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 U.S. Department of Defense identifies China's rapidly modernizing and expanding military, particularly its air forces, as its "top pacing challenge."
China's air and naval aviation forces are the largest in the Indo-Pacific, with the PLAAF developing advanced aircraft, including a new nuclear-capable bomber, and significantly expanding its nuclear arsenal to over 500 warheads.
The DOD has documented a significant increase in China's "coercive and risky operational behavior," including hundreds of aggressive air intercepts against U.S. and allied aircraft in the region 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.