UFO Incidents or U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in China?

On Dec. 27, the Xinhua website released an article written by Xu Yong Ling, a former test pilot from the Chinese Air Force, entitled “2011 Review of Military Aviation Events：Motives behind the UFO.” A section of the article, labelled “Mysterious Visitor in the Sky,” mentioned that Xu had witnessed several unidentified objects in China’s skies and deduced that these unidentified objects were man-made. This has prompted us in China to place emphasis on such incidents, which we should deem military events. When one such unidentified flying object was shot down, it was confirmed that the flying object did not require human operation. However, if one witnessed the object in flight, one would have thought it was a supernatural phenomenon.

In this age, unmanned aerial vehicles have become an important means of investigating an invasion. If aerial vehicles are manned, that would mean an invasion. In an era where technology is not symmetrical, such harassment against weak nations is common. Major powers use their technological advantages to carry out such invasions against weak nations. In fact, this has become a way for major powers to show off their superiority. This article suggests that high-tech stealth aircraft of a certain country can fly in China’s skies at will. This is no UFO incident; China’s air defenses just has no good way of dealing with this!

One is definitely shocked by such things. In recent years, there have been numerous UFO incidents, and the frequency of these incidents seems to be increasing at an exponential rate. Previously, most UFO incidents occurred only in technologically advanced nations. For example, the U.S. has had several reports of such incidents. With the development of China in recent years, such reports have been more frequent. The traces of the events can be found in almost more than half of China; in Beijing, Changzhou, Hohhot, Shijiazhuan, Lanzhou, Inner Mongolia and so on. Some experts felt that this is perhaps due to the latest technological experiments in China. On top of that, the same conclusion was arrived at after several countries analyzed the follow-up reporting on the UFO incidents. It is after reading pilot Xu’s article that we learned that such incidents are related to rival nations conducting a secret investigation on China. In other words, they are investigating China’s military secrets while the Chinese military is powerless to react to such incidents.

It is just like the year when the U.S. was testing the F-117 stealth aircraft. There were several Americans who had witnessed all types of UFO incidents. But such incidents are only within the grasp of the government or the military. Due to military secrecy, it is not easy to provide an explanation of the events. As a result, authorities took no stance regarding the incidents. Therefore, various appearances of UFOs can fit into two categories. First, the Chinese military is currently experimenting on some advanced technology and various types of secret aircraft. Second, some country’s secret unmanned aerial vehicle is currently active in our country. Just like what pilot Xu said, what was shot down would be considered an unmanned aircraft. Furthermore, what could not be shot down or was not discovered by the air defense system would be deemed UFO incidents. This can be further illustrated by the shooting of an American unmanned aerial vehicle, the RQ-170 Sentinel, by Iran in the beginning of last month.

We know that with the rise of China, the U.S. has already listed China as a potential strategic adversary. Therefore, it has become a main goal of the U.S. military to scout and gain control of China’s core military secrets. According to America’s well-known National Defense Magazine, the U.S. military’s emphasis on unmanned aerial vehicles has heightened. The U.S. is also currently in the midst of developing an enhanced unmanned aerial vehicle capable of penetrating the People’s Liberation Army and the Iranian air defense system. However, the concrete details are still confidential. The U.S. is already successfully deploying or is currently experimenting with various unmanned aerial vehicles like the RQ-3A, RQ-4A, RQ-170, HTV-170, HTV-2, X-37B, X-47, X-51 and so on. Such projects are semi-public, and, according to the U.S. military’s practice, it is possible that there are many more top-secret reconnaissance missions with unmanned aerial aircraft. An example would be the long-rumored SR-71 and Aurora Hypersonic Strategic Reconnaissance. The SR-71 has been in service for nearly 50 years so far without being shot down. As for the latter, there has been no confirmation of its existence, and there is no way of detecting or countering it. Especially when there are many unmanned aerial vehicles which are beyond the traditional shapes that we know of, such advanced aircraft could be what is being seen in the UFO incidents.

There is no doubt that most American unmanned aerial vehicles are stealth aircraft. The above examples are American manned or unmanned reconnaissance aircraft systems. Especially since the turn of the century, after the American stealth fighters, the F-22 and B-2, came into service, the Chinese air defense has become unprecedentedly more rigorous. As a result, China has started to actively develop its anti-stealth capability. What takes precedence here is China’s recent development of several anti-stealth radars. One which is widely known is the DWL002 passive detection radar system. Another tool is the YLC-20, a radio detection system, the Chinese version of Czech Republic’s Vera-E. Another one is a ground-based, long-range passive radar system. There are other means as well, including the monitoring of cell phone base station signals or discovering stealth aircraft through their disturbance of the wireless transmission of television signals. The above are four known anti-stealth radar systems. Although the local media sees these as marvelous, these systems can do nothing to those foreign, technologically-advanced unmanned aerial vehicles. If one cannot rely on radio signals to detect unmanned aircraft, then it becomes all the more difficult to counter it; there have been witnesses, but no air force had been dispatched to track or attack. Put another way, there is no way of discovering or continuing with the tracking. This will mean that all the surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles are ineffective, and Chinese skies are completely open to others.

If this is the case, what intelligence does the U.S. want to obtain? First, it wants to get a hold of China’s preparations for the possibility of war with Taiwan. This means China making use of the Taiwan Straits Exercise opportunity and exercising force against Taiwan. Second, it wants to know the key performance indicators of China’s new air and navy equipment, especially the main battle equipment used by the Navy and the Air Force. It will then be easier to do close surveillance. Third, the U.S. wants to monitor China’s military movements and secret communications, discovering the secrets and patterns behind Chinese military deployment and transactions. Fourth, Americans seek the latest intelligence on China’s weapons testing and production. What is important from this intelligence is the location of weapons manufacturing and testing sites.

Although some of the above intelligence can be obtained through satellite reconnaissance, unmanned aerial vehicles is still able to approach the target and obtain even more details. On top of that, such stealth reconnaissance would not be shot and would only be “vaguely” discovered by Chinese military forces. In turn, this would induce the Chinese air defense system to trigger its emergency radar and electronic communication parameters. This is one of the reasons why satellite reconnaissance cannot replace the unmanned aerial vehicles.

From Xu’s article, we see that China’s air defense system isn’t all that tight and China’s means of counteracting unmanned aerial vehicles is somewhat lacking. Yet with China’s recent improvements in stealth technology, the country is catching up in this area with many excellent anti-stealth radars and stealth capabilities. The Chengdu J-20 has been tested 63 times in one year. This indirectly means China has made tremendous progress in the fields of stealth and anti-stealth. What we are concerned with is when will China be able to prove itself like Iran by shooting down or forcing a true American unmanned aerial vehicle to land?