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Taiwan's air superiority under the
gun
By
David Isenberg
Recent announcements of new arms
sales between Russia and China threaten Taiwan's current
air superiority over China.
On August 27 Japan's
Daily Yomiuri reported that China has signed a contract
with Russia to purchase 38 Sukhoi-30 MK fighter-bombers
and intends to increase its combined fleet of Su-27
fighters and Su-30s to nearly 200 jets by about 2004.
The Su-30 MK is the naval version of the Su-30,
and can carry up-to-date Russian-made air-to-surface
missiles with a range of 200 kilometers to attack naval
vessels. The Sukhoi-30MKK, which sells for an estimated
US$35 million, has a range in excess of 3,000
kilometers, which means it can easily patrol offshore
without requiring aerial refueling.
The basic
Su-30 is a two-seat long-range intercept fighter that
first flew in December 1989, and that entered service
with the Russian air forces in 1992. It provides a
long-range, air-to-ground attack capability. The Su-30M
(MK-export version) is a standard Su-30 with the
air-to-ground missiles, which can carry twice the
armament (eight tons) of the baseline Su-27. It can
carry the latest Russian air-to-air missiles, including
the medium-range R-27 family, the short-range R-73 and
the new medium-range R-77 "AMRAAM-ski" (AMRAAM is a US
acronym for "advanced medium-range air-to-air missile").
The Su-30MK is capable of accomplishing a wide
variety of combat missions such as counter-air tasks
(ie, gaining air superiority, air defense, air patrol
and escort) as well as counter-land and counter-sea ones
(suppression of hostile air defense, air interdiction
and close air support). Additionally, the Su-30MK can
perform electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) and
early-warning tasks, as well as exercise
command-and-control over a group of aerial combat assets
performing joint missions. It can fly significant
distances from the home base, in any weather conditions
and severe jamming environment, both by day and night.
With its duplicated flight-control system, it
can be also employed for realistic flight and combat
training.
Also, according to Global Security, a
Washington, DC-based group specializing in defense
issues, if China builds its own aircraft carrier, the
SU-30MKK would likely be part of its complement.
Since 1999, Russia has been supplying, under two
previous contracts, two batches of such fighters to
China, 40 in each batch. China has paid $1.8 billion for
each of the first two Su-30MK batches. This latest deal
will be the largest concluded by Russia's
Rosoboroneksport arms trading company this year.
The first contract for 38 Su-30MKK fighters for
the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force was signed
in 1999, with deliveries since completed. The second
contract, signed in July 2001, involves another 38
Su-30MKK for the PLA Air Force for delivery in 2002-03.
The factory's 5,000 workers would be working until 2003
to fulfill the terms of the contract. Russia had already
delivered between 70 and 100 Su-27s to China.
According to a report in Jane's Defence Weekly,
the overall cost of this latest sale is over $1.6
billion. The new order would be fulfilled by the
Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association, with
delivery to the PLA's naval air arm in 2003-04. China's
ability to attack naval vessels will significantly
improve if the new Russian-built jets are deployed in
naval air bases in Zejiang and Hainan provinces.
This third batch of Su-30MKKs will feature new
radars from Fazotron-NIIR Corp allowing their use of
precision air-to-surface weapons, including the Kh-31A
supersonic anti-ship missile. On August 19, Russia
announced that it had sent its first shipment of 10
Su-30MKK fighter-bombers to China, which took delivery
for its air force at a base in Anhui province.
Reportedly, when China finishes its Sukhoi
buildup plan, Taiwan, which currently has 146 US-built
F-16 Fighting Falcons and 58 French-built Dassault
Mirage 2000 jets, probably will no longer have air
superiority over China.
This July it was
reported that China would buy about 30 Su-30MK2 naval
fighters, on top of the 80 Su-30MKKs it bought in 1999
and 2001. The deal was estimated it to be worth at least
$1.2 billion. The Su-30MK2, a modified version of the
Su-30MKK, is a naval striker equipped with X-31A
anti-ship missiles.
Buying 30 more Sukhoi
fighters would give China a total of as many as 400.
China took delivery of 26 Su-27SK/UBKs in 1992 and
another 22 in 1995. In 1996 China signed a contract to
produce 200 Su-27SKs under license.
According to
the Pentagon's latest Annual Report on the Military
Power of the People's Republic of China, released in
July, the acquisition of Su-27s in the 1990s and the
purchase of the more modern Su-30MKKs represent a
quantum leap for China's air force: "The extended range
of the Su-30MKKs would allow [China's] air force to
circumnavigate Taiwan and strike lesser-defended
facilities on the eastern side of the island. The
Su-30MKKs can carry the X-31 supersonic anti-ship
missile and pose a greater threat to US vessels."
Russia seems unlikely to be bothered by US
concerns about the sale. In a July 31 interview on
Moscow Vedomosti, Aleksey Arbatov, deputy chairman of
the State Duma Committee on Defense, said: "While
demanding that Russia cut back arms shipments to China,
India and Iran, the US is doing all it can to push us
out of the arms markets we have occupied, at the same
not letting us into new markets that are quite safe from
its viewpoint. For example, the Latin American countries
or new NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]
members. We should not cut back shipments to China just
because the US doesn't like them."
(©2002 Asia
Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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