The Chinese stealth fighter jet photographs that were leaked online since December seem to only be prototypes of the aircraft, not the real deal -- at least that's what U.S officials are saying. According to Reuters, the U.S. believes that the J-20 stealth fighter jets are far too technologically advanced for China at this point, and that the photographs show what is to become of future J-20 jets.
The photographs, published on the front page of The Wall Street Journal as wel as on a number of websites, come just days before U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is due to travel to Beijing on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The WSJ reported that many experts believed the Chinese stealth fighter jet photographs were authentic, which can be a concern for the U.S. as it is a strong indicator that China is making quick progress in developing a rival to the world's only operational stealth fighter, the Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor.
U.S. Vice Admiral David Dorsett, the director of naval intelligence, told reporters Wednesday that deployment of the F-20 stealth fighter is years away.
The Chinese stealth fighter jet photographs that were leaked online since December seem to only be prototypes of the aircraft, not the real deal -- at least that's what U.S officials are saying. According to Reuters, the U.S. believes that the J-20 stealth fighter jets are far too technologically advanced for China at this point, and that the photographs show what is to become of future J-20 jets.
The photographs, published on the front page of The Wall Street Journal as wel as on a number of websites, come just days before U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is due to travel to Beijing on Sunday, Reuters reports.
The WSJ reported that many experts believed the Chinese stealth fighter jet photographs were authentic, which can be a concern for the U.S. as it is a strong indicator that China is making quick progress in developing a rival to the world's only operational stealth fighter, the Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor.
U.S. Vice Admiral David Dorsett, the director of naval intelligence, told reporters Wednesday that deployment of the F-20 stealth fighter is years away.
"It's still not clear to me when it's going to become operational," Dorsett said. "Developing a stealth capability with a prototype and then integrating that into a combat environment is going to take some time."
According to Reuters, a U.S. intelligence official estimated that the Chinese stealth fighter could rival the F-22 Raptor within eight years.
"We're anticipating Chian to have a fifth-generation fighter...operational right around 2018," Wayne Ulman of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center said in May of last year.
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rainingsinger | December 29, 2010 | 88 likes, 10 dislikes
Aviation buffs are buzzing over blurry photographs now surfacing on Chinese military websites purporting to show Beijing's first stealth fighter jet, the Chengdu J-20 fighter. Chinese aviation fans says they have been snapping pics of the jet during recent taxi tests, with a first flight likely still weeks away. It's the best holiday gift Western air power advocates could wish for -- or further evidence of the self-licking ice cream cone nature of defense spending. Most likely, both.
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The Wall Street Journal's front page today features a pair of black-bordered snapshots of China's J-20 fighter, under a headline warning of "A Chinese Stealth Challenge?" For those of us who have read the Journal for years, respecting its balanced and judicious approach on national-security topics, it's plane something has changed since the venerable, but boringly sober, Bancroft family sold the place to Rupert Murdoch in 2007. The Australian press baron obviously loves to stir the superpower pot.
The piece is laced with foreboding:
...experts say they believe the pictures and the aircraft are authentic, giving the strongest indication yet that Beijing is making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to the U.S. F-22—the world's only fully operational stealth fighter...the photographs are likely to bolster concerns among U.S. officials and politicians about China's military modernization, which also includes the imminent deployment of its first aircraft carrier and "carrier-killer" antiship ballistic missiles.
Such stories are an evergreen for reporters trolling the military-industrial complex beat (and yes, we wrote about this stealth fighter back on Dec. 27...but we didn't put it on the cover of our magazine).
Over breakfast this morning, a top Navy intelligence officer told reporters the yet-to-fly J-20 won't be challenging the skies anytime soon. The new warplane is likely years away, said Vice Adm. David "Jack" Dorsett, the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance. But he warned that such developments have tended to surprise U.S. intelligence -- never a good thing. "We have been pretty consistent in underestimating the delivery...of Chinese technology and weapons systems," he said. "They enter operational capability quicker than we frequently project." The taxiway tests of the J-20 suggest it could be flying by 2018, two years earlier than previously thought by U.S. intelligence.
