Can’t rule out probability of Ladakh skirmish, but China faces logistical issues — Dhanoa
Noting that the probability of a conflict between
India and China can never be ruled out, former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal
(ACM) B.S. Dhanoa Friday said that while on paper the Chinese Air Force has
huge capability, a lot of natural and logistics factors are flying against it.
Chairing a session of the Military Literature Festival, which is being held
online this year due to the Covid pandemic, he argued the Indian Air Force can
actually provide a credible punitive action in the Himalayas as against the People’s
Liberation Army’s Air Force (PLAAF).
Speaking about the ongoing stand-off in Ladakh, Dhanoa
said, “Probability of India-China skirmish can never be ruled out.” He added
that the Chinese believe in the old Soviet era doctrine of their main offensive
being missile and rocket-based. Dhanoa further said that today’s China is not
the same China that fought in Korea. “Taking large casualties is something that
a developed China with one-child policy cannot take,” he explained.
About the PLAAF, the former IAF chief said, “On paper,
the PLAAF has a huge capability and is supported by a much larger economy
funding a defence budget, which is almost three times ours. This is a public
defence budget in which a lot many things are hidden.” He noted that the PLAAF
has 1,500 fighters, of which 800 are fourth generation. Dhanoa further said
China has also deployed a limited number of fifth generation fighters — J-20
and J-31 — and has also completed the induction of 24 Su-35 that it procured
from Russia and the S-400 air defence system.
‘Effect of terrain has to be taken into consideration’
Talking about the PLAAF strength, Dhanoa said China has strategic bombers and
has also deployed advanced AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System), besides
having a large fleet of UAVs, including stealth UAV. He added that the Chinese
have rocket forces deployed, which have the ability to target all military
installations opposite them and also in the hinterland.
“It has developed Electronic Warfare to counter the
US. So it has more than a match for our technology. But the bottom line is how
credible are these technologies when we look beyond the Himalayas into Tibet,”
Dhanoa said. He questioned how much of this force can be brought against India
given the state of infrastructure in Tibet and Xinjiang.
“Effect of terrain has to be taken into consideration.
It has an impact on aircraft operations due to altitude and extreme cold. It
has an effect on targeting and weapons ballistic, specially because their
adversary, which is us, is likely to be dispersed. It has got serious issues on
radar’s line of sight resulting in very poor trans-frontier visibility,” Dhanoa
added. He said all of these result in very low reaction time and by the time
the IAF fighters cross the Himalayas, the Chinese will have less time to react.
US Plans For A “Nuclear Power Plant” On Moon Will Drag
China Into Space Colonization Race
Chinese experts have warned against the US’ plans to
set up a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2027. The US’
Space Policy Directive-6 (SPD-6) states there should be a fission power system on the
surface of the moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kilowatt-electric
(kWe) and higher.
The SPD-6 envisages the US’ National Strategy for Space Nuclear
Power and Propulsion. A Chinese media report says that the US’ ambitions may
lead to future lunar military projects as it seeks space supremacy regardless
of the damages it would cause.
While the US claims that the plant would “support a sustained
lunar presence and exploration of Mars”, China speculates military purposes
behind the establishment.
Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the
state-run Global Times that the moon is rich in helium-3, which
can be used to produce energy by nuclear fusion. In the name of building a
nuclear power plant which includes exploitation of nuclear materials, the US
may turn the moon into a production site of nuclear weapons, he alleged.
US President Donald Trump has issued the SPD-6 ,
which lays out a national strategy for the responsible and effective use of
space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP) systems. It comes at a time when
China’s Chang’e-5 successfully completed its moon mission and returned
with lunar samples.
The Chinese expert claims that the signing of SPD-6 shows
the US’ intent to drag China into a space race, just like it did with the
erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ program. It was
the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) aimed to protect the United States from
any attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons.
Furthermore, the US policy to use SNPP to maintain and advance its dominance and strategic leadership in space demonstrates “American unilateralism”, said Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University.
Li alleged the US plan is against the international
consensus on using outer space. As per the Moon Treaty, adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1979, the celestial bodies and the moon are “not subject
to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or
occupation, or by any other means”.
The US has generally followed the rules in the treaty
but never formally joined. Earlier this year, President Trump had proposed new
rules, completely in contrast to the earlier agreement. Called ‘Artemis
Accord’, this allows the use of lunar resources for commercial gain.
The accord also focuses on establishing “safety zones”
around landing sites, which could be interpreted as de facto ownership of areas
of the moon, which is forbidden by the Outer Space Treaty.
The Outer Space Treaty was largely based on the
‘Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space’. It provides a basic framework for
international space law.
NASA Has Plans To Send AI-Powered ‘Robotic Dogs To
Mars
NASA is currently working on plans to send robot dogs
to Mars as part of their “Mars Dogs” project, under which the four-legged,
artificial intelligence (AI) powered bots will navigate the Red Planet’s rough
terrain and underground caves.
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a
California-based NASA field center, virtually presented the plan for the Mars
Dogs at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting on Monday (December
14).
According to sources, the robot dogs will operate in
the same manner as the iconic wheeled rovers such as the Spirit, Opportunity,
Curiosity, and the recently launched Perseverance.
However, the Mars Dogs will bring much more to the
table due to their ability to maneuver in a way the other rovers could not.
The Robot Dog
According to the scientists at the AGU, the new robots will be far more agile and resilient in carrying out missions on the tricky terrain of the planet.
Moreover, the presence of sensors on the robots will
enable the robots to evade obstacles, choose between multiple paths, and build
virtual maps of buried tunnels and caverns for operators at home base.
The autonomous Mars canine, named “Au-Spot”, is a
modified version of a four-legged mechanical explorer called “Spot”. Spot was
created by robotics company Boston Dynamics as an agile mobile robot that could
navigate terrain with unprecedented mobility.
According to reports, over 60
scientists and engineers were part of the team which equipped Au-Spot with
networked sensors and software to help it autonomously scan, navigate, and map
its environment safely.
The team is part of Collaborative SubTerranean
Autonomous Resilient Robots or CoSTAR, which is a collaboration between NASA’s
JPL, MIT, Caltech, KAIST, LTU, and several industry partners.
Mars
The traditional rovers present on the Red Planet are
mostly limited to flat surfaces, however, a lot of scientifically interesting
regions can only be reached by crossing very rough terrain or by descending
below the surface.
NASA’s robot dogs are up for that task, as according
to the scientists, unlike the rovers who cannot get up if they topple over, the
dogs can.
“Toppling
does not mean mission failure,”
“Using
recovery algorithms, the robot can self-right from a multitude of falls.” said
the scientists during the presentation.
Moreover, according to the scientists, a Mars Dog
would be approximately 12 times lighter than the current rovers and also
possess the ability to travel much faster, with normal walking speeds of 3 mph (5 km/h).
Curiosity Rover
On the other hand, the Curiosity rover rolls along the surface of the planet at about 0.09 mph (0.14 km/h), offering the advantage to the robot dogs.
According to reports, NASA has been looking to make
use of such robot dogs for its Mars missions since 2018. The
presence of these robots on the planet could really accelerate the research on
the planet and pave ways for expanding findings.
Currently, the Mars robot dog is undergoing tests,
which include complete different obstacle courses on Earth. Under the training,
the dog is learning to maneuver through tunnels, climb up the stairs and ramps,
and travel in locations that resemble the surface and subsurface of Mars.
While the prospect of sending these dogs on the planet, there has been no set launch date for the Au-Spot so far.
