Connect with us

Politics

The Three Capabilities the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Needs to Reach Military Parity with the US

Published

6 hours ago

on

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) 71st Group Army, new self-propelled anti-aircraft systems. Photo: Screenshot of WeChat account of PLA Eastern Theater Command

To achieve military parity with the United States, China believes the PLA must secure what it calls the “Three Superiorities”: information, air, and maritime power. Of these, information superiority is the most critical, as it underpins the ability to prosecute and win modern wars.

Beijing is rapidly expanding and modernizing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and although it is narrowing the gap with the United States, it still falls short across all three domains.

The task of securing this advantage falls to the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF). Since 2000, when China launched its first military imaging satellites, and 2007, when it deployed its first over-the-horizon skywave radar, it has steadily expanded a sophisticated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) network.

That same year, China demonstrated a kinetic anti-satellite capability and has since acquired Russian-made jamming systems and high-powered dual-use radio transmitters capable of targeting U.S. communication and surveillance satellites.

In recent years, China has nearly doubled its satellite launches, fielding more than 260 on-orbit ISR systems, along with over-the-horizon radar able to detect targets 2,000 kilometers beyond its coastline.

At the same time, it has advanced counter-drone capabilities, developing AI-driven sensor fusion networks, the Hurricane-3000 microwave weapon that can disable electronics within 3,000 meters, and CETC’s “Yuanmo” system, which integrates operations across multiple domains.

These advances are supported by efforts to secure real-time connectivity and resilient battle networks through improvements in command, control, and communications. Electronic warfare has become a central focus, with significant investments in jamming, spoofing, and other methods designed to disrupt U.S. systems.

Despite these advances, China faces critical limitations. U.S. battle networks and advanced AESA radar systems retain a technological edge, particularly in electronic warfare resistance and target discrimination.

Chinese doctrine for information warfare remains largely theoretical and has not been tested in real combat against peer adversaries.

Seamless cross-domain integration, a requirement for China’s systems approach, has yet to be proven in contested electromagnetic environments where the U.S. excels.

These gaps mean that while China has made information dominance a priority and achieved significant progress, its ability to challenge U.S. superiority in this domain remains uncertain.

For China to achieve air superiority, the requirements include advanced fighter aircraft, long-range precision strike capabilities, integrated air defense systems, and counter-air capabilities to neutralize U.S. airpower.

China has made rapid progress in these areas, fielding operational fifth-generation fighters such as the J-20 “Mighty Dragon” and unveiling the sixth-generation J-36, which features a trijet, tailless design intended for air superiority missions.

China has also developed increasingly accurate ballistic and cruise missiles, improving from hundreds of meters of accuracy in the 1990s to within five to ten meters today.

These systems, supported by over-the-horizon intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance extending 2,000 kilometers beyond China’s coastline, pose a serious threat to forward-deployed U.S. air bases.

In terms of defense, the PLA’s integrated air defense network is anchored by the HQ-9B system, which can track up to 100 targets simultaneously and has a range of 250 kilometers, providing extensive coverage across key regions.

Despite these advances, critical gaps remain. The J-20 lacks internal air-to-ground bomb capacity, limiting its effectiveness as a multirole aircraft. Chinese pilots also remain culturally constrained by micromanagement from ground controllers, in stark contrast to U.S. pilots, who operate as autonomous battle-space managers.

Moreover, much of the PLA’s airpower strategy remains largely theoretical and untested, as seen in performance gaps revealed during China’s only recent combat experience, the Eastern Ladakh confrontation with India.

Maritime superiority for China rests on four pillars: anti-ship ballistic missiles that introduce a new threat dimension for U.S. carrier strike groups, advanced surface and submarine forces, area-denial and sea-control architectures, and the ability to project power beyond the First Island Chain.

Together, these capabilities are intended to hold adversary fleets at risk near China’s periphery while extending operational reach into the broader Pacific and Indian Oceans.