An F-22 Raptor, somewhere over the Pacific / Air Force photo
The new jet prepares for takeoff just as relations between Beijing and Washington appear to be warming. Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to China later this week, clearing the way for a visit to Washington later this month by Chinese president Hu Jintao.
The two nations have been squabbling over North Korea, Iran and trade, shadowed by military moves by both nations in the western Pacific. Part of that has involved the U.S. dispatching F-22 fighters to Guam, Hawaii and Japan to signal U.S. resolve in the region. It should come as no surprise that China plainly doesn't care for such incursions into its 'hood, and is reacting by bolstering its own air force.
They seem to be doing pretty much what we would do if the Chinese, for the sake of argument. were deploying its hottest fighters to Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela.
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The U.S. has underestimated the pace of China’s development of some cutting edge weapons, but China still lags in its ability to effectively deploy and use sophisticated systems, a top Naval Intelligence officer said today.
In recent months senior U.S. defense officials have said that it would be at least until 2020 until China had a stealth fighter jet. But photos of what appears to be a prototype Chinese stealth fighter, the J-20, have been published in recent days, just days ahead of Defense Secretary Robert Gates visit to Beijing. (Click here for the WSJ story.)
Vice Adm. David “Jack” Dorsett, the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, said in a meeting with reporters on Wednesday morning that the reports about advances in the Chinese stealth fighter were not a surprise, but showed the U.S. did need to refine its assessments.
“One of the things that is probably true, is we have been pretty consistent in underestimating the delivery … of Chinese technology and weapons systems,” Adm. Dorsett said. “They enter operational capability quicker than we frequently project.”
Still, Adm. Dorsett would not immediately say if he thought the pictures of the J-20 were authentic and said it was not clear when the plane would be operational. Under further questioning, he said that the plane could be years away from being operational.
He expressed less doubt however, on China’s advances in anti-ship missile technology. Beijing’s new weapons have increased the probability that they could fire a salvo of missiles and hit a moving target, like an aircraft carrier. While China has likely simulated a missile launch against a ship in a laboratory, they have not test-launched a weapon against a ship at sea.
But Adm. Dorsett said the U.S. was revamping its planning in light of the new missile and China’s more assertive stance in the South China Sea, control of which is contested. “We plan, and when you plan you don’t do it statically, we evolve our thinking,” he said.
Adm. Dorsett said he was not alarmed by the Chinese miltiary build up, and saw a direct connection between Beijing’s economic rise and its weapons building.
He cautioned that despite the new sophisticated weapons systems being developed, Beijing has not demonstrated the ability to use their various weapons systems together in the kind of a sophisticated combined warfare that the U.S has mastered.
As a result, the Chinese military prowess should not be overestimated, he said.
“They don’t demonstrate a level of sophistication in joint war fighting.
While they are delivering technology and capabilities they are at the early stages of operational proficiency across the board,” he said.
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I'd actually prefer you don't capture Chinese crap and put it on the site.
Not sure if Ryan or the others have anything to say, but any time the Chinese are involved with anything like flash players and other such things, there's the potential for dangerous malware.
(Besides, it was nuked here at work and blocked by our servers as it came through).
Libertatem Prius!
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Passing YOUR protection system and passing MY protection system, I would bet money, are two different things.
lol
Thanks
Just for general information, FOX news covered these alleged jets this morning and stated that the experts believe that the Chinese Government itself is behind the posting of the images.
Since the Chinese haven't removed the images on servers in their country, the consensus is they are behind allowing the images out. Perhaps another nice piece of psychological warfare - to make us THINK they are stronger than they are.
(More Sun Tzu of course).
Thus:
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Libertatem Prius!
