is not entirely correct as nothing can be taken as routine or normal at this level in China.
Today, he is one of the two Vice-Chairmen who run the Chinese defence forces (PLA, PLAAF, PLAN and Second Artillery).
Beijing knows the importance of the Air Force in a future conflict.
To give an example, Major-General Dai Xu, a Professor at the National Defense University of the PLA recently published a commentary in The Global Times
.
The General argued that Beijing should acquire "a powerful Air Force to deal with the crisis in the open sea".
He noted that "Japan has continuously dispatched F-15 fighters to intercept Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft and has deployed anti-submarine aircraft to harass China's ocean surveillance ships. ...For Japan to send fighter jets is a qualitative change in diplomatic moves. … The Chinese Air Force has no choice but to come forward with equivalent or even greater efforts. The Chinese Air Force should develop a plan as soon as possible, have targeted training and deployment, make sure China is able to take immediate action when needed, and be able to win the war when in the fight.”
Openly, Japan and the US are still the enemies, but China is also preparing to open a Western front in Tibet, to be activated, if and when required.
It is perhaps not the right time for India to take a nap.
Simulation system shows India is the main enemy of China
January 2, 2013
China Military News by China-defense-mashup)
In recent Chinese CCTV military news report, China has develop a new air combat simulation system for PLA Air Force. It is interesting that TV screen show that the single unit of simulation is marked with Chinese and Indian national flags. This may indicate that Chinese Air Force has eyed Indian air power as its main counterpart.
This so-called “Air Force tactical level combat simulation system” is co-developed by Air Force Command College and Sichuan Wisesoft Co.,Ltd. including 4 sub-systems: air combat simulation, Tactics Research, Tactical command confrontation and AWACS simulation. This new system builds a platform for multi-level and real-time air combat simulation for pilots to be familiar with modern air war in context of information age.
Besides, this system will help Chinese Air Force to dig new theory and doctrines for its strategic power transformation.
Huang Anxiang, the engineer of PLA Air Force Command College Training Center, introduces that the simulation system can be easily converted into the corresponding fighters or attackers, such as J-10, J-11, Q-5 and JH-7. The Pilots can be turned from rookie to be “ACE” in the shortest time to fully play the greatest effectiveness of combat aircraft and other weapons.
In recent years, China has built and converted five large strategic airports near the Sino-Indian border, which are all high-grade airport for large transport aircraft taking off and landing.
Nyingchi [Nyingtri] Airport: located at the Mainling territory’s Brahmaputra valley and only kilometers from the southern Tibet Sino-Indian border area. China started construction in October 2003, a total investment of 780 million yuan, 2,949 meters above sea level. Nyingchi Airport opened at the end of 2005.
Shigatse Pingan airport: Shigatse Pingan airport’s location is near the highway of China and Nepal border. From Shigatse Pingan airport, people can easily reach of the Himalayas Mountain area. Airport is 3782m above sea level. Shigatse Pingan airport opened at the October, 2010.
Qamdo [Chamdo] Bangda Airport: Qamdo Bamda Airport, located in Bamda, Qamdo, is the highest airport in the world, at an elevation of 4,334 metres. It has the longest publicly used runway in the world, at 5,500 m. The airport’s expansion was completed in July 2009.
Ngari Gunsa Airport: Ngari Gunsa Airport is a dual-use military and civil airport serving the town of Shiquanhe in Ngari Prefecture, in the southwest of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and only only 90 kilometers away from the northern section of the disputed territory and India. It started operations on 1 July 2010, becoming the fourth civil airport in Tibet after Lhasa, Nyingchi, and Qamdo airports. Situated at 4,274 m (14,022 ft) above sea level, Gunsa Airport has the best airport of takeoff and landing conditions of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The runway length of 4,500 meters can meet taking-off/landing requirements of Airbus A319, Boeing-737, Boeing-700, IL-76, Y-8 transport aircraft and combat aircraft like Su-27, J-10, H-6 bomber. Almost all Northern Indian area is under the radius of 1,000 km range from Ngari Gunsa Airport.
Nagqu [Nagchu] Dagring Airport is an airport under construction near Nagqu in the Nagqu Prefecture of Tibet. When completed in 2014 it will be the highest airport in the world at 4,436 m, surpassing Qamdo Bangda Airport (also in Tibet) as the highest. Construction began in 2011 and is scheduled to take three years. It Is expected to be completed in 2014 when the airport annual handling capacity of 2.2 million passengers and 15,000 tons of cargo.
