Article: China's Newest Stealth Fighter Flies

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J-20 : Chain Reaction ?

By Robbin Laird
01/12/2011


The J-20 : Putting us in the rear-view mirror ?
Credit picture : www.csmonitor.com

The introduction of a new test aircraft by the PRC has caught the attention of many in Asia and the United States; as it clearly should. The new aircraft displaying stealth features, demonstrates if such a demonstration was need that the PRC is shaping new military capabilities for the period ahead. New unmanned aircraft, new missiles, a whole new approach to building civil and military aerospace capabilities, augmenting its Navy, expanding its commercial and global reach, building presence through counter-piracy, etc.

Although some may have been surprised; some were not.
One difficulty with U.S reactions has been to see this largely as a challenge to the United States. It is not. The Asian powers understand that this is part of the declared Chinese strategy to expand their presence and power throughout the Pacific and to shape an active export policy globally. The U.S. could stand in the way if it shapes effective capabilities in the decade ahead to play the crucial lynchpin role for allied forces in Asia to curtail Chinese ambitions. The Chinese clearly seek to shape the Pacific agenda, up to an including the Arctic.
Another difficulty is that the platform-centric approach dominates in viewing the development. If this is about an F-22 like aircraft, it is about F-22 like aircraft. It should be about the Chinese building significant capability across the board while the U.S. is engaged in Afghanistan : it is about continuing to build last generation aircraft and missiles, while delaying investments in today’s and tomorrow’s challenges which simply are not aligned with the Afghanitis strategy.

It is about continuing to build last generation aircraft and missiles, while delaying investments in today’s and tomorrow’s challenges which simply are not aligned with the Afghanitis strategy. (…) The Afghan engagement is eating up our military resources, which are no longer available to fund air and naval power transition.

Also, Chinese developments are not looked at by themselves, but are used by too many as a foil for their agendas. The anti-F22 community sees this new aircraft as simply a test aircraft, far from being an effective deployed asset. The transparency community sees this as a deviation from the true path the Chinese should follow, namely to be good bankers without military geopolitical aspirations. What this should be seen as is a manifestation of the tip of the spear of a comprehensive effort to shape a new capability in the Pacific to enhance Chinese influence and power, and to shape perceptions in Asia of a very different century, than the last half of the XX^th century.

What this should do is to challenge the strategic complacency of those in the United States who assume continued air and naval dominance in the Pacific. As General Deptula put it:

Simply put, there is a group-think that has captured the security elite that since we’ve been dominant in conventional warfare over the past quarter-century, we’ll remain so in the future. It’s a convenient presumption given the current economic environment, but a very dangerous one. It may play to conventional wisdom to state that the biggest threat to defense is the deficit, and while partially accurate, the immutable nature of conflict—and deterrence—is more basic—strength wins over weakness. As one looks to the future—given the current investment path the United States is on—the United States and our allies are becoming weaker. The difficult position to take — given the current economic conditions and nation-building engagements we have elected to pursue — is to articulate the kind of investments we need to make in defense to secure a position of strength in the next quarter-century.

The Afghan engagement is eating up our military resources, which are no longer available to fund air and naval power transition. And even more significant is the instinct to invest in the past rather than future. The notion of funding 4th generation aircraft with the new generation already here in the F-22 and close at hand in the F-35 is truly amazing. Funding a next generation jammer when the F-35 carries in its combat systems significantly greater capability is equally amazing.

The Chinese are clearly posing a threat to our way of doing air operations. We need to shift to a new concept of air operations leveraging the new aircraft and capabilities, and to build forward from this point.
As we argued earlier:

The shift from “legacy” air operations to distributed air operations is a significant operational and cultural shift. Characterizing the shift from 4th to 5th generation aircraft really does not capture the nature of the shift. The legacy aircraft operate in a strike formation, which is linear and runs from Wild Weasels back to the AWACS. The F-22 and F-35 are part of distributed operational systems in which the decision makers are distributed and honeycomb structure is created around which ISR, C2, strike and decision-making can be distributed.

