DOD: China's Military Catching Up with Western Air Forces

China is working to rapidly modernize and expand its nuclear forces in the next decade at a pace that "dwarfs previous attempts in both scale and complexity," the Department of Defense said.

Kimberly Johnson

Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 05:29 PM ET

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Between the fall of 2021 and fall of 2023, the United States documented over 180 instances of PLA coercive and risky air intercepts against U.S. aircraft in the region, according to DOD. [Courtesy: DOD]

Key Takeaways:

The Department of Defense (DOD) reports China is rapidly modernizing its military, particularly its air forces (PLAAF and PLAN), making it the largest military aviation force in the Indo-Pacific and a top pacing challenge for the U.S.
China is significantly expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, estimated to have over 500 operational warheads, and has revealed its first nuclear-capable, air-to-air refuelable bomber.
The DOD notes an increasing trend of dangerous and coercive actions by China in the region, documenting hundreds of risky air intercepts against U.S. and allied aircraft since late 2021.

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China is catching up with Western air forces, the Department of Defense told members of Congress in a report detailing the U.S. military competitor’s efforts to build up its defenses.

“The 2022 National Defense Strategy identifies the [The People’s Republic of China] as [an] increasingly capable military as the department’s top pacing challenge,” a senior DOD official told reporters Thursday.