U.S. Radars Sold to China
Charles R. Smith
Monday, July 11, 2005
PLA Air Force Operates New U.S.-Made Radars
New York-based Telephonics Corp. has supplied the Chinese air force (People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF) with four sophisticated mobile radar systems. The mobile radar systems are currently mounted in vans and being operated by Chinese air force units assigned to back up aging radars used for air traffic control.
Telephonics supplied mobile monopulse secondary surveillance radars (MSSRs) to the civil arm of the Chinese air force – the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) at a cost of $1 million each.
The PLAAF currently operates all air traffic control inside China, both civilian and military.
The mobile radars have been mounted in vehicles with telescoping antennas. The new MSSR radars offer latest-generation advanced extraction and tracking technology, which provide extremely high target positioning accuracy.
There is no question that MSSR radars, which can interrogate aircraft to determine their exact location and whether they are friendly, are of military value. The Telephonics official press announcement noted that the radars sent to China are “backed by the same team that has delivered over 250 systems to multiple MSSR users worldwide including the [U.S. Air Force] AWACS fleet.”
The CEO of Telephonics, Joseph Battaglia, noted in a recent interview with Aviation Week and Space Technology that many of the new radar systems are installed in the eastern and coastal regions of China. However, Battaglia stated that he had recently visited the city of Qiqihar along the Russian border to discuss radar needs.
In addition, the unit of the Griffon Corporation recently signed deals worth over $3.25 million for Air Traffic Control Automation Systems for the cities of Zhanjiang and Zhengzhou, China.
Under this contract, Telephonics will supply its most advanced air traffic management systems to manage both international and domestic air traffic in the eastern and the northwestern regions of China.
Military Radars
Telephonics is a major supplier of radars used by the U.S. and European militaries, including the USAF radar control E-3 Sentry AWACs aircraft. Telephonics currently has military contracts for Maritime Surveillance Radars for the U.S. Army CH-47F Chinook Helicopter Modernization Program, and from the Italian navy for Aircraft Carrier Landing System.
The Griffon Unit also won contracts to provide radar systems for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program and for the TruLink Wireless Intercom installed on armored security vehicles.
In fact, China is quite capable of deploying its own advanced mobile radar systems. The newly deployed KJ-2000 Chinese air force AWACs plane carries an electronically steered phased-array (ESA) radar developed by Nanjing Research Institute of Electronic Technology (14th Institute).
China United Airlines also operates a sophisticated spy aircraft for the PLAAF equipped with an advanced radar system. China United Airlines aircraft B-4138, a Russian-made TU-154M three-engine airliner, flies under an international civilian number as a passenger plane.
However, defense analysts confirmed that B-4138 is actually a PLAAF spy plane equipped with a ground-monitoring Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) radar and communications equipment. The heavily modified TU-154M airliner is equipped with an array of communications antennae on the rear and a huge radar dome on the bottom of the aircraft.
Chinese Army Espionage
The impression given by Telephonics officials is that the Chinese air traffic control system is controlled by a civilian agency called the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Yet documents forced from the U.S. government show quite clearly the PLAAF also operated illegally through its “Civil Aviation Administration of China” (CAAC) for intelligence and military operations.
On May 21, 1997, Mr. John Hancock, civilian FAA deputy director on International Aviation, wrote a memo and summary report on “China ATC [air traffic control] discussions.”
Hancock wrote, “Attached is a summary of discussions held in Beijing on Wednesday, April 16, 1997, on future civil-military air traffic control cooperation between the United States and China.”
“As you know, following completion of U.S. Government (USG) policy coordination, a small delegation traveled to Beijing to present our options for FAA-led ATC civil-military programs under the reconfigured ATC initiative. This activity was previously conducted under the Joint Defense Conversion Commission which was dissolved by then-Defense Secretary Perry in July 1996,” wrote Hancock.
The FAA documents also show People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) officers used “civilian” cover names through the so-called “CAAC” civilian agency. According to an official CAAC memo sent to FAA representative Ms. Li Jie, one representative at the 1997 meeting was “Mr. Li Zhong Li.”
However, the civilian “Mr. Li” had a very unusual title, that of “Deputy Director of ATC Department of AirForce.” FAA officials, of course, knew “Mr. Li” had a different title.
“Sr. Col. Li spoke generally about good feelings among old friends,” states the 1997 summary report attached by Hancock.
“He stated an interest in pursuing additional cooperation. We understand informally from later discussions that Col. Li believes there would be a positive response in about 3 months.”
Other CAAC-PLAAF joint operations have been documented. The 1999 Cox report detailed the use of the CAAC as a cover in an intelligence operation that endangered an airliner full of civilian passengers.
In 1999, the Clinton administration offered the PLAAF the latest in advanced “mobile radars,” command and control systems, GPS navigation, and “Surveillance Avionics” such as “air to air,” “air to ground” and “surface area movement” surveillance radars.
According to a U.S. Air Force May 1999 report, the PLAAF was given details on USAF “Special Airspace” areas inside America used for military training, research and national security zones. The details include Edwards Air Force base and a mapped tour of the facility. Edwards AFB is a test center for USAF, and NASA research aircraft, including the space shuttle.
The government materials also include training manuals from the USAF 334th Training Squadron in both English and Chinese. The documents show Clinton administration officials proposed to train PLAAF military air controllers.
The USAF documents show PLAAF officers were given a “simulated” training mission. The training included a “two ship formation of F-16s from Luke AFB, Arizona” on a “bombing” and over flight mission in a training area, code-named “Baghdad”, northwest of Prescott Arizona. The simulated exercise also included “in-flight refueling” with a tanker aircraft under control of a USAF AWACS plane.