A new style of collaborative operations is shaped but takes away the ability of an adversary to simply eliminate assets like the AWACs and blind the fleet. Distributed operations is the cultural shift associated with the 5th generation aircraft, and investments in new weapons, remotely piloted aircraft and the crafting of simultaneous rather than sequential operations. Unfortunately, the debate about 5th generation aircraft continues as if these are simply aircraft, not nodes driving significant cultural changes in operational capabilities.

The other aspects of the J-20 worthy of note is its impact on Chinese aspirations and capabilities to export arms. The capabilities which the Chinese are emphasizing – notably air and missile systems – are eminently exportable. By having a first class missile business a decade out, the Chinese can change regional power balances by export policy only incidentally supported by the power projection capability necessary to dominate in far away regions. The J-20 clearly helps in this effort. It is the Le Mans event, which helps the manufacturer to sell his show room product. There is a significant global market for combat aircraft over the next 30 years globally. The Chinese have every intention of being the lead exporter in the second world; having the J-20 is a key driver for success in global export efforts.

The Chinese have every intention of being the lead exporter in the second world; having the J-20 is a key driver for success in global export efforts.

Another element of the global competition is the desire to respond to the Russian-Indian 5th generation aircraft. The strategic competition with India is significant for China, and they have little desire to see the Indians position themselves ahead of China in air and naval systems.
The J-20 is built on the top of the global shift in manufacturing capability towards China, a significant investment by China in global commodities and the enhanced presence of China on the world stage are all significant developments. When married to a growing investment in the development and fielding of military capabilities, something globally significant is afoot - of the sort which suggests changing epochs.

The Chinese can invest in technologies for global export, for enhanced “asymmetric” capabilities, and anti-access denial and it is enough to degrade declining numbers of U.S. forces. Indeed, unless the U.S. shapes innovative joint con-ops and invests in new technologies leveraging some of the core new capabilities, such as the fifth generation fighters, the ability to deter will go up for the Chinese simply by enhancing degradation of U.S. capabilities. Again, the lynchpin function for the United States is central to its Asian role.

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Russia's interesting take on the situation...and make no mistake, they are working together.

China tests secret weapon to Robert Gates' astonishment

12.01.2011



China tested the prototype of its fifth-generation fighter jet Chengdu J-20. The test became an unpleasant surprise for Americans because US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is currently visiting China. Mr. Gates repeatedly stated that China was developing fifth-generation aircraft, but he definitely did not expect that China would make such a surprise already during his visit to the country.

Andrei Chang, an editor with Kanwa Asian Defense magazine, reported the details about the flight of the new Chinese fighter jet. According to Chang, the test flight took place on January 11 over an airfield in the southwestern city of Chengdu where it was spotted carrying out runway tests last week.

Chinese officials neither rejected, nor confirmed the information about the flight of the plane. The news about the preparations to the maiden flight of the Chinese fifth-generation jet triggered many discussions in the world.

Practically all specifications of the Chengdu J-20 are being kept secret. It was reported earlier that the aircraft would enter service during 2017-2019. However, it is still not clear what kind of aircraft exactly took off on January 11 and whether it was a fifth-generation fighter jet at all.

The type of the engine used for the new Chinese aircraft is also a secret. Some experts said that the Chengdu J-20 most likely carries a Russian AL-41F1C engine, which is used in the production of fourth-generation Su-35 fighters. However, there were no official reports to confirm that Russia had sold such engines to China.

Military expert Alexander Khramchikhin told Pravda.Ru that China could indeed test a fifth-generation fighter jet. "In 2010, China's investments in the aviation industry increased up to 15 percent. As for the engine, the Chinese are still unable to solve the problem single-handedly. It was said earlier that China was in talks with Ukraine about the engines, although many experts were skeptical about that," the expert said.

Anatoly Tsyganok, the director of the Center for Defense Forecast, believes that China could have stolen the engines from Russia.