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Secret footage of what is claimed to be china's new fighter jet has been posted on the internet. The amateur footage posted by a YouTube user called segregator236 shows the aircraft taxiing along the runway.
The amateur footage posted by a YouTube user called segregator236 shows the aircraft, variously known as the J20 and JXX, taxiing along a runway.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, recently said China would be able to produce a combat jet by 2020, but if the video is genuine, it would suggest that it may be able to do so a decade or more sooner.
The photographs come amid growing fears over China's rapidly-expanding military capabilities. Naval experts have expressed concern over the Dong Feng-21D ballistic missile, which is designed to target aircraft carriers in mid-sea – thus denying the United States its traditional military dominance of the Pacific.
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The Chinese authorities allowed photographs of the J-20 stealth fighter jet to be published on various local internet sites just a few days ahead of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ official visit to Beijing.
While some experts contest the authenticity of the photos, the majority consider that the J-20 has entered its final testing stage and will soon become operational.
The J-20 is believed to be more technologically advanced than Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor, which is produced on a limited scale due to its exorbitant cost and whose more sophisticated functions have never been put in operation.
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Aviation experts believe, comparing the photographs of the J-20 to the vehicles on the ground around it, that the jet is much larger than similar American or Russian fighters and has been designed to fly long distances.
That will worry many of the 14 countries which share land borders with China who do not have the technology to produce their own stealth fighters or even to detect China's plane.
Although China has repeatedly reaffirmed that it is a peaceful nation with no interests in stirring up regional unrest, its behaviour over the past year has become increasingly strident, culminating in a furious spat with Japan when some Chinese fishermen were arrested for ramming a Japanese ship near a disputed island chain in the East Sea last September.
Meanwhile, after the US agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Taiwan last year, China publicly tested a missile intercept system in a show of its own strength. The US also had to intervene to support south east Asian countries after China claimed the entire South China Sea as its sovereign territory, laying down its rights to gas fields, shipping channels and strategic islands that are also claimed by Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
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The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force puts on an air display to mark its 60th birthday in Beijing on November 15, 2009.
(Those are not stealth prototypes.)
STR/AFP/Getty Images
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force puts on an air display to mark its 60th birthday in Beijing on November 15, 2009. (Those are not stealth prototypes.)
This news:
"China's state media have published pictures that appear to show a prototype of the country's first stealth fighter jet — a move that supports experts' claims that China's military aviation program is advancing faster than expected." (NPR staff and wires)
And this news:
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates is announcing the latest round of cost-cutting measures for the [U.S.] military, including a plan to do away with a new amphibious vehicle that can ferry troops to shore while under fire." (The Associated Press)
"Their country may have just become the No. 2 economy in the world, but China's leaders seem determined to downplay the significance of the move.
" 'China is a developing country,' Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said this week, in the government's initial reaction to the news of China's surpassing Japan for the first time in its gross economic output. 'The quality of China's economic development still needs to be raised.'
"Behind that apparent humility, however, is a complex story of Chinese ambitions and anxieties. Just as China's second-quarter gross domestic product showed it leading Japan, the U.S. Defense Department was reporting that the country's economic achievements have enabled China 'to embark on a comprehensive transformation of its military.' The annual Pentagon report on China's military development highlighted the country's rapid expansion of missile, submarine and space-warfare capabilities, all made possible by its dramatic economic growth."
"China is developing and fielding large numbers ofadvanced medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles, new attack submarines equipped withadvanced weapons, increasingly capable long-range air defense systems, electronic warfare and computer network attack capabilities, advanced fighter aircraft, and counter-space systems."
And it cautions that:
"The [People's Liberation Army] has made modest improvements in the transparency of China’s military and securityaffairs. However, many uncertainties remain regarding how China will use its expandingmilitary capabilities. The limited transparency in China’s military and security affairs enhances uncertainty and increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation."
All fodder for thought as Washington begins the latest debate about defense spending.
