TFTC:

Thoughts from the ChairmanThe Next Battlefield is Within     For centuries, nations measured power through armies, fleets, and factories. Those things remain important, but the next great competition among nations will be fought at a different level. The nations that can understand life itself,

Chinese Perceptions of Stealth: Shaping Defense Against U.S. Capabilities and Indigenous Developments

Stealth technology has transformed modern air warfare, providing the United States with a sustained operational advantage for over four decades. From its Cold War beginnings to its development in platforms like the F-117, B-2, F-22, and F-35, stealth has evolved into a system-of-systems capability

Tiananmen Square: The Declassified History - w/ postscript 2026

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

Remembering Tiananmen 37 Years Later: A Case Study in Chinese Communist Party Narrative Control

June 4th, 2026, marks the 37th anniversary of the brutal People’s Liberation Army (PLA) crushing of unarmed pro-democracy protestors in what is remembered internationally as the Tiananmen Massacre.  Commemoration of the events surrounding Tiananmen is important not only to remember the courage of

Dr. Brendan Mulvaney on The Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast [May 28, 26] Season 4 E18: Pacing Threat

PLA Aerospace Power: A Primer on Trends in China’s Military Air, Space, and Missile Forces 5th Edition

Introduction and Strategic Context     Over the past twelve months, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has deepened a force structure built around four services, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force; and four strategic arms, including the newly established Aerospace Force responsible for

CASI Conference 2026

2026 CASI ConferenceThursday 21 May 2026 at National Defense UniversityCASI's biennial CASI Conference Thursday 21 May 2026  National Defense University in the Lincoln Hall auditorium.                                                                                        AGENDA  07:15  

ITOW: Legal Warfare

Translations from Chinese source documentsThe “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. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim to provide Chinese

TFTC: Cultivating the Next Generation

Thoughts from the ChairmanCultivating the Next Generation             中国, China, literally “The Middle Kingdom”, that is where we belong, in the middle, and that is where we shall return.  By the one hundred year anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, the Communist Party shall lead

Early PRC Media Responses to the Boeing F-47

In March 2025, the U.S. Air Force announced that the contract award for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform would go to Boeing, which will develop and manufacture the F-47 sixth-generation fighter aircraft. Described by the Air Force Chief of Staff as the “crown jewel” of the NGAD

In China’s View Of The New U.S. National Security Strategy, Continuity Outweighs Change

PRC state media and think tank interpretations of the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) underscore that the PRC generally views the strategy as a roadmap to reduce the costs of “hegemony” and thereby make America’s role as a leading world power more sustainable.

ITOW: Science of Second Artillery Campaigns

Translations from Chinese source documentsThe “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. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim to provide Chinese

TFTC: The Chinese Dream

Thoughts from the ChairmanThe Chinese Dream The Chinese Dream is a vision shared by Chinese people worldwide, a dream that embodies a collective hope and determination for the future of the nation. Unlike the American Dream, which centers on individual achievement, where people think they can work

Dancers at the Knife's Edge: PLA Rocket Force Nuclear Warhead Management

    The PLA Rocket Force (PLARF), until 2016 known as the PLA Second Artillery Force (PLASAF), is the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) ground-based strategic missile service. It is equipped with a wide range of nuclear and conventional missiles, including short, medium, intermediate, and

Defining Responsible Nuclear Statecraft in an Era of Great Power Competition

What does it mean to be a responsible nuclear power in 2025? As strategic competition, and indeed great power competition, reemerged in the late 2010s and early 2020s, competing nuclear states increasingly employ the language of nuclear responsibility to label a strategic competitor as an

PLA Reorganizes Space Information Support and Assurance Mission

The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) restructuring of its space information support and assurance forces further deepens its reliance on space for communications, navigation, and reconnaissance.The PLA is transitioning most—but not yet all—of the battlefield space information

China's Response to Operation Midnight Hammer: Caution or Paralysis?

On 22 June 2025, the U.S. military carried out Operation Midnight Hammer, conducting night strikes on Iran’s three main nuclear facilities with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and B-2 bombers carrying GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP), or “bunker-buster,” bombs.  The operation,

ITOW: How Will the Form of Air Warfare Change in the Future?

Translations from Chinese source documentsThe “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. In the “In Their Own Words” series, CASI and its collaborators aim to provide Chinese

TFTC: Xi is a Patriot

Xi Jinping is a Patriot. He is working to make China a leading world power, and more importantly he's working for the Chinese people. He wants the lives of the Chinese people to be better.  He wants to raise the standard of living across China.  He wants to continue the successes of the Chinese

TFTC: The Party is All

In Chairman Xi Jinping’s mind, the Communist Party is The Way, The Truth, and The Light.  It is the way that China returns to its “rightful place at the center of the world stage”, and it is how he leads the Chinese people to the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation”.  It is because of this