Stealth Killer? China’s Air Defenses Are Surpassing Russia’s Anti-Aircraft Weapons

While the West has been focusing on the power of advanced Russian anti-aircraft missiles such as the S-400, it should have been watching China.

China is pulling ahead of Russia, especially in terms of sophisticated radars and sensors, according to a British expert.

“I’d say we should have been paying more attention to Chinese systems alongside the Russian ones,” Justin Bronk, a researcher at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, told the National Interest. “Not because the latter aren’t still superior, but because of the threat trajectory of the former. China will eventually catch up to and then surpass Russian missile and sensor technologies; and with a much more capable air force and economy than Russia.”

Bronk recently authored a RUSI analysis of Russian and Chinese integrated air defense systems (IAD), those multilayered networks of surface-to-air missiles [SAM] and radars that give Western air forces nightmares. While Russia anti-aircraft weapons such as the S-400 (NATO code name: SA-21 Growler)  are more capable than China’s HQ-9 missiles, China has more resources for developing even more advanced systems.

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