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Journal issue 5 News from Chengdu, said the same day at 2 pm Beijing time, J-20 in Chengdu airport for the second time in a slide test, "the deafening roar of the engine made." "Han and the Defense Review" editor Andrei Chang is convinced that the slide test is successful, test flight has entered the countdown.
Japan, "Asahi Shimbun" 5, also reported that, according to Chinese military sources, the Chinese Air Force next-generation stealth fighter "J -20" high-speed runway taxi tests have been completed and will be mid-flight, the first plan in 2017 delivered to the Chinese Air Force into the "real."
In recent days, with a clear picture start to appear, this is known as the Chinese stealth fighter F -20 to foreign media and User weird smells, from the initial question did not believe, and to belittle and blame now that the excess outside the expected high-tech equipment does not seem welcomed by the West.
Initially thought that fuzzy picture is computer generated map
Late last year, several well-known non-official Chinese military forums there have been some vague text descriptions and vague pictures, suggesting that Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute surgeon's stealth fighters has begun testing high-speed roll.
Soon, the U.S. "Time" magazine on the 27th of last month published on its website entitled "China's first stealth fighters to take off? "Article. The article said that aviation experts are talking about the Chinese military said the emergence of some sites is the first stealth fighter J-20 fuzzy photos. China's aviation enthusiasts said they photographed the aircraft to taxi testing this picture, it is believed may have to first flight a few weeks time.
Mark Thompson, author of the article wrote, to see these photos, one half of the interest is to identify these photos are not true, they are just made out with computer software. If you think this may be true, you have to think of any use in the aircraft, the Air Force and other countries how to deal with this aircraft.
The article also quoted the United States, "Aviation Week" in the words of Bill Sweetman: "Why China needs such a short-range stealth aircraft? No need to use the stealth fighter to hit the target very far away from the Chinese mainland."
U.S. "Defense-update" site on the same day also showed an aircraft taxiing on the runway picture, and said that the figure of the suspected stealth fighters from China, the bottom number is 2001 head, tilt the vertical fin on the printed includes "August" the word red five-pointed star. However, foreign friends messages on the site it is not so calm. Some people say: "Some J-20 must be computer generated images, the Chinese 'artists' ultra high technology that Western analysts fooled." Some users claimed that the Chinese J-20 fighters are false news reports, previous reports because the United States proves that China can not afford to develop such aircraft.
(The Military Channel, Jiangsu, China)
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New military aircraft could compete with Russian T-50 and American F-22.
Mysterious images leaked onto the internet in late December. They depict the Chinese aircraft stealth fifth-generation J-20. The fact that the Chinese military is actively working in this area has long been known. However, most experts believe that up to a full "stealth" Beijing is still far away.
China's Ministry of Defense photo no comment.
Authentic or not - is unknown. Meanwhile, the chief editor of China's Military News Agency confirmed in an interview with ITAR-TASS reported on the establishment of a new Chinese fighter.
According to him, the test flight will take place as soon as possible.
This machine, the expert said, should be rather attributed to the generation of 4 - to the Russian T-50 and U.S. F-22, it still falls short.
However, the airline will continue to evolve.
Analysts do not rule out that he can oust the Russian aircraft industry on the market, as it will be much cheaper.
Specialists respond differently to the rumors on the establishment of J-20. Many believe that the photographs - only a prototype fighter, and before that, as he rises into the sky over Beijing will be more than one year.
Recall, while fifth-generation fighter, which uses stealth system are in service in the U.S. only.
In the near future similar to the properties of military aircraft will be used and the Russian Air Force,
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By Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney
Published January 06, 2011
| FoxNews.com
The Chinese have deliberately and very cleverly leaked their new fifth generation stealth fighter, the J-20, just in time for Secretary of Defense Gates' long delayed visit to Beijing this Sunday.
This is another move by the Chinese to subtly send the current American administration -- and our Asian allies signals -- that they are investing heavily in military capabilities that will dominate Asia in the future.
