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CASI Quarterly update #3 for 2025

  • Published
  • China Aerospace Studies Institute

CASI Quarterly update 
#3 for 2025
Click here for the PDF version


Friends of CASI,
            This quarter once again saw a lot of work, a lot of travel, and a lot of research, along with some turnover.

Stay tuned for more information on the 2026 CASI Conference in the coming months.

CASI Researchers will be furloughed along with everyone else, but as soon as a funding bill passes, we will be ready and back at it.  And we have the next 5 publications already pre-loaded to auto-release on the CASI website at https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/ in case you need some reading material over the next couple of weeks.

 

Personnel:

            We’d like to welcome our two new CASI Fellows, Maj Derek “Duke” Ecklebe, and Maj John “Gary” Garrison. 

            Maj Derek “Duke” Ecklebe is a B-2 Weapons Officer, a Mandarin speaker, and Chinese historian. He most recently served as the B-2 Chief of Survivability at Whiteman Air Force Base. Duke began studying Mandarin at the Air Force Academy in 2008 and was fortunate to spend nearly a year of his time in China while at school. Prior to his time in the B-2, Duke was a MC-130J pilot, with multiple deployments to the Middle East.

            Maj John “Gary” Garrison is an F-16 instructor pilot and Mandarin speaker. He recently served as the Director of Operations for the 21st Fighter Squadron, the U.S. Air Force’s dedicated F-16 training squadron for Taiwan. Prior to that, he was an Air Advisor in Taiwan and has held operational assignments and deployments across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

            The CASI Fellows program brings in top level Majors for a year-long in-depth study of China and the People’s Liberation Army, in lieu of Command and Staff.  Fellows work alongside CASI researchers and examine China from the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.  They attend meetings, connect with other experts in the field in Washington, and around the country, and write a thesis focused on a topic of their choosing.

 

Unfortunately, CASI was directly affected by the most recent round of staff reductions. “The Department of War (DoW) undertook a comprehensive effort to achieve greater efficiencies, reduce overhead and eliminate redundant functions.  As a result, the DAF is streamlining operations by reorganizing, inactivating, and realigning organizations across multiple levels.”  They eliminated our Director of Education position, as well as our Education Program Manager position.  So, as things are still in flux, we will let you know our status as soon as we know more.

 

 

CASI’s Fundamentals of the PLA Course:

We continue to have great interest in, and turn out for, our three-day PLA Fundamentals Course.  This quarter, CASI instructed PLA Fundamentals courses at Dyess AFB, TX, and at Los Angeles AFB, CA in addition to an “in-house” course at our National Defense University offices.  

The next NDU in-house PLA Fundamentals course will be 28-30 October.  If you are interested in attending, please sign up at: https://tinyurl.com/CASI-PLA-Fundamentals

If you are interested in hosting a Mobile Education Team (MET) version of the PLA Fundamentals course, let us know and we will do our best to find open space on the calendar to support your organization.  Please be aware that due to high demand, we are currently booked looking at early to mid-2026 dates for our next availability. The PLA Fundamentals course is free to attend (TDY costs only if traveling to NDU or TDY costs for the three CASI SMEs traveling to your location for the MET version) and open to all DoD and U.S. government employees, Allies, as well as civilian contractors working for the DoD.  There is no security clearance requirement.

 

China Centers- And check out what great work the other China Centers are doing:

            China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI)

            China Landpower Studies Center (CLSC)

 

Recent Publications

  1. China’s SJ-6 Satellites—Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
  2. China is practicing orbital warfare to win in space
  3. The Truth about the Sino-Russian Combined Patrols
  4. CASI Toolkit for China- PLA Army article
  5. A Look at the J-20 AESA Radar
  6. CASI Commander's Toolkit for China- PLA Army presentation
  7. CASI Toolkit for China- PLA Personnel article
  8. China’s Responses to the U.S. “Golden Dome” Missile Defense Initiative
  9. CASI Toolkit for China- PLA Personnel presentation
  10. PRC Media Responses to Pakistani J-10's Combat Success
  11. Beijing’s Response to REFORPAC Projects Calm Confidence
  12. Hiding and Biding No More: Military Parade Intended to Send Message that China is World Leader Capable of Deterring and Defeating the United States
  13. PLA’s New-Quality Forces: The Information Operations Group at the 2025 Military Parade
  14. Ten Takeaways from the Russia-Ukraine War and Their Implications for a Taiwan Conflict

 

CASI’s “In Their Own Words” – Translations of PRC materials

  1. China's Action Plan for Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence 
  2. ITOW: China's National Security in the New Era (2025)

 

CASI is pleased to offer hard copies of CASI full reports for free.  Please see our website at: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CASI/CASI-Publications/ 
for the full list and for the order form.  Please note- most of the articles and short reports are available in PDF only.


Support to the Warfighter

  1. Invited panelist for the Chief of the Air Staff’s Global Air and Space Chief’s Conference 
  2. Keynote speaker at 521st MOW wing-wide professional development event, Ramstein AB, Germany (July)
  3. Keynote speaker for Air Force Inspection Agency (AFIA) professional development event, Kirtland AFB, NM (September)
  4. Lectured at two iterations of the ISR300 course
  5. Panel discussant at Defense Security Cooperation University
  6. Panel discussant at Naval War College Future Warfighting Symposium
  7. Briefed DLA Commander and leadership in support of wargame
  8. Featured speaker at Air Force Expeditionary Center’s Indo-Pacific event
  9. Provided the 53rd Space Operations Squadron a tailored set of briefs on China and the PLA
  10. Participated in interagency OSINT workshop
  11. Featured speaker at the Joint Flag Officer Warfighters Course
  12. Featured speaker at Command Chaplains annual symposium
  13. Featured speaker at Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems – Cyber Focus Team
  14. Worked with USSF to support Joint Warfighting Course
  15. Collaborated with Delta-13
  16. Briefed National Defense University’s Center for Applied Strategic Learning
  17. Contributed to three editions of the CMSAF “Field Notes”

