 And even better
By Jon Dougherty
� 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
American defense and aircraft firms won contracts in the late 1980s and 1990s to upgrade Chinese F-8II fighter jets of the type used to intercept an American EP-3E aircraft and force it to land at an airbase on China's southern Hainan Island earlier this month.
Northrup Grumman, a leading U.S. military aircraft maker, provided avionics upgrades for the F-8II -- one of China's first modern, indigenously-built fighters -- under a "massive" program that included guidance kits and weapons systems upgrades, as well.
In 1995, The New American magazine reported that following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of Chinese students by People's Liberation Army troops, "Chinese military officers were allowed back into the U.S. to resume work with Grumman's massive modernization of � China's F-8II fighter planes."
Chinese J-8II fighter, a modern version of earlier F-8 designs, likely incorporates Western and U.S. avionics and systems.
Also, in October 1998, Al Santoli, editor of the American Foreign Policy Center's China Reform Monitor and a national security adviser to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., wrote that China's largest aerospace firm, the China Aero-Technology Import Export Company, "has been permitted to obtain avionics, guidance kits and weapons systems to upgrade the F-8 fighter-bomber, which was co-developed with U.S. aerospace manufacturers. �"
And, the Federation of American Scientists, in an online analysis of the F-8 series aircraft, said, "Grumman signed a $245 million contract with China to substantially re-engineer the F-8 interceptor to the F-8II standard. �"
The FAS report also said that "several other Chinese aircraft incorporate Western systems, including the H-7 and Q-5 attack aircraft."
The F-8II fighter has been used on numerous occasions to interdict U.S. surveillance planes flying in international waters near China for months.
One such fighter crashed after a minor midair collision with a U.S. Navy EP-3E surveillance aircraft April 1; a second F-8 reportedly forced the American plane to land at Hainan, the location of one of China's largest electronic surveillance centers.
According to Preservation of Aerospace Technology Projects, Inc., or PAT, a not-for-profit corporation providing research, technical and educational publications, the Chinese F-8II upgrade program was named "Peace Pearl," and was headed by one of the organization's officials, retired Air Force Col. Will R. Stewart.
Stewart was the test squadron commander for the program from April 1989 to April 1990. Information on PAT's website said the program was held at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Stewart "directed test planning efforts of a major avionics upgrade to the People's Republic of China's F-8II interceptor aircraft," according to r�sum� information, and he was "responsible for [the] $13 million test budget." He oversaw "26 Air Force, 40 contractor and 40 Chinese workers on [the] largest foreign military sales program in existence with the Chinese."
The information said the "program was terminated 30 Apr 90 by the Chinese due to financial difficulties." PAT could not be reached for comment to confirm the cancellation date.
WND spoke to Jennifer Canaff, an air combat systems expert with Northrup Grumman, about the F-8II upgrade. She requested an e-mail inquiry "so I can pass this around the office" for a reply. Officials, however, did not respond by press time.
WorldNetDaily contributor Kenneth R. Timmerman, writing for the American Spectator magazine in 1995, said, "One of China's biggest and best suppliers of advanced U.S. technology is McDonnell Douglas, America's largest defense contractor and maker [in addition to its line of MD-80 and MD-90 civilian airliners] of the F-15, F-18 and C-17 military jets."
McDonnell Douglas is now a subsidiary of The Boeing Corporation.
"According to U.S. government investigators probing a potential security breach, a team of Chinese procurement agents inspected the sprawling McDonnell Douglas C-17 plant in Columbus, Ohio, previously used by Rockwell to assemble the B-1 bomber, from September 11-19, 1993," Timmerman wrote.
"The Chinese were allowed to photograph production lines inside the huge multi-story hangars and sought technical documentation on a wide variety of advanced production technology, much of it classified. The nine-day inspection by the Chinese was considered so sensitive that the company only allowed the inspectors in during the evenings and on the weekends, after the plant's unionized workers had gone home," he said.
"Following their visit, the Chinese submitted an eight-page, single-spaced list of equipment they wanted to buy. It included 31 large, computerized machine-tools that the Joint Chiefs of Staff consider to be 'militarily-critical' and that normally can only be exported to U.S. allies, if at all," he wrote.
"The Commerce Department approved the licenses in August [1994], McDonnell Douglas confirmed. As promised by the Chinese, an agreement extending the MD-82 program was signed with CATIC [China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation] in November" of that year, said Timmerman.
**China's zeal for U.S. aircraft technology dates back to early in the Clinton administration.** (emphasis added by me)
Timmerman said CATIC, for instance, was allowed by lax Clinton administration export rules to purchase sophisticated production tools used for the B-1B "Lancer" bomber and for F-14 fighters.
Timmerman, quoting U.S. Customs officials, said CATIC was one of several "Chinese middlemen and front companies" that was "deeply involved in a vast military aircraft spare parts pipeline to Iran" -- the only country ever allowed to import F-14s. Iran, during the late 1970s, imported about 80 F-14s before the late Shah was deposed by Islamic fundamentalists in 1979.
Additionally, Timmerman said research indicated that U.S. specialty steel parts -- used in aircraft and airframe manufacturing -- sold to CATIC were "sent directly to a military aircraft plant in Xian, China." CATIC also bought and shipped U.S.-made global positioning satellite systems to China, leading U.S. defense analysts to conclude that Beijing was successfully integrating GPS into cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, "and a new generation of military jets -- some of which are sent to Iran."
"Yet, the Clinton administration has lifted all licensing requirements for the sale of GPS systems to China," Timmerman wrote.
Other experts discount some U.S. analysts who say China is still years away from developing modern air assets.
"The Chinese military, according to the Pentagon, 'is decades away from possessing a comprehensive capability to engage and defeat a modern adversary beyond China's boundaries,'" said A. K. Sachdev, a research fellow at the India-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, in a June 1999 report about China's emerging military capabilities.
"Several Western scholars have given opinions roughly conforming to the above stated assessment. Nonetheless, what is evident � is that Chinese air strategy is moving towards power projection through strategic airlift, offensive capability beyond Chinese borders and strong tactical presence in terms of modern fighter aircraft," Sachdev said.
He added that by 2010, "one estimate puts the figure for [modern] Chinese aircraft � as 480 F-7IIIs, 240 F-8IIs, 128 Su-27s and 30 F-10s."
So you see it we armed the next Super Power not only with nukes but with nice aircraft as well. Seems as if Bush and perhaps even Reagan would have something to do with such deals with China according to the dates in this article. But no one was as responsible as Clinton. Boy am I ever glad Clintonians are no longer in power. If Gore won we'd probably be eatin rice with chopsticks right now, and wouldn't be allowed to wear shoes in our own homes. Ok I'm pissed and will start to swear every liberal and democrat if I don't stop now. I hate politics.
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2001-04-12, 08:36