China plateau airports’ number have been up to 3/4 of the world. According to the plan, by 2020, the Chinese side of the Sino-Indian border, the airport number will be 20. These airports in accordance with the almost the same interval, extending from the northwest to southeast across most of the area of sino-india border security.
Half a century has gone by since a border war between China and India broke out in the eastern Himalayas on October 20, 1962. Memories of that war linger not only at the Indian national policymaking level but also in local discourses in northeast India, given the Indian defeat at the hands of China in 1962. The border issue remains disputed.
China plans to deploy its fifth-generation fighter aircraft, the J-20 in this region, once the radar-evading stealth fighter jet gets operational by 2018. Six divisions of China’s Rapid Reaction Forces (RRF) are stationed at Chengdu with 24-hour operational readiness and supported by an airlift capability to transport the troops to the India-China border within 48 hours.
Missiles for targetting India
These missiles are deployed in Qinghai (formerly Amdo) province in Eastern Tibet.The deployment of DF-21 missiles may have caused 'constipation' in India after the publication of the 2010 Pentagon report and the Times of India may have wrongly written 'close to the border', it is nevertheless a development which should be closelywatched by Delhi.
The sinodefence.com site mentioned the missile: "The PLA Second Artillery Corps fielded a new type conventionally-armed, solid-propellant, mobile-launch medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) in 2004-05. Carried and launched from a wheeled 10X10 transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle, the missile is believed to be capable of delivering a single and multiple conventional warheads weighing 2,000kg and have a maximum range of 1,700km."
The US Report quoted above also states (in the same chapter): "China is currently investing in road development along the Sino-Indian border primarily to facilitate economic development in western China; improved roads would also support PLA border defense operations."
The tremendous development of roads in Nyingchi prefecture, north of the McMahon Line is a factor to be taken into consideration knowing that a railway is planned to reach the area in a few years time.
DF-21C Missile Deploys to Central China
FAS Strategic Security Blog
By Hans M. Kristensen
The latest Pentagon report on Chinese military forces recently triggered sensational headlines in the Indian news media that China had deployed new nuclear missiles close to the Indian border.
The news reports got it wrong, but new commercial satellite images reveal that launch units for the new DF-21C missile have deployed to central-western China.
New DF-21C Launch Units
Analysis of commercial satellite imagery reveals that launch units for the road-mobile DF-21C medium-range ballistic missile now deploy several hundred kilometers west of Delingha in the western part of central China.
Location of DF-21C Launch Units
In one image, taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite on June 14, 2010, two launch units are visible in approximately 230 km west of Delingha. The units are dug into the dry desert slopes near Mount Chilian along national road G215. Missile launchers, barracks, maintenance and service units are concealed under large dark camouflage, which stands out clearly in the brown desert soil.
The eastern launch unit (38° 6’37.75″N, 94°59’2.19″E) includes a central area with red barracks clearly visible below the camouflage, which probably also covers logistic units such as communications vehicles, fuel trucks, and personnel carriers. An 88×17 meter garage of brown camouflaged probably covers the launcher service area, with five 15-meter garages nearby probably housing the TELs. Approximately 130 meters north of the central area, brown camouflage and dirt barriers possibly house the unit’s remote fuel area. Two launch pads are visible, one only 180 meters from the main section, the other on the access road leading to national road G215.
The western launch unit (38° 9’32.82″N, 94°55’37.02″E) is located approximately 7 km further west about 2.4 km to the north of national road G215. The unit consists of four sections: personnel barracks (almost 100 with more possibly under camouflage); a logistic vehicles area; a launcher service area with a 90×33 meter camouflage and four garages; and what is possibly a remote fuel storage area. A launch pad is located along the access road close to G215.
The satellite image shows what appears to be a DF-21C entering or leaving the camouflaged launcher service area. The characteristic nose cone of the missile canister embedded into the rear of the driver cockpit is clearly visible, with the rest of launcher probably covered by a tarp.
This is, to my knowledge, the first time that the DF-21C has been identified in a deployment area. In 2007, I used commercial satellite images to describe the first visual signs of the transition from DF-4 to DF-21 at Delingha. A second article in 2008 described the extensive system of launch pads that extends west from Delingha along national road G215 past Da Qaidam.
There are five launch pads within five miles of the two launch units, with dozens other pads along and north of G215 in both directions.
More Invulnerable but with Limits
China’s ongoing modernization from old liquid-fuel missiles to new solid-fuel missiles is getting a lot of attention. The new systems are more mobile and thus less vulnerable to attack. Yet the satellite images also give hints about limitations.