 

Education

  1. Hosted CASI’s PLA Fundamental Course at NDU
  2. Invited lecturer at the Eaker Center’s Wing Command Team Course
  3. Briefed each AFROTC Summer Field Training “Max,” reaching the entire year group of future Air Force and Space Force junior officers.
  4. Invited lecturer at Air Component Senior Leader Course
  5. Invited lecturer at Gaylor NCO Academy Commandant’s Speaker Series
  6. Panel member for Capstone presentation on the PME Gap for PLA Education in the military
  7. Provided one-day Fundamentals course to 53rd Space Operations Squadron
  8. Provided lecture to AFROTC DET 560
  9. Lectured at ACC Sword Forge Course
  10. Lectured three times at Officer Training School
  11. Lectured at Chief Leadership Academy
  12. Lectured at Basic Chaplain Course
  13. Lectured at two iterations of First Sergeant Academy
  14. Lectured at two iterations of Senior NCO Academy
  15. Lectured at two iterations of ISR200 Course
  16. Lectured at Defense Financial Management Course
  17. Lectured at NCO Foundations 500 Course
  18. Lectured at Vosler Academy Fellowship II and Fellowship III
  19. Lectured at ACC Palace Acquire and Copper Cap Symposium
  20. Lectured at A-Staff Development Course
  21. Lectured at Professional Financial Management Course
  22. Lectured at Squadron Officer School
  23. Lectured at ACC Sword Bearer Course
  24. Guest lecturer for AFMC Supply Chain Risk Management Working Group 
  25. Lectured at Sheppard NCO Academy 
  26. Provided lecture to LeMay Center Lessons Learned/Doctrine Teams
  27. Lectured at Contingency Wartime Planning Course
  28. Lectured at ACC Senior Enlisted Development Course
  29. Provided lecture to 60 MDG Senior Leaders    

 

Engagement and Outreach
     In addition to providing support to the Department of the Air Force staff, CASI has had another busy quarter supporting the USAF and the DoD, as well as our allies, partners, and friends. CASI:

  1. Met with members of the U.S. Congress Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party
  2. Attended Science and Technology event at the UK Embassy
  3. Held meetings with the PRC Defense Attaché Office
  4. Held meetings with the Freeman Air and Space Studies Institute
  5. Met with delegation from the Japanese Air Command and Staff College’s Air and Space Studies Institute
  6. Met with members of the International Institute for Strategic Studies
  7. Guest lectured on China’s space program to UC Berkeley class “The Final Frontier? Space Technology and National Security Policy.”
  8. Attended the Ba-Yi celebration of the PLA at the PRC Embassy
  9. Participated in multi-national author event with UK Embassy
  10. Held meetings with Center for Naval Analyses China Center
  11. Met with Department of the Air Force legislative fellows and liaisons
  12. Discussed China space issues with a group of visiting scholars from the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftlung’s Rule of Law Program Asia
  13. Met with OSD Red Team
  14. Participated in the annual Billy Fiske dinner at the UK embassy
  15. Met with CSAF SSG
  16. Participated in Service Talent Management for the Indo-Pacific Region workshop
  17. Attended the Defense News conference
  18. Supported AFA with 2,000 unique interactions with AFA attendees and exhibitors. Distributed 797 CASI publications and 213 decks of PLA-ying cards, including one to the CSAF personally
  19. Met with State Department INR China analysts
  20. Keynote speaker at Taiwanese American Conference
  21. Keynote speaker at Military Cyber Professionals Association Minnesota Chapter
  22. Consulted researchers at DIU on their research on Chinese AI ambitions
  23. Member of Air Force Doctrine 2035 team
  24. Held meetings wtih AFIT, AFRL and NASIC
  25. Met with Scale AI
  26. Met with Harvard Belfer Center
  27. Met with Boston Dynamics
  28. Met with MIT Lincoln Labs
  29. Met with Johns Hopkins APL
  30. Met with IonQ
  31. Aided the US Space Force S6C Cyber Infrastructure team on Chinese cyber issues in the Pacific region
  32. Peer reviewer for Cyber Defense Review
  33. Peer reviewer for Prism
  34. Met with DARPA
  35. Speaker at the Department of Airforce Information Technology and Cyberpower Conference

 

Media Mentions

  1. Guest on the Aerospace Advantage podcast: China In Space: Deterring Hostile Use of Force 
  2. Referenced in DownLink Podcast: Space Competition: Amid US Budget Woes, China Pushes Expansion
  3. Interviewed for article in NewScientist on sea skimming aircraft
  4. Cited in China's dual-use space sector goes global
  5. Referenced by Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast [Jul 24, 25] Season 3 E28: Dome Improvement
  6. Focus article in Defense News Report unlocks mystery of why Chinese bombers flew near Alaska in 2024
  7. China opposing Trump's Golden Dome missile defense - Washington Times
  8. Air and Space News magazine What Does China Think of Golden Dome?
  9. Der Spiegel China: Mit diesen Waffen will Peking zur militärischen Supermacht werden (China: With these weapons, Beijing wants to become a military superpower)

 

Keep in contact with us:
CASI website www.airuniversity.af.mil/CASI/
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/CASI_Research
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CASI.Research.Org
Link with us on LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/china-aerospace-studies-institute

 

As always, please feel free to send this update, or our website/ contact information, to anyone you feel might be interested in CASI or our research. Let us know if you have any thoughts, requests for support, or ideas for future papers and projects.