China is pushing ahead with development of a broad range of tactical guided weaponry, offering up an increasingly wide range of systems for export. Several previously unseen developments were on display at Airshow China. They included a small anti-ship cruise missile, air-launched versions of a tactical anti-ship missile, a range of dual-mode and standoff precision-guided munitions, a low-cost laser-guided missile and a “small-diameter bomb.” The last two are both intended, at least in part, for UAV applications.

China aims to challenge the global aerospace industry with a range of increasingly focused civil and military aircraft and system builders, following a sweeping restructuring of its aeronautics sector. Specialized Chinese aircraft businesses that are emerging from the restructuring are the competitors that U.S., European, Russian and Japanese companies will struggle against and cooperate with over the coming decades.

BEIJING – Sweeping reforms of the Chinese aerospace sector will present the global industry with a team of focused competitors with specialties ranging from engines to fighters to aircraft equipment.