First, the launch units are large with a considerable footprint that covers an area of approximately 300×300 meters. They are manpower-intensive requiring large numbers of support equipment. This makes them harder to move quickly and relatively easy to detect by satellite images.
DF-21C Launch Unit on the Move
The DF-21C medium-range ballistic missile may be more mobile and harder to target than older missiles, but it still relies on a large support unit that can be detected. Image: CCTV-7
Individual launchers of course would be dispersed into the landscape in case of war. But although the road-mobile launcher has some off-road capability, it requires solid ground when launching to prevent damage from debris kicked up by the rocket engine. As a result, launchers would have to stay on roads or use the pre-made launch pads that stand out clearly in high-resolution satellite images. Moreover, a launcher would not simply drive off and launch by itself, but need to be followed by support vehicles for targeting, repair, and communication.
Has China used nuclear devices on the Brahmaputra?
Zangmu dam
A
Times of India's blog has reported a strange piece of news. Citing a classified Indian intelligence source, it says that China 'surreptitiously conducted three to four 'low yield atomic explosions' in Tibet in March 2005' to clear the mountainous terrain 'to divert the Yarlung Tsangpo river'.
Though the information is certainly incorrect as the purported diversion of the Brahmaputra is planned far upstream on the Brahmaputra/Tsangpo and not in the Great Bent, it is however important to stop a minute on the information.
In the early 2000s, I look into the issue and I wrote:
The project [to divert the Brahmaputra] was reported in the
Scientific American in June 1996. This article giving credence to the Chinese plans. The journal wrote: “Recently some Chinese engineers proposed diverting water into this arid area [Gobi Desert] from the mighty Brahmaputra River, which skirts China’s southern border before dipping into India and Bangladesh. Such a feat would be ‘impossible’ with conventional methods, engineers stated at a meeting held last December at the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics in Beijing. But they added that “we can certainly accomplish this project” with nuclear explosives.”
The US journal continued: “This statement is just one of the many lately in which Chinese technologists and officials have touted the potential of nuclear blasts for carrying out non-military goals.”
At that time, it was said that one of the reasons for China’s refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was because their desire to keep the possibility of experimenting with what is called PNE (Peaceful Nuclear Explosion). The Chinese argument was “why should promising and potentially useful technology be abandoned.” The diversion was first reported in the Indian Press in June 1997 when
Outlook magazine wrote a piece entitled: “A river runs through it — China proposes to divert the Brahmaputra at source to green the arid Gobi desert.”
The Delhi magazine said: “The initial report — that the Chinese were planning to raise their food output in the decades ahead — was hardly stop-press material. But as details leaked out, policymakers in India and Bangladesh felt a shiver of apprehension: the Chinese proposed to divert the Brahmaputra river at source, in Tibet, even set off a peaceful nuclear explosion, to serve their purpose .”
Outlook also revealed that “the concern in Assam and Bangladesh is understandable. The Luit - as the river [Brahmaputra] is locally called - figures prominently in the folklore and culture of Assam and the Northeast; has been the theme of countless Bhupen Hazarika songs. The river is crucial to the economy of the entire region, where the concept of irrigation through groundwater sources has not really taken off.”
In the coming months, more publicity was given to the dam as well as the diversion proposals. In September 1997, Agence France Press in Beijing reported: "Three experts propose construction of giant dam in Tibet". It stated: "After a long experience of exploration on the site, we believe that the project could begin to be included in the agenda of the concerned department”. Electricity produced was claimed to be: “available for export to Bangladesh, Burma and India and the diverted water could irrigate the northwestern deserts of the country".
The project was also mentioned in news briefs in the
China Daily Business Weekly (21 September 1997) and the
International Water Power & Dam Construction Monthly (November 1997).
The Metok Tunnel
In January 1998, , the German TV channel
ZDF presented a feature on the Yarlung Tsangpo project, in a program entitled "Die Welt" [The World]. The Chief Planner, Professor Chen Chuanyu was interviewed. He described the plan to drill a 15 km (9.3 miles) tunnel through the Himalayas to divert the water before the U turn and direct it to the other end of the bend. This would shorten the distance of the approximately 3,000 meters altitude drop from 200 km to just 15 km. He explained that the hydropower potential of 40,000 megawatt could be used to pump water to Northwest China over 800 km away.
