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  • China can track GSSAP

    A Chinese technical assessment on the U.S. Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites from April last year revealed China’s deepening analysis of U.S. space domain awareness (SDA) capabilities.  The Chinese have moved beyond describing U.S. SDA systems, and have begun

  • China Aerospace Studies Institute Staff

    CASI has offices at Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL. and at National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington D.C.. Dr. Brendan MulvaneyBrendan Mulvaney is the Director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute. Dr. Mulvaney served

  • Chinese Research in Space-Based Space Surveillance

         Space Surveillance is a subset and contributor to space situational awareness (SSA), which in turn, is a subset and contributor to space domain awareness (SDA). To clarify the purpose and scope of this paper, these three terms are defined and their relationships illustrated.      SDA is the

  • CISTEC translation of CASI's AVIC report

    CASI's reports are read across the world.  Sometimes our allies and partners translate our reports into other languages.  CASI's most recent report on Organization of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) was translated into Japanese by our friends

  • PLA Army Cross-Trains Pilots for Combat

    Recently the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reported that an army aviation unit has been cross-training its pilots to fly multiple types of helicopters. It is likely that the PLA Army is cross-training utility helicopter pilots to operate attack helicopters, and it is at least possible that

  • Reassessment of the CMC Member grade in the PLA

    Over the past 24 years, I have written multiple articles about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 15-grade structure, with an emphasis on how every organization, not just personnel, is assigned a grade.  While reviewing the announcements from the recent 3rd Plenum, where the Minister of National

  • Ongoing Organizational Reforms of the PLAAF

    From the chapter by Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney and Ken Allen on the Ongoing Organizational Reforms of the PLAAF from Modernising the People’s Liberation Army: Aspiring to be a Global Military Power (available

  • CASI Quarterly Update #2 for 2024

    Friends of CASI,            A Happy 4th of July to you all.  Let’s celebrate living in a free and democratic country!It has been another busy quarter for CASI as we continue to grow and develop.  Read about all we have been up to, and, as always, let  us know what we can do to help you in your

  • ITOW: Hypersonic Vehicle Technology

         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.      In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its

  • ITOW: Air Force Tactical Logistics

    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. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim

  • Tiananmen Square: The Declassified History - w/ postscript 2024

    The Chinese army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests killed thousands of people, up to 10,000 according to released declassified UK documents. The figure was given in a secret diplomatic cable from then British ambassador to China, Sir Alan Donald written on 5 June 1989.  The cable is in

  • China’s Space Capability and What This Means for the West

    The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has rapidly advanced in the space domain on several fronts simultaneously. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command testified in early 2024 that, “The PRC is moving breathtakingly fast in space. America must rapidly increase the timeliness, quality

  • Army Fuel Keeps Air Force Aircraft Flying

    In mid-February it was reported that a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was receiving aviation fuel and other supplies from a supply base of the PLA Army. The report provides more evidence that the PLA is improving its joint logistics capability, as previously assessed by

  • Status of the 41st Aviation Brigade transition to the J-20

    By late last fall, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) 41st Aviation Brigade active out of Wuyishan Airbase in Fujian province appeared to be transitioning to the J-20. Commercial satellite imagery from 29 November 2023 shows six J-20 airframes in the open at Wuyishan Airbase. This