Could we see the first flight of this prototype during Secretary Gates visit or perhaps even when President Hu Jintao visits Washington on January 19? This is a very interesting question but it is clear to me that these important visits are linked with these initial sightings of the J-20 at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute's airfield.
The J-20 looks like a knockoff of the USAF’s FB-22 that Lockheed proposed in 2002. It makes sense that it would now shows up as a prototype, almost ten years later, in China a country that has been the single biggest leader in cyber-espionage in the world.
Make no mistake, with China as our single leading creditor nation, the country has been moving forward aggressively to build a very creditable anti-access/anti-denial (AAAD) capability that is outstripping our capabilities to operate in the Taiwan Straits or the Chinese littoral.
The addition of the DF-21B Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) -- which is already operational according to Admiral Willard, Commander of Pacific Command -- is alarming. This capability, coupled with the J-20 stealth fighter (although not operational for a number of years), presents American and Allied Forces in the region with a formidable threat to our carrier battle groups and our decreasing Air Force tactical and bomber forces.
On any given day we would be lucky to have 70 F-22s and 5 B-2s operationally available worldwide plus the new F-35 which will be no match for the J-20. Shades of 1939 are here again.
The Obama administration’s decision to kill the F-22 production line in April 2009 without a whimper from a Democratically-controlled Congress does not look very good now. I can assure our readers it will have huge adverse consequences in the future. Alarm bells should be going off in the new Republican Congress. I hope they are not in denial like their predecessors.
The quickest solution would be to insert funding for 12 F-22s into the 2011 budget that is under a Continuing Resolution now while the F-22 line is still open -- and keep that line going as a counter to this fast developing Chinese threat.
Our Japanese and Australian allies in the Pacific would be delighted to buy this superb stealth fighter aircraft if we would only let them. Burden sharing by our allies is going to be even more important for stability in Asia in the future.
Secretary Gates' and President Hu Jintao’s visits and discussions will further reveal that the Chinese have a different vision of their future position in Asia than the United States and our allies had previously imagined.
Bottom line: Beware America, time is running out!
Thomas G. McInerney is a retired Air Force Lt. Gen who graduated from West Point in 1959 and retired as Assistant Vice Chief of the Air Force. He is a Fox News military analyst.
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Pictures of China’s new stealth warplane not-so-secretively leaked just days before U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates visits are another flex of military muscle as Beijing positions itself as a superpower rival to the United States.
From a purely military standpoint, the not-yet-flying prototype is two decades behind U.S. stealth warplanes that flew – even on combat missions – for years before being publicly acknowledged, let alone photographed and bragged about.
But stealth fighters such as the killer missile China fired into space to destroy a satellite three years ago and China’s new-found interest in aircraft carriers – the very icons of global power projection – are all big-league weapons and clearly demonstrate that Beijing is no longer content to be a regional power armed with Soviet hand-me-downs.
Showing off its military punch has emerged as a new part of China’s strategy.
“Over the years, the Chinese military doctrine was ‘hide and bide’ – hide your resources and bide your time,” Vice-Admiral Jack Dorsett, director of naval intelligence, said. “They now appear to have shifted into an era where they’re willing to show their resources and capabilities.”
China has sent warships on anti-piracy patrols off the Somali coast and has been increasingly aggressive in asserting claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
“For the United States, these are all indicators that the Chinese aspire to be a new peer,’’ said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. Mr. Pike, while echoing the Pentagon’s assessment that Beijing was a decade or more away from operational deployment of stealth warplanes, noted “2010 was the year that America lost its stealth” monopoly.
Russia unveiled a stealth warplane prototype last year, in a project that involves joint development with China’s rival India.
“Stealth” technology uses sophisticated shapes to reduce the radar signature along with masking of jet inlet and exhausts, making even large, fast-moving warplanes exceedingly hard to detect and target. War game-simulation suggests “fifth-generation” fighters such as the U.S. just-deployed stealth F-22 Raptors (which cost $150-million each) could shoot down 40 or 50 older-generation fighter jets in a “dogfight.”
