The latest national defense White Paper from China sets a three-step course on the road to modernization, culminating in the middle of the century with “building informationalized armed forces and being capably of winning informationalized wars.” The paper states that China “will not engage in any arms race or pose a military threat to any other country.” China also maintains that its defense expenditures, as a share of its Gross Domestic Product, are far less than that of other major countries. Of course, Western defense analysts believe that China regularly understates its defense expenditures, and the latest Pentagon report indicated China’s aim is extending beyond its borders.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
