CHINA’S AIRBORNE PSY WAR PLATFORM

In a boost to ‘Make in India’, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on June 17 witnessed the inaugural flight of the indigenous HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft that has been developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Defence Minister also sat in the cockpit after the test flight. The aircraft, the prototype of which was rolled out in January, is aimed at being used for Stage I training of pilots for the three services. The Chinese military has a new warplane which is capable of beaming propaganda and disinformation into hostile territory. The plane is the new, four-engine Y-8GX7 psychological operations plane, also known by its Chinese name, Gaoxin-7. It is analogous to the US Air Force’s EC130J, which it says “conducts military information support operations and civil affairs broadcasts in FM radio, television and military communications bands.” The US Air Force has acquired BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets for use in ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Air Force fielded the initial units to fulfill an urgent operational need for F-16 and A-10 aircraft and it has already successfully used the weapon in combat operations. The deployment marks the first time these systems have been used in combat operations from an Air Force fixed-wing platform and comes on the heels of the US Marine Corps fielding the rockets on AV-8B fixed-wing aircraft.