Welcome to the Department of the Air Force's China Aerospace Studies Institute   

CASI Banner

China Aerospace Studies Institute Article Search

China Aerospace Studies Institute Articles

  • PLA Aerospace Primer 2nd edition in Turkish

    CASI is excited to announce the first translated version of one of its publications into Turkish.  Retired Turkish Air Force Colonel Dr. Yucel Topcu worked diligently to translate our second edition of the PLA Aerospace Primer.  We are grateful for his hard work and efforts, and pleased that he

  • Beijing’s ‘New Normal’ in the Skies around Japan

    At the beginning of March, it was reported that Japan’s Defense Ministry has been limiting the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force’s (JASDF) scrambling of aircraft. The JASDF has been scrambling its aircraft many times more than the U.S. Air Force and the air forces of NATO do, raising the possibility

  • 70 Years of the People's Liberation Army Air Force

    For those of you who have the privilege of knowing the great Ken Allen, this book will come as no surprise. For those of you who don’t know Ken personally, trust me when I say he has dedicated his life to the study of the People’s Liberation Army’s Air Force (PLAAF). In many cases, such a statement

  • Political Commissars of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force

    Knowing one’s counterparts, who they are, how they got there, and who their replacements might be, is important to both leadership and organizations alike. This report provides an overview of the political commissars of the PLA Air Force and is a companion to CASI’s report on the commanders of the

  • PLA Army Air Defense Units Improve Effectiveness, Resiliency, and Jointness

    Between October and November 2020, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) published a series of news reports about the 80th Air Defense Brigade of the PLA Army (PLAA), news reports that featured improvements to the unit’s technology and modes of operation. Three of those improvements are of

  • Initial Fighter Pilot Training in the PLA Air Force

    At the beginning of the 2010s, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force’s (PLAAF’s) program for the initial training of fighter pilots had three problems. First, the program was inordinately long and gradual. Second, the PLAAF lacked an advanced trainer aircraft that was suitable for

  • Commanders of the PLA Air Force

    In the era of great power competition, it is important to understand all of the actors. Not just organizations and structure, but people as well. On 27 August 2017, Lieutenant General Ding Laihang became the 12th Commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force (PLAAF) since 1949. He

  • Chinese Airborne C4ISR

         As we move further into the era of 21st century great power competition, it is important to understand the many facets of that competition. This report is the next in a series of studies by the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) that seeks to lay the foundation for better understanding

  • The Improvement of the PLA’s Close Air Support Capability

    In August 2020 the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indicated that some of its units had made technological and procedural advancements in its capability to provide close air support (CAS). The PLA has been working to develop the systems and procedures to conduct CAS safely and effectively for

  • Air-to-Air Missiles: Capabilities and Developments In China

    “Good enough”, this is how I often describe China’s short-term ambitions. They don’t need to have a world-class / global-leader military, not yet; what they need is something that is ‘good enough’. This has implications for how China pursues its program of military modernization and its goal to

  • Command of the Air - the view of the PLAAF

         Although the 2004 white paper is the first of the PRC’s defense white papers to note what it calls “command of the air,” identified in the Chinese version as  zhikongquan (制空权), the concept for the PLAAF dates back to the 1960s.  Although the 2015 Defense White Paper, which focused on PLA

  • China’s Air Force Preparing for Contingencies in the Skies Over Ladakh

         Although current clashes along the Line of Actual Control between India and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are contained to hand-to-hand fighting as of mid-June 2020, the death of several dozen soldiers on 15 June reveals the potential for the skirmish to escalate in scale. As Indian and

  • China's Aeroengine Industry

         As we move further into the era of 21st century great power competition, it is important to understand with whom we are competing. This report is our second in a series of studies by the China Aerospace Studies Institute that seeks to lay the foundation for better understanding the Aerospace

  • Overview of the PLA Air Force’s Integrated Air & Space Strategy

    This paper examines the “integrated air and space capability” 1 (kongtian yiti / 空天一体) component of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force’s (PLAAF) first ever service strategy, which was implemented to coincide with the PLAAF’s 10th Party Congress in May 2004 and represented a major milestone

  • China and Russia historic flight

    Chinese and Russian bombers conducted a historic air patrol over the western Pacific.  The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement about the flight."On July 23, 2019, the Aerospace Force of Russia and the Air Force of the People’s Liberation Army of China conducted the first joint air patrol

  • PLAAF Maintenance issues

    This is just one example of the type of articles that CASI looks at every day.  Please let us know if you are interested in getting added to the research database list. Jin Liubiao (金柳标), an enlisted maintenance technician (机械员) of an Eastern TCAF Maintenance Group (东部战区航空兵某部机务大队), mentioned the

  • China's hypersonic military projects include spaceplanes and rail guns

      Full report and graphics: https://www.popsci.com/chinas-hypersonic-work-speeds-upThe nation is focusing its research and development on tech that moves faster than the speed of sound.TENGYUNThe Tengyun spaceplane, first flight scheduled around 2020, will benefit from Chinese research into