China Sets Sights on the Weapons of the Future

The Chinese have created a new military agency to develop high-tech weaponry, reports Financial Times:

China has launched a military agency to develop state of the art weapons, the latest step in the country’s ambitions to transform its army into a modern fighting force.

The Scientific Research Steering Committee was set up earlier this year but its existence was only reported this week, in a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV. It appears to be modelled on the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US body set up in 1957 to identify and nurture technology with national security applications. […]

Pointing to several advanced military technologies developed in the US, the documentary also noted that “most are Darpa-related” and declared: “If we want to win the military competition, we must undertake greater efforts to promote science and technology.”

The Chinese are clearly making a bid to supplant the U.S. as the world’s top developer of military technology—even while admitting that they can only hope to do so by emulating DARPA, the Pentagon’s innovative R&D agency. DARPA, which has nurtured breakthrough technologies like the internet, precision strike, and stealth since its creation in 1958, has other admirers in Asia too: Japan launched its own version in 2013, as a tense climate in Asia finds all parties seeking to arm up for the 21st century.

Of course, the creation of one bureaucratic agency does not guarantee innovation, and the Chinese military budget still lags behind the United States’. But the new agency will likely streamline China’s development of military technology at a time when Beijing has already been making some impressive gains. This March, for instance, China sent its first homemade stealth fighter, the J-20, into service with the PLA Air Force; it is also developing pump-jet propulsion technology to create ever-more stealthy, silent, and elusive submarines. And China recently announced its intentions to be the global leader in artificial intelligence by 2030: a goal that will surely transform China’s military just as AI is already reshaping behavior on the streets of China.

China’s expansive military ambitions have been on clear display in recent years, from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean to the deepest reaches of Pakistan. With military authorities now prioritizing high-tech weapons development, it is clear that the military wants state-of-the-art means to match its ever-expanding goals.

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