In reality, no U.S.-built fighter has been downed in aerial combat since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and no fighter flown by U.S. pilots has been shot down by another warplane since the Vietnam War. Surface-to-air missiles pose the greatest threat to modern warplanes.
Still, Mr. Pike noted that Beijing seems to be tackling the sophisticated, massively expensive stealth project on its own, further evidence of the Communist government’s willingness and capacity to fund and sustain 21st-century military technologies.
“China is developing and fielding large numbers of advanced medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles, new attack submarines equipped with advanced weapons, increasingly capable long-range air defence systems, electronic warfare and computer network attack capabilities, advanced fighter aircraft and counter-space systems,” Colonel Dave Lapan wrote in a summary of the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review.
Beijing has been testing new, powerful, anti-ship missiles that could pose a real threat to U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups. And China is expected to send an extensively rebuilt, Soviet Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier to sea next summer, another first that will signal that Beijing is seeking a blue-water navy, rather than just a coastal force.
The deliberately leaked photographs of China’s prototype stealth fighter may reflect posturing more than any imminent capability.
In fact, some analysts, including Mr. Pike, suggest that unmanned warplanes – bigger, faster, and vastly more powerful than the missile-firing drones already used for ground attack and surveillance – may eclipse pilots in stealth fighters before Beijing’s first squadron is ready some time around 2020.
“UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] will dominate the skies,” he said.
Nevertheless, China’s demonstrated willingness to invest in stealth or fifth-generation fighters could force Japan and South Korea – both currently modernizing their air forces – to seek to buy stealth warplanes such as the F-22 Raptors from Washington. Currently, export sales are banned, even to the U.S.’s closest allies, including Canada, which must make do with the far less stealthy, albeit cheaper, F-35 Lightning still in development.
However, unlike last century, when airplanes, tanks and eventually missiles determined battlefield outcomes, the 21st-century’s conflicts may have little to do with stealth warplanes.
Hulking black prototypes taxiing on Chinese air bases don’t impress Adm. Dorsett. “The technology that I’m most concerned about is China’s focus and attention on trying to develop capabilities to dominate in the electro-magnetic spectrum, to conduct counterspace capabilities, and clearly to conduct cyber activities,” he said.
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A Chinese J-20 stealth fighter prepares for a taxiing test at an airfield in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, on Jan. 6, 2011. Source: Kyodo via Bloomberg
China’s new stealth fighter likely was designed “to counter” the U.S. F-22 and F-35 jets, according to U.S. Navy intelligence analysts.
Photos of the J-20 aircraft have appeared on the Internet. Aviation Week & Space Technology reported Jan. 3 that the aircraft was in runway tests as a prelude to a first test flight.
“The Chinese know the importance of developing an indigenous commercial and military aircraft design industry,” said the statement yesterday from the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance. The office includes Navy intelligence.
“They have indicated their intent to design a new generation of technologies/subsystems (such as radar, engines and weapons),” said the statement. “The employment of this fighter in numbers will be both a qualitative and quantitative improvement” in Chinese Air Force capabilities, the statement said.
“The recently photographed J-20 prototype appears to be this aircraft,” it said. Still, “given its developmental status, we don’t expect it to be operationally fielded for some time,” said the statement.
The photos were disclosed as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates prepares to meet with his Chinese counterpart next week in Beijing.
Gates in 2009 truncated production of the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-22 at 187, instead of over 300 originally planned, in part because he said China would only have a handful of so- called “fifth-generation” fighters by 2025.
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While the Pentagon downplays China’s rollout this week of what appears to be a jet fighter designed using sophisticated stealth technology, military experts are warning that the aircraft – reportedly capable of besting America’s F-22 in speed and maneuverability – could pose the greatest threat yet to U.S. air superiority.
