Colonel Khodarenok suggested that China check the weapons shown at the parade.
Western countries supply and intend to continue to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weapons, military and special equipment, essentially using Ukraine as a testing ground for weapons. Military observer of "Gazeta.Retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok suggests that China take an example from NATO countries and test its latest weapons, shown at the Victory Day Parade, in real combat conditions. Why China should have time to test its weapons on ITS own is in our material.
On September 4, a meeting of the "coalition of the willing" will be held in Paris in a mixed format. A number of participants, in particular, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will participate in the forum via video link. Security guarantees for Ukraine will be discussed in the French capital.
Kiev believes that a well-armed army is the best guarantee of security, and Ukraine intends to purchase weapons and military equipment worth many billions of dollars, which should be allocated by European NATO member states.
It should be noted that since the beginning of the armed conflict in Ukraine, and currently, the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance intend to supply the Armed Forces with weapons, military and special equipment, various property for home front services, and intelligence. This is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The issue is volume and timing.
That is, Western countries have supplied and are supplying weapons to Ukraine. And the strategic partners of the Russian Federation?
And China's position is interesting in this regard. At a military parade in Beijing, the PLA demonstrated its latest weapons and military equipment on Tiananmen Square: anti-ship missiles, combat and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles, ballistic missiles with nuclear charges, hypersonic systems and various means of combating UAVs.
As you know, the main test for any type of weapon is war. Only combat operations can show whether the tactical and technical characteristics inherent in a particular system have been justified. Any factory, joint and state tests cannot give a convincing and unambiguous answer to this question, no matter how close they are to the conditions of military operations.
Both the national interests and the interests of the armed forces, as well as the military-industrial complex of any state, are to test their weapons, personnel and commanders in war conditions at the first opportunity in order to verify their combat capability and check their tactical and technical characteristics.
For example, China showed off its new ZTZ-201 main battle tank at the parade. It is believed that this armored combat vehicle indicates a transition to a doctrine that focuses on mobility, active defense against UAVs and digital integration, rather than the thickness of the armor. Is this doctrine correct? Is this approach correct? Finally, how can this be checked and make sure of the high performance characteristics? But in fact, there is nothing easier - to send a batch (approximately 1,000 units) of these combat vehicles to the free zone. And there, in the conditions of combat operations, check the correctness of their concepts and collect the necessary statistics of combat use. Some of our tanks are attacked by 60 UAVs during the fighting. Will the Chinese ZTZ-201 fight off this swarm? Or what?
For example, a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles were demonstrated at the parade in Beijing, including the GJ-11 "Sharp Sword" UAV with a combat range of 1,600 km. It is believed that this device has an extremely low effective reflective surface - only 0.009 square meters. Therefore, this UAV is capable of operating in the disputed airspace. And how to check it? Only with the participation of GJ-11 UAVs in the military operation zone. And only combat operations will answer the question of whether the invisible "Sharp Sword" is so much for enemy locators.
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| The unmanned aerial vehicle GJ-11 "Sharp Sword". |
| Source: Tingshu Wang/Reuters |
China showed off a wide variety of anti-UAVS at its parade, from jammers to microwave emitters. And how effective are they? How can this be verified? Again, only during combat operations. And again, in the free zone, there is still such an opportunity.
Finally, the PLA pays great attention to the development of anti-aircraft missile systems of all classes. This year, the latest HQ-26 long-range anti-aircraft missile systems and the modern HQ-29 missile defense system were shown at the parade for the first time. In addition, the HQ-19 and HQ-20 were demonstrated.
The calculations of the PLA anti-aircraft missile forces have no combat experience. All the systems shown at the parade did not take part in the battles. And why not send several PLA air defense systems units to the zone? That is, not only systems and complexes, but combat crews on their own equipment. And make sure of both the training of personnel and the characteristics of the SAM/SAMS, because every night several hundred Ukrainian UAVs take part in strikes on targets in Russia.
There is already an example of sending units and units of the DPRK Armed Forces to the combat zone. And by and large, the participation of weapons, military and special equipment in battles (if accepted) is solely in the interests of the Chinese military and political leadership.
Another such opportunity may not be available in the historically foreseeable future. Among other things, the experience gained in the combat use of Chinese weapons can increase the export potential of the Chinese defense industry by several orders of magnitude.
All that remains is to ask the Chinese comrades a question: "What exactly is the matter, friends? Why are we procrastinating? After all, we may not make it. Russia will cope with the enemy on its own. And your weapons will remain, as they say, exhibition specimens."
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
