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  • Remote Basing: People’s Liberation Army Logistics on the Tibetan Plateau

    The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is at the forefront of China’s efforts to defend its extensive land border with India and maintain firm control over Tibet. As both China and India have expanded their respective infrastructural and military basing networks along the Line of Actual Control (the

  • China's Defense S&T Key Lab System - 2025 Update

        This report represents an updated and significantly expanded revision of The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System Part Two: Defense S&T Key Lab Directory, which was released in early 2023. That report was in turn the second part of The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System: An Overview,  which

  • TAKING FLIGHT: CHINA’S MILITARY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) INDUSTRY

         Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), including unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms, are a core element of the PRC’s military modernization program. The PLA has operated UAVs since the 1950s. While aerial drones are not a new technology, contemporary UAV systems are improving rapidly due to

  • China's Air Defense Radar Industrial Base

      This report draws on open-source reporting, Chinese-language primary sources, satellite imagery, and multiple business databases to examine China’s air defense radar capabilities and the industrial base that develops, produces, and deploys them. Key findings include:•  China’s large air defense

  • 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

  • Hypersonics Research Collaboration Between the United States and the PRC

    This report is the fourth in our series describing the state of research into Hypersonics in the People's Republic of China.  The first report detailed the current state of research into hypersonics in China, the second report detailed Collaboration Efforts on Hypersonic Research Between the PRC and

  • Organization of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)

         Established in 1951, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is China’s largest aviation enterprise, responsible for producing essentially all of China’s domestic military aircraft, UAVs, and helicopters, as well as a wide range of civilian aircraft and other aviation and non-aviation

  • China-Russia Nuclear Industry Cooperation

         In May 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for their countries’ biggest joint nuclear energy project to date: the construction of four new nuclear reactors in China’s Jiangsu and Liaoning Provinces. The 20 billion

  • CASI Webinar: PRC Hypersonics Research Landscape

    As part of CASI's quarterly webinar series, we explored the hypersonics research landscape in China. This webinar was held in March of 2023 and is based on the recent publication by CASI and BPL. The views and opinions expressed in this webinar are the personal views of the participants, and do not

  • PRC Defense S&T Key Lab Directory

    The following directory is Part Two of The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System, a report released by the China Aerospace Studies Institute and BluePath Labs in April 2022. Part One of the report, entitled "The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System: An Overview", described the general structure and

  • An Exploratory Analysis of the Chinese Hypersonics Research Landscape

    According to reports, China conducted tests of hypersonic glide vehicles in July and August 2021, which Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley described as “concerning.”1 China’s hypersonic weapons program has drawn significant global attention and research interests in recent years.

  • Sichuan Tengden Technology: Privately Owned, State Sponsored

    Traditionally, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) acquires whole systems that are manufactured or integrated by companies partially- or wholly-owned by the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that fall under the State Administration for Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND). It

  • The PRC State & Defense Laboratory System

    Over the past 30 years, China has developed a vast and complex laboratory system. From an analytical stand­point, at present, laboratories generally fall into one of several categories according to their administrative rank­ings. They include, in descending order: state-level laboratories[国家级],

  • China’s Model of Science

         On 20 January 2021 newly inaugurated President Biden sent a letter to his science advisor, geneticist Eric Lander, posing five essential questions about how to ensure America’s leadership in science and technology for the next 75 years. The letter deliberately invoked a similar letter sent by