China's Military Aviation Industry: In Search of Innovation
Abstract
Prolonged systemic challenges continue to strain and divide China’s military aviation industry, especially over structural consolidation, institutional reorganization, and lack of technological sophistication. Nonetheless, the sector’s overall modernization drive is among the most prominent of China’s defense industries. During the past decade, China’s military aviation industry has been gradually transforming its defense, science, technology, and innovation capabilities and narrowing the once-wide technological gaps with advanced aviation powers. In the fighter aircraft arena alone, it has been modernizing its ‘legacy’ fighters while developing a diverse portfolio of new indigenous designs, including modern fourth-generation fighters, and preparing to break into the fifth-generation aircraft market. The recent unveiling of China’s next-generation fighter aircraft prototypes the J-20 and J-31, along with accelerated modernization of the Chengdu J-10 and Shenyang J-11 fleets, shows not only the increased sophistication of Chinese combat aircraft but also, more importantly, the ongoing transformation of China’s military aviation sector.
Recommended Citation
Raska, M., & Krolikowski, A. (2013). China's Military Aviation Industry: In Search of Innovation. SITC Research Briefs, 5 University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
Department(s)
History and Political Science
Keywords and Phrases
China; military; aviation; defense industry; innovation; AVIC
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2013 University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2013
Comments
The Study of Innovation and Technology in China (SITC) is a project of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. SITC Research Briefs provide analysis and recommendations based on the work of project participants. This material is based upon work supported by, or in part by, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office through the Minerva Initiative under grant #W911NF-09-1-0081.