China has built the world’s largest navy by fleet size, with more than 370 combat vessels. Its surface fleet is anchored by eight Type 055 destroyers displacing roughly 12,000–13,000 tons, each with 112 vertical launch cells and advanced dual-band radars that approach the capability of U.S. cruisers.

The Fujian aircraft carrier marks a major technological leap: a conventionally powered ship of about 80,000–85,000 tons equipped with electromagnetic catapults, enabling launch of J-35 stealth fighters and KJ-600 airborne early-warning aircraft.

Undersea, China operates six Jin-class ballistic-missile submarines armed with JL-3 SLBMs with ranges exceeding 10,000 kilometers, while the Type 096 class under development is expected to feature enhanced stealth and 16–24 missile tubes. These platforms, combined with anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles and expanding maritime ISR networks, strengthen both sea-denial and power-projection options.

Important limitations persist. Current submarines are widely assessed as noisy, comparable to 1980s Soviet boats, making them more detectable to U.S. forces.

Questions remain about shipbuilding quality, weapons-integration reliability, and missile performance against sophisticated countermeasures.

Fujian’s conventional power plant, unlike the nuclear propulsion used by U.S. and French carriers, constrains endurance and global reach.

More broadly, China still lacks deep-water operational experience and has yet to demonstrate the combat effectiveness of its integrated naval systems under high-end, contested conditions.

In sum, China has made significant advancements and continues to expand its military capabilities. Yet its overall firepower and wartime operability still lag behind that of the United States. The U.S., however, can only maintain this edge through sustained defense spending, research, and development.

The post The Three Capabilities the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Needs to Reach Military Parity with the US appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics

Victor Reacts: These Boys Deserve a Medal, Not A Suspension (VIDEO)

Published

5 hours ago

on

August 20, 2025

By

These boys did the right thing and they are being punished for it.

They deserve to get a medal for what they did, not a suspension.

The Gateway Pundit reported,

The radical madness in Loudoun County, Virginia, just hit a new low. Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) has decided to SUSPEND two boys at Stone Bridge High School, not because they misbehaved, not because they broke the law, but because they dared to ask why a girl was in the boys’ locker room.

The school’s Title IX Office determined the boys were guilty of “sexual harassment” and “sex-based discrimination.”

Their punishment? A 10-day suspension, a no-contact order with the female student, forced meetings with administrators, and a permanent smear on their academic records that could destroy their college prospects.

This happens at a time when young men are constantly lectured about how they are the problem by virtue of being a male and their inherent “toxic masculinity.”

Those who do not bend the knee to the woke gender mob are punished for doing the right thing in a world gone crazy.

The post Victor Reacts: These Boys Deserve a Medal, Not A Suspension (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Continue Reading

Politics

WATCH: Trump Slams Newsom and Pritzker When Asked About Ensuring Future Peace in Ukraine Following his Presidency – “Get a Good President, Not One of These Wackos Like in California”

Published

5 hours ago

on

August 20, 2025

By

(Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

President Trump slammed California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, warning Americans that if they want to hold Russia at bay, “all you can do is hope you don’t get that as President.”

“All you can do is make sure you get a good president not, one of these wackos, like in California that runs the worst state anybody’s seen, or that guy in Illinois, who his family threw him out of the business because he was no good,” Trump said when asked how to handle Russia in the future.

Pritzker, he said, has “zero chance,” but “Maybe Newscum has a little bit of a chance.”

As noted by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, “Under George W. Bush, Russia invaded Georgia. Under Barack Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under Joe Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine, but under President Trump, Russia did not invade, nor take anything.” She continued, “President Trump is the only President this century, Republican or Democrat, who has held Russia in check and ensured peace in Europe.”

It was Biden, of course, who started the war to begin with. Putin even agreed that the war would have never started if Trump were President at the time Russia invaded! “In 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said during a press conference with Trump.

The President appeared on Fox and Friends on Tuesday morning following the historic peace summit at the White House on Monday, where he engaged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and other big leaders from Europe in peace negotiations.

