Defense

China Expected To Make These Four Major Military Advances In 2018

Last year was big for Chinese military advances and 2018 should follow, with more proceeds from an elite group of state-owned equipment builders. In 2017, units of the fast growing, world No. 3 armed forces acquired J-20 fighter jets made by state-run Chengdu Aerospace Corp. and christened an aircraft carrier made by the government's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. Chinese President Xi Jinping is moving towards stronger military command to enable more long-range movement far offshore. 

The hardware points as well to increased technological sophistication and spending power of China’s state-owned defense contractors. 

In that spirit, according to published reports and analyst forecasts, this year China's major defense contractors will move forward this year on the following homemade military equipment with specs equal to overseas peers.

Super satellites

A government remote sensing institute in the southern province of Hainan intends to launch 10 satellites over the nearby seas from 2019 to 2021, the official Xinhua News Agency reported in December. Two will be able to analyze each pixel in an image to find objects or detect processes. Others can compose three-dimensional images of landscapes. These tools could effectively monitor what other countries are doing on many of the South China Sea’s 500 tiny islets and surrounding waters.