Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

China's Xian Y-20 large transportation aircraft. (Internet photo)

China is building a fleet of a hundred large transport aircraft that will be able to deploy troops all around the world, according to a Russian military expert.

In an article published Oct. 16 on the Russian Council website, Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, says that the People's Liberation Army hopes to complete the project by 2020.

To reach that goal, China is in the process of acquiring Il-76 multi-purpose four-engine strategic airlifters and Il-78 four-engined aerial refueling tankers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and is also developing its own Xian Y-20 large military transport aircraft.

According to Kashin, the quality of China's military technology has reached a new level, such that the PLA is now a modernized force capable of fighting a technically advanced war. The new generation PLA has a blue-water navy and maritime force capable of operating across the deep waters of open oceans as well as a powerful strategic air force, he wrote.

The project is said to be part of a series of major programs designed to complete China's transformation into a modern military power. One of the programs aims to build an army that can win wars through superior information technology by 2050. To this end, the PLA set a goal back in 2000 for 60% of all new recruits to be university graduates, though by 2009 the number had barely passed 30%. To entice more qualified soldiers, the PLA has also introduced comprehensive insurance schemes and higher compensation that has seen monthly salaries more than double between 2006 and 2011 to around US$840 a month.

Beijing is also reportedly re-adjusting the structure of the Chinese armed forces, with the intention of gradually phasing out army and air force regiments and divisions. The PLA's ground force marks up about 1.6 million of the PLA's total 2.29 million personnel, though the army's influence has been falling in recent years as more attention is being paid to the navy and air force.

Combat training now focuses primarily on the use of computerized systems for joint operations, and a greater emphasis has been placed on precision weapons such as 122mm artillery and 155mm extended range guided munitions. Air force pilots are also increasing their training hours by an average of 200 hours a year and focusing on their abilities to make decisions without ground support.

Further, China has developed into a major arms dealer, the report said, engaging in technological cooperation with countries such as Pakistan. Chinese weapons and systems such as the 155mm PLZ-45 self-propelled howitzer are also advanced enough to enter competitive markets such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and other Middle Eastern countries. Chinese anti-satellite weapons programs have also improved sufficiently to comparable to world leaders, the report added.

China is the second country in the world after the US to develop a warship equipped with a self-built multi-purpose weapons system. The Type 052D destroyer, currently undergoing sea trials, can launch various types of guided wapons such as anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and anti-submarine missiles, as well as cruise missiles against ground targets. China is also the only country in the world with two fifth-generation fighter projects in place, with both jets currently in the test-flight phase.

Additonally, the China is building five Type 094 ballistic missile submarines equipped with JL-2 intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The PLA has already deployed 35 DF-31A long-range road-mobile ICBMs and still has multiple warheads in development.

On the intelligence front, China is combining traditional electronic warfare with cyber warfare. The Fourth Department of the PLA's General Staff Headquarters Department has been tasked with four main goals: expand staff, improve technological progress, establish more centers, and train more information warfare experts. Telecommunications and electronic intelligence is controlled by the Third Department of the PLA's General Staff Headquarters Department, which has a total of about 130,000 staff.

China has already commissioned its first air craft carrier, the Liaoning, and is in the process of building two more. In the future, the PLA also intends to develop a carrier equipped with an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System capable of rivaling that of the US Navy.

Beijing has found it necessary to ramp up and modernize the PLA's capabilities due to ongoing tensions over territorial disputes, particularly with Japan in the East China Sea and the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea, the report said, as well as ongoing concerns stemming from America's return to Asia strategy. Though China has significantly bolstered its military capabilities, serious conflict has been avoided thus far despite an obvious push by Beijing to increase its presence in disputed regions, the report added.

Editors note....We are rerminded of the prophecy that tells us that an army of 200 million men will come from the kings of the east to engage in the battle of Armgeddon (Revelation 9:16 - 16:12). Many have wondered how such an army could be moved, perhaps we now have a glimpse into the answer.