The Chinese bomber fleet is no joke!
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LearningTranscript
00:00There are three countries in the world that can operate bombers.
00:03United States, and we know a lot about them.
00:07Russia, and unfortunately we have seen them at work in the past year.
00:13And China, and we know very little about them.
00:30Actually, it's not true.
00:55We know something about the Chinese bombers.
00:58We know that they really up their game when it comes to training.
01:04The PLA every decade or so publishes a document called, in English, the OMTE, which is the
01:13acronym of Outline of Military Training and Evaluation.
01:17The last and the current one was published in 2018 and revised in 2019.
01:23The OMTE describes the scenarios that need to be trained and the capabilities that every
01:28bomber formation must be proficient in.
01:31As recently as 2014, bomber units used to fall short of their training requirements.
01:38Segments of the OMTE were ignored because of the lack of time.
01:43Inside the Chinese bomber fleet was reluctant to fly at night or in bad weather.
01:48For example, in 2015, an H-6 bomber of the 8th Air Division, after a training patrol
01:54above the South China Sea, had to unexpectedly land in low visibility.
01:59And apparently this was considered a noteworthy achievement.
02:04The Chinese split the day in three sections, day 8 to 16, night 16 to midnight, and after
02:12midnight, that is, 0 to 8.
02:15Some training missions took just one segment, so the time and the mission complexity were
02:21really constrained.
02:23By the mid-2000s, with the growing Chinese ambitions, came the realization that this
02:28type of training was simply not adequate anymore.
02:45In August 2018, several H-6Us of the 8th Air Division executed a redeployment in central
03:00China, a few thousands of kilometers away from their bases.
03:05There they conducted flight refueling missions in a quite challenging environment.
03:10The weather wasn't ideal, electronic jamming was operating, and last-minute route changes
03:15were introduced.
03:17And this was just an example of the latest Chinese training syllabus.
03:22Long missions lasting even more than 24 hours, with stops at different air bases, are becoming
03:27increasingly common.
03:29During these missions, the cooperation with different units is tested in bad weather,
03:34at night, and in difficult conditions.
03:36And one particular type of these missions are those where the units are relocated to
03:40the Tibetan Plateau.
03:42There, the difficult environmental conditions, the altitude in particular, are very challenging,
03:48and the Chinese bombers are trying to operate there.
03:51A constant element of bomber training exercises is now a degraded electronic environment.
03:58Electronic jamming is always present, and the pilots train toward executing the mission
04:04without using the radio.
04:06Radio silence is becoming the norm.
04:08In general, there are fewer and fewer scripted situations with every mission, including autonomous
04:14opponents, unexpected events, and, when planned, live-fire exercises.
04:29In 2013, China declared an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea.
04:35That event marked the beginning of a flurry of activity to establish an air presence in
04:41the region.
04:42The bomber fleet was involved too.
04:44In 2015, the H-6 bombers started flying missions through the Miyako Strait, north of Taiwan,
04:50and through the Bashi Channel, south of Taiwan.
04:54Bombers penetrate deep into the Pacific and execute simulated attacks to naval targets.
05:00They often get in range of Guam, potentially simulating missile strikes on the American
05:05base.
05:06These missions have progressively grown in numbers and complexity.
05:10In 2016, a single mission through the Miyako Strait included 40 aircraft.
05:16There were 16 bombers, but also Su-30s, Su-35s, AWACS, and tankers.
05:22And in the last few years, the Chinese are even building remotely piloted target vessels
05:27capable of autonomous movement, which are used as target replicas.
05:33Moreover, the H-6 is not a modern airframe, so long flights are quite taxing for the pilots.
05:39So the Chinese now train the pilots physically and mentally to cope with the long hours required
05:45for these missions.
05:47It is also quite important to note the increased emphasis on training young pilots in these
05:52complex environments, rather than relying on more expert personnel to guarantee the
05:57success.
05:58It seems that they have a rule that, during these complex missions, 50% of all the flight
06:03personnel must be junior.
06:06These complex missions over water are becoming increasingly common, and the Chinese Air Force
06:10seems to have become quite comfortable with them.
06:13In fact, they are investing in creating a maritime auxiliary organization that has the
06:18quite old name of Air Force Naval Bases.
06:22This organization is picking up all the auxiliary activities connected with operating at sea.
06:26These include search and rescue, and search and rescue training, the meteorological service,
06:32the management of target ships, and so on.
06:36Taiwan and the ocean beyond are not the only Chinese concern.
06:54China has been overly active in the South China Sea too.
06:57As many will know, China is claiming several islands in the South China Sea, but this claim
07:02is disputed by other countries bordering the sea.
07:05The Chinese have built military and civilian installations in several of them, including
07:10runways that can be used to operate the bombers.
07:15Fighter aircraft have been operating from these islands since their construction, and
07:19it is a well-known fact.
07:21The bombers have started too.
07:22In 2018, bombers from the 108th Regiment of the 36th Air Division redeployed on Woody
07:30Island, and there they operated for at least a couple of days.
07:35This was another example of long-range deployment, but till then they never redeployed on the
07:42basis of the South China Sea.
07:44Now it seems that the Chinese regularly conduct long-range bomber patrols in the South China
07:48Sea with two-ship flights that may or may not be accompanied by escort fighters.
07:54And this is another example of the new normal for the Chinese bomber fleet.
08:00Now, I can hear the objection that many of you may have at this point.
08:26What the Chinese are doing is, after all, what an efficient Air Force should be doing.
08:32Western Air Forces have been doing this for decades, so what's the point?
08:36Well, the point is that they were not doing this till recently, but in a few years they
08:42turned around and started doing it.
08:45So the point that I'm trying to make is that the Chinese are growing.
08:50The gap with the West gets thinner and thinner with every training mission.
08:55It is clear that the Chinese are trying to catch up militarily with the West and they
09:00are trying to play the same game.
09:03They have a symmetric vision of the military challenge.
09:07They should not be easily dismissed.
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