06 November 2017

China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) Launches Website—Great Research Resources!

Visit CASI’s website.

Read PLA Aerospace Power: A Primer on Trends in China’s Military Air, Space, and Missile Forces.

Access useful research sources & links.

CASI’s Mission

“Everything that Flies”

CASI’s mission is to advance understanding of the capabilities, development, operating concepts, strategy, doctrine, personnel, organization, and limitations of China’s aerospace forces, which include: the PLA Air Force (PLAAF); PLA Naval Aviation (PLAN Aviation); PLA Army Aviation; PLA Rocket Force (PLARF); the Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), primarily space and cyber; the civilian and commercial infrastructure that supports the above.

CASI supports the Secretary, Chief of Staff, and other senior leaders of the U.S. Air Force. CASI provides expert research and analysis supporting decision and policy makers in the Department of Defense and across the U.S. government. CASI can support the full range of units and organizations across the USAF and the DoD. CASI accomplishes its mission through conducting the following activities:  

  • CASI primarily conducts open-source native-language research supporting its five main topic areas. 
  • CASI conducts conferences, workshops, roundtables, subject matter expert panels, and senior leader discussions to further its mission. CASI personnel attend such events, government, academic, and public, in support of its research and outreach efforts.
  • CASI publishes research findings and papers, journal articles, monographs, and edited volumes for both public and government-only distribution as appropriate. 
  • CASI establishes and maintains institutional relationships with organizations and institutions in the PLA, the PRC writ large, and with partners and allies involved in the region.
  • CASI maintains the ability to support senior leaders and policy decision makers across the full spectrum of topics and projects at all levels, related to Chinese aerospace.

CASI supports the U.S. Defense Department and the China research community write-large by providing high quality, unclassified research on Chinese aerospace developments in the context of U.S. strategic imperatives in the Asia-Pacific region. Primarily focused on China’s Military Air, Space, and Missile Forces, CASI capitalizes on publicly available native language resources to gain insights as to how the Chinese speak to and among one another on these topics.

Leadership

Brendan Mulvaney is the Director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute. Dr. Mulvaney served as a Marine for a quarter of a century, where he flew more than 2000 hours as a AH-1W Cobra pilot, and was an Olmsted Scholar in Shanghai, China. He served at Camp Pendleton, CA; in China as an Olmsted Scholar at Fudan University, where he earned his Ph.D. in International Relations; in Iraq; in Washington D.C. as the inaugural Director of the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Red Team, and most recently at U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis where he was the Associate Chair for Languages and Cultures and taught Chinese language and culture.

Ken Allen is the Research Director for CASI at NDU. Over the past 25 years, his primary focus has been on China’s military organizational structure, personnel, education, training, and foreign relations with particular emphasis on the PLA Air Force. During 21 years in the U.S. Air Force, he served as an enlisted Chinese and Russian linguist and intelligence officer with tours in Taiwan, Berlin, Japan, Hawaii, China, and Washington DC. From 1987-1989, he served as the Assistant Air Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He was inducted into DIA’s Defense Attaché Hall of Fame in 1997. He has B.A. degrees from the University of California at Davis and the University of Maryland and an M.A. degree from Boston University. He has written multiple books, monographs, chapters, journal articles, and online articles on the PLA.