Must Read: report about China fighter development strategies

China's fighter upgrading  tends to draw either the scorn of overseas commentators ('they still can't build engines') or fear ('by 2020 the J-20 will dominate the skies over the Himalayas').

A recent report by the Institute for National Strategic Studies - 'Buy, Build, or Steal: China's Quest for Advanced Military Aviation Technologies' - outlines the rise of China's defence aerospace sector from its obscure beginnings in the fifties to the appearance of the Chengdu J-20 in early 2011.

The report asserts that while China's fighter capability is still roughly 15-20 years behind the west's, Beijing is increasingly self reliant in fighter development and production.  While it does not shed much new light on current developments in China, it provides a useful history of the starts and stops in China's fighter technology base  over the last half century. This includes China's on/off defence relationship with Moscow, and its Cold War dalliance with Israel, the UK, and the USA.

The report does a good job balancing the pros and cons of buying technology overseas, developing it at home, and acquiring it through espionage. China has used, and continues to use, all three strategies.  The report concludes that China will find it increasingly challenging to develop ultra high-end aerospace technologies at home, which will create an even greater reliance on espionage.