This followed Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, where the two came to an agreement to end the war, pending Ukraine and NATO negotiations.

After meeting with Zelensky and seven European allies, Trump called Putin, and he agreed to meet with Zelensky in a bilateral summit and later with Trump and Zelensky.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, President Trump discussed his phone call with the Fox and Friends panel.

WATCH: Trump Discusses Phone Call with Putin on Fox and Friends – Reveals Putin had “No Communication with the White House for Years” Under Biden and “Wouldn’t Talk to the People from Europe”

Fox co-host Ainsley Earhardt also asked the President how the US will ensure that Putin "doesn't inch in closer" or invade Ukraine, and his answer was very simple: Don't get a weak President.

Trump then highlighted some of the "superstars" in his administration, signaling that any one of them could be the next presidential nominee. "We have a great bench, as you know that, we have great talent," he said.

WATCH:

Earhardt: There was a lot of talk yesterday when we were watching this about what happens after your presidency. How can we ensure that this conflict, that Putin doesn't inch in closer or more into the Ukraine territory? Is there anything that we can do? Can our can our congressmen and women pass any laws that would involve Article Five? How would that be handled?

Trump: All you can do is make sure you get a good president not, one of these wackos, like in California that runs the worst state anybody’s seen, or that guy in Illinois, who his family threw him out of the business because he was no good. Now he's running Illinois, and he wants to run for president. He's got zero chance. Maybe Newscum has a little bit of a chance, I don't know. It's hard to believe, because his record’s bad, but all you can do is hope you don't get that as President. We have a great bench, as you know that, we have great talent. And JD, and Marco, and Scott Bessent has been great, and Howard— they're all, I mean, we have such superstars.

Remember this, take a look at the border. The border was a disaster. Millions of people were pouring through, open border. Within two months, it was perfect, and within, now, every week, every month, they say zero people. Zero people are coming in illegally. We were taking people from prisons all over the world, gang members, insane asylum, mental patients from the worst insane asylums in the world, dropped into our to our place. So, now we have a very secure border, beautiful border. I built hundreds of miles of wall. Without that, we couldn't have secured border.

The post WATCH: Trump Slams Newsom and Pritzker When Asked About Ensuring Future Peace in Ukraine Following his Presidency – “Get a Good President, Not One of These Wackos Like in California” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Continue Reading

Politics

DEVELOPING: Texas Capitol Evacuated Amid Active Shooter Threat

Published

5 hours ago

on

August 20, 2025

By

A part of the Texas Capitol was evacuated on Tuesday evening amid an active shooter threat.

A protest erupted after Democrat State Rep. Nicole Collier slept in the state Capitol last night to protest the Texas DPS escort amid a redistricting fight with GOP state lawmakers.

Texas Democrats returned to the Capitol on Monday after fleeing to Illinois for two weeks in an effort to block GOP redistricting efforts.

More Texas Democrats are expected to join Rep. Collier and sleep in the state Capitol tonight.

Rep. Collier waved to her supporters from the window on Tuesday. She is locked in amid the active shooter threat.

WATCH:

Kamala Harris called Texas Rep. Collier and encouraged her to keep going with her stunt.

CBS Austin reported:

Parts of the Texas Capitol grounds were evacuated and closed to visitors on Tuesday evening after reports of an active shooter threat.

The building itself was shut down, prompting a protest in support of Representative Nicole Collier to move outside.

Despite the partial closure of the Capitol, the grounds initially remained open, allowing Representative Nicole Collier to wave to her supporters from a window.

Protest organizer Melody Tremallo said she was shown a video of the threat. “The captain came up to me and informed me that there was likely going to be… likely going to clear out the Capitol building on the grounds due to an imminent shooter threat. I was shown the video of somebody whose rhetoric basically went to the effect of…,” Tremallo said, and then CBS Austin’s reporter Andrew Freeman heard DPS announce it was closing the grounds.

DEVELOPING…

The post DEVELOPING: Texas Capitol Evacuated Amid Active Shooter Threat appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Continue Reading

Trending