According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on December 7, Putin said at the "Russia is Calling" forum that Russia is willing to cooperate with China in various fields without any restrictions, including in the field of military technology. Putin's statement triggered infinite reverie among netizens: Is Russia ready to sell the treasure "at the bottom of the box" to China?
Putin attends the "Russia is Calling" forum.
In fact, Putin has already answered this question indirectly, saying that Sino-Russian military cooperation is moving away from the "traditional relationship of buying and selling", and "we are thinking about technology". So, in what military-technical aspects are China and Russia most likely to cooperate?
Since it is cooperation, it must be based on each other's strengths and complementary advantages, rather than unilateral technology transfer. We think China and Russia are most likely to do it togetherICBM warning system.
The speed of the intercontinental missile is fast, from launch to hit, at most half an hour, the early warning time is extremely short, the best way is to use infrared early warning satellites to stare in the sky, as soon as the missile is launched, the tail flame can be detected. Russia has five "permafrost" infrared early warning satellites, which are basically able to cover the North American continent, but the high-precision infrared detectors and visible light television cameras on the satellites rely on imports. Due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia has been unable to obtain these equipment from the West, and if these satellites reach their longevity in the future, Russia will lose its ICBM early warning capability. And China's electronics industry is well developed, and Russia can buy similar equipment from us.
ICBM early warning.
To detect intercontinental missiles, in addition to staring in the sky with satellites, you can also use land-based radar, but the detection distance of land-based radar is limited by the curvature of the earth. Since the United States launches land-based intercontinental missiles to China through the Arctic and Siberia, it is best to build an early warning radar in Siberia if it wants to detect it early. Earlier, Russia had said that it was willing to help China build a missile warning system, but considering the sensitivity of building a Chinese radar station on Russian territory, it is likely that Russia and China would share the detection data of the "Voronezh" strategic early warning radar.
The "Voronezh" radar has a maximum detection range of more than 6,000 kilometers, which can carry out real-time tracking and precise positioning of various targets such as ballistic missiles, hypersonic **, cruise missiles, satellites, etc. If Russia shares the detection information of this radar with China, it will greatly enhance China's strategic early warning capability in the direction of the Arctic.
Compared with strategic early warning cooperation, Sino-Russian cooperation in other military fields has some unequal strengths, such as the integration of navigation systems between the two sides, due to the small number of satellites of the GLONASS system, low accuracy, and dependence on imports of key components, Russia is more dependent on Beidou. Of course, Russia can also purchase China's advanced components to manufacture its own navigation satellites, but the problem is that a navigation system covering the whole world costs a huge amount of money, and if it cannot be widely used for civilian use like GPS and Beidou, the cost is shared, and with Russia's financial resources, it cannot be supported.
The radar of the Su-57 relies on imported T R components.
As for cooperation in the field of military electronics, given the backward electronics industry base of the Russian side, it may be limited to components from China. For example, the T R component required for active phased array radars. Don't underestimate this little T r component, Russia can't produce it now, and without it, all Russian fighters and ** can only use passive phased array radars. Fighters are Russia's most profitable **, if the future Russian fighters can only use backward passive phased array radar, then even Iran, Algeria and other hardcore users will be difficult to keep. Another example is advanced thermal imagers, Russia is also dependent on imports, which seriously affects the export of Russian tanks. The latest gallium nitride T r components and advanced thermal imaging cameras have long been used on a large scale in China, and Russia can only turn to China if it wants to keep the military market.
Of course, in view of the extreme importance of the semiconductor industry to the military industry, Russia may not only be satisfied with imported components, but whether it is T R components or thermal imagers, they are the crystallization of the entire industrial chain of the entire electronics industry, if Russia wants to master a full set of technology, I am afraid that China will export to Russia in reverse and engage in a "156 project" in the 21st century. And what will Russia take in exchange?I'm afraid it has to be nuclear submarine technology.