HomeCASIArticles


      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

  • China's Satellite Super Factories and U.S. National Security

    By early next year, three privately owned Chinese satellite super factories, backed by billions in Yuan (CNY), will be able to produce upwards of 1,000 satellites per year. This is part of a growing trend in China. The roots of this movement date back to the release of Document 60 in 2014

  • China's Ballistic Missile Industry

    Along with space and cyber, the missile forces of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) People’s Liberation Army have seen the greatest increase in importance, and funding, over the last two decades. This progress was further emphasized when, as part of the 2015 reforms, the Second Artillery was

  • Second Combat Brigade of PRC Air Force Likely Receives Stealth Fighter

    Something unusual appeared in a recent satellite image of an airbase in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the image, a J-20 appears to be taxiing from the runway at Anshan Airport, a military-civilian, dual-use airport in northeastern China that is the home base of the 1st Aviation Brigade of

  • 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

  • In Their Own Words: Stanford-New America DigiChina Project

    Not a CASI product, but of great use to the China research community, the Stanford-New America DigiChina Project is a collaborative effort to understand China’s digital policy developments, primarily through translating and analyzing Chinese-language sources. Focuses include data governance,

  • In their Own Words: 2019 China’s National Defense in the New Era

    In July 2019, the The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published its defense white paper titled "China's National Defense in the New Era".  The major contents include  views on the International Security Situation, China’s Defensive National Defense Policy in 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

  • China’s Ground Segment: Building the Pillars of a Great Space Power

    Space has long been important to national security.  Dating back decades, the “Space Race” was not just about the ideological competition between the communist Soviets and the free West, it had real world national security implications.  That is even more true today.  As technology has advanced and

  • 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

  • ITOW: China Coast Guard Law

    Click here for PDF: Coast Guard Law of the People's Republic of China(Announced at the 25th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on January 22, 2021)Table of ContentsChapter One General PrinciplesChapter Two Institutions and ResponsibilitiesChapter Three Marine

  • 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

  • PLA's Science of Military Strategy (2013)

          The “In Their Own Words” series is dedicated to translations of Chinese documents in order to help non-Mandarin speaking audiences access and understand Chinese thinking. CASI would like to thank all of those involved in this effort, especially the teams from our "big brother"/ 大哥 at the China

  • Achieving the PLA's Strategic Support Force talent needs through MCF

    Successful Military-Civil Fusion integration (MCF) is key to realizing China's military space and cyber ambitions. President Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of this objective, and the recently established People Liberation Army's Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) is a case in point. The

  • Jiang Luming- Architect of China's Military-Civil Fusion Strategy

    This short report provides biographical information about Major General Dr. Jiang Luming [姜鲁鸣], an influential thinker and strategist, pioneer in the field of defense economics in China and the preeminent scholar behind China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy.Click here for the full PDF

  • CASI PLA Fundamentals Course

    PLA Fundamentals CourseCASI hosts a professional development course that we call PLA Fundamentals.  This course is free and open to U.S. military, allies, partners, DoD, and USG civilians.  We host the course every several months throughout the year.  Most iterations take place at National Defense