Decorated Navy fighter pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley, a Top Gun graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School who flew 44 combat missions over Iraq, says, “It’s probably leaps and bounds above where we are, and that’s terrifying.”
“As a former Navy fighter pilot, going up against something that’s stealthy, highly maneuverable and with electronic systems more capable than mine -- that’ll keep me up at night,” said Buckley, now chief strategy officer at Fox3 Options LLC.
Buckley said photos posted online of the radar-evading Chengdu J-20 jet fighter lead him to believe the aircraft has great stealth capabilities, based on what appears to be a bumpy exterior possibly housing stealth technology, and the lack of external components, such as a gas tank and missiles.
“It was built to reduce radar signatures. You can tell it has some serious stealth technology,” he said. “My F-18 looks like an 18-wheeler on radar. That thing might not even show up.”
The U.S. military's current top-of-the-line fighter is Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor, the world's only operational fifth generation fighter. In 2009, Congress capped production of F-22s at 18, relying on the cheaper F-35. Congress does not appear to be reconsidering the cap, which experts call the only real challenger to China’s J-20.
Richard Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, a Washington-based security think tank, says Chinese officials have said that their program is aimed at competing with the F-22 Raptor.
“From what we can see, I conclude that this aircraft does have great potential to be superior in some respects to the American F-22, and could be decisively superior to the F-35,” said Fisher.
Fisher in particular pointed to the Chengdu J-20’s stealth technology and ability to super cruise, or fly supersonically without using fuel-guzzling afterburners. He said it has super maneuverability due to its thrust-vectored engines that allow for sharp turns.
And while the J-20's engine is still in development, Fisher said it's supposed to deliver 15 to 18 tons of thrust, more powerful than the F-22.
“This fighter will likely start entering service in serious numbers by the end of this decade. The Chinese can accelerate this event by purchasing new Russian engines and settling for a lesser capability,” Fisher said.
Experts say it’s hard to say exactly what the J-20’s capabilities are, especially in a fire fight -- but offered a dire prediction: “With China having a fifth generation fighter, the U.S. will lose F-22s faster than previous estimates.”
As for the J-20 pilots, Fisher said the Chinese Air Force has over 500 fourth generation fighters and is making pilot training a priority.
“China's air training capabilities have increased greatly over the last decade, to include multiple levels of aircraft, better simulators, and more realistic air combat exercises. They will be able to train pilots for their fifth generation combat force,” Fisher said.
Buckley says the U.S. has moved in the opposite direction, dramatically reducing flight-time training for its fighter pilots, choosing instead to use cheaper flight stimulators.
Limiting F-22 production could prove a grave mistake, Fisher said.
Referring to the J-20 photos -- and a new video of the fighter taxiing on a runway -- Fisher said: “There is now every justification for us to be building modernized version of F-22 and to consider capability enhancements for the F-35 that preserve its competitiveness into next decade."
The next generation joint strike fighter is supposed to be the F-35, Buckley said, which is built for use by all services and must encompass the specific and different needs of the Navy, Air Force, Marines.
“When you try to make a jack of all trades, you have tradeoffs,” Buckley said. “It’s obvious that the Chinese are throwing money and technology to making something the best, and here we’re worried that one is going to bankrupt the country.”
“We used be No. 1 at having the leading technology. ... Now, we’re kind of in catch-up mode, where we’ve never really been before.”
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The Chinese J-20 stealth fighter has taken its first test flight out of the southwestern city of Chengdu, The Associated Press reports.
The J-20 is being pegged as a possible rival to the U.S. F-22 Raptor, the only stealth fighter aircraft currently in use, yet skeptics maintain that the J-20 is roughly eight years from being ready for action.
The open nature of the flight is being seen as a response to pressures from the U.S. and other countries pushing for greater transparency from the Chinese government and its military innovations and intentions.
Check out this footage of the J-20 stealth fighter taking its first test flight.
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