An interesting aspect that we have briefly mentioned is that this area known to the Tibetans as Pemakö (Metok) was considered to be a sacred area, rarely visited by outsiders. The difficulty of access to this unexplored region must have created one of the greatest obstacles for the engineers in Beijing. At the end of the 90’s, the Chinese government decided to permit foreigners to explore the Grand Canyon. The well-known National Geographic expedition, with ultra sophisticated materials and highly professional rafters made the first discoveries. Though it resulted in the death of an American kayaker, Doug Gordou in October 1998, it permitted a far greater knowledge in several previously unexplored parts of the gorges. Books and video footage of this expedition (as well as subsequent ones) certainly helped the Chinese planners to get a more accurate picture of the difficulty of the terrain (as well as the potentialities).
The opening of the area to adventure tourism was a first step to find an approach way for dam site.
In the recent years, the Chinese have been more discreet on the project, although a few reports have continued to come in.
The correspondent of
The Telegraph in Beijing wrote in October 2000: “Chinese leaders are drawing up plans to use nuclear explosions, in breach of the international test-ban treaty, to blast a tunnel through the Himalayas for the world's biggest hydroelectric plant.”
The Telegraph warned: “China will have to overcome fierce opposition from neighbouring countries who fear that the scheme could endanger the lives and livelihoods of millions of their people. Critics say that those living downstream would be at the mercy of Chinese dam officials who would be able to flood them or withhold their water supply.”
According to the London paper, the cost of drilling the tunnel through Mt Namcha Barwa appears likely to surpass £10 billion. The article gives further details: “At the bottom of the tunnel, the water will flow into a new reservoir and then be diverted along more than 500 miles of the Tibetan plateau to the vast, arid areas of Xinjiang region and Gansu province. Beijing wants to use large quantities of the plentiful waters of the south-west to top up the Yellow River basin and assuage mounting discontent over water shortages in 600 cities in northern China.”
Later the project to have the 'diversion' from the Great Bent was abandoned and some other plans were made to start the diversion from the Yarlung Valley, south of Lhasa. Read my article
The Madness of Guo Kai.
If the 'diversion' project is still kept on the computers of a few mad people in Beijing, a tunnel (for a road) has been opened between the Valley of the Tsangpo and the Metok country.
Was it a 'symbol' that it was inaugurated the day Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Delhi in December 2010. I have often written on
the Metok tunnel and more recently,
Latest news on the Brahmaputra.
Xi Jinping (then vice-president) in Nyingtri
Has China used small nuclear devices to open the tunnel?
It is improbable, because the Chinese engineers have mastered the conventional tunnel technology.
They may have used it to prepare the ground for
the first dam (Zangmu) on the Brahmaputra upstream the Great Bent; it is surprising, but nothing is impossible.
In the meantime, China is planning to transform the area into one of the main tourist attractions of the Middle Kingdom. Millions of visitors will drop by every year. Even President
Xi Jinping visited the Nyingtri Prefecture in July 2011; he liked it very much.
Did he smell the 'explosions'?
‘China conducted nuclear explosions in Tibet to divert Yarlung Tsangpo’
(TibetanReview.net, Aug30, 2013) China surreptitiously conducted three to four “low yield atomic explosions” in occupied Tibet in Mar 2005 to aid in clearing mountainous terrain to divert the Yarlung Tsangpo river, known as the Brahmaputra in India, from north to south, reported blog.timesofindia.
indiatimes.com Aug 29, citing classified Indian intelligence documents. China’s plans to conduct such explosions were widely reported around that time, but were never officially confirmed.
The report said the blasts were held at Moutou (Tibetan: Metog/Pemakoe) County and also near the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra, both in Lingzhi (Nyingtri) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. They were conducted at significant depths to avoid detection.
Although India did not make the information public, it did actively take up the matter with the Chinese authorities, including through its embassy in Beijing. China, however, flatly denied it.
In 2008, India’s National Security Council (NSC) shared the information with the United States during the visit of the latter’s defence secretary Mr Robert Gates, a former CIA director. And the US authorities admitted the complete failure of their satellites to detect the blasts.
Two factors were reported to have confirmed the Mar 2005 atomic blasts. Firstly, there was unprecedented flooding of the Brahmaputra in Jun-Jul 2005, which resulted in the rise of the river’s level by 30 metres on the Indian side. The Chinese engineers were suspected to have diverted the river water to facilitate their work. Secondly, Indian intelligence noticed in Oct 2008 that Chinese engineers had begun work through Tibet’s Galung La mountain in Nyingchi prefecture near the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra, confirming yet again that nuclear blasts had taken place there earlier.
The report said India was skeptical about China’s steadfast claim that all the dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo were only run-of-the-river projects. In particular, India fears that its share of Brahmaputra’s waters would be reduced and that China could use it as a weapon to cause heavy damage to the Indian side by releasing water at any time it wished.