"Hardly had Russia tested its PAK FA fifth-generation fighter, when China did the same a year later, although they were absolutely not ready for it before. As for Chinese arms, China traditionally copies Russian arms - from assault rifles to fighter jets. There is one thing that always amazes me. Russia delivered both fighter jets and aviation engines to China. This is a strange situation indeed, because no one wants to buy a car without an engine. When Russia was selling aviation engines to China, we were pushing the Asian country towards developing its aviation industry. It is not ruled out, though, that China is bluffing. Maybe China is trying to exert some influence on the US Defense Secretary during his visit to the country.

"It is absolutely obvious, though, that China will solve all its technological problems very soon. The possession of the fifth-generation aircraft will give China an opportunity to compete with the United States in all respects," the expert said.

Nikolai Novichkov, editor-in-chief of ARMS-TASS news agency rejected the information saying that the above-mentioned Chinese fighter jet is equipped with Russian AL-41F1C engines. According to Novichkov, it goes about the Chinese WC-10 engine.

"What kind of an engine is it? It's hard for me to answer this question. Most likely, it goes about a rip off of the Russian engines, which were delivered to the country. It is also possible that the Chinese fifth-generation fighter was outfitted with AL-31F engine units used for Su-27 and Su-30 fighters. It's not a hopeless way of development. The aviation industry of the USSR was developing similarly. Or let's take, for example, the development of the Soviet laser-guided bomb. How was it happening? They retrieved a Phantom downed in Vietnam, took an American bomb from it and then studied it for years before building an analogue. Soviet engineers eventually succeeded. Making copies is a normal way of technological development. The Chinese do not just make rip offs, they develop what they copy."

"Judging upon the information that is available now, one may presume that China has recently tested a 4+ generation fighter. The Chinese will work more on it to improve its specifications by installing state-of-the-art airborne equipment. It does not seem to be likely, though, that they will pass the new plane into service before Russia does the same. Russia is currently testing state-of-the-art airborne equipment, which China does not have. It particularly goes about the radio electronic station with active phased antenna array. It takes years of test flights before a fifth-generation fighter could enter service. One would need to assemble seven or ten aircraft at first. Will the Chinese build several other planes like that? That sounds doubtful.

"Let's take the USA with its huge economic and technological potential. This country already has its fifth-generation F-22 Raptor jet. The first test flight was conducted on September 29, 1990. However, it took the Americans 15 years to pass the jet into service. The program of another fifth-generation fighter, F-35, is developing similarly. The plane has not been made operational yet," the expert said.

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January 12, 2011
Gates and China's leaders

William R. Hawkins



Secretary of Defense Robert Gates met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on January 11. The meetings followed Monday's session between Gates and Gen. Liang Guanglie, China's minister of defense. After the meeting with President Hu, a DoD press release stated that "The Chinese are taking an American proposal to hold a strategic dialogue between the two countries seriously." This was not the impression given after the discussion with Gen. Liang.

The proposed Strategic Dialogue would focus on four areas: nuclear arms and proliferation, missile defense, space operations, and cyber warfare. The new Pentagon orchestrated talks would be in addition to the other major Dialogue that has been conducted since 2006. During the Bush Administration these talks were run by the Treasury. They were expanded at the urging of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to become the current Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The State Department now co-chairs with Treasury these biannual meetings so as to address a wider range of topics in the increasingly contentious Sino-American relationship. Treasury, with its focus on trade and investment opportunities in China and Beijing's position as the largest holder of Treasury debt, was thought to be neglecting national security problems resulting from China's rise to great power status.

The Pentagon apparently believes the discussions need to be further expanded on issues that pose threats to American interests. To make the point, during Gates' visit, China conducted its first flight test of the J-20 stealth fighter. The development of the fifth generation J-20 is well ahead of what has been publically predicted about Chinese capabilities. It was in the belief that China was far behind America in aircraft design that Gates capped production of the U.S. F-22 fifth generation stealth fighter at a mere 187 aircraft to save money.

The Pentagon press release may have put a naive spin on the event, however. It states,

"When Secretary Gates raised the issue of the J-20 test in the meeting with President Hu, it was clear that none of the [Chinese] civilians in the room had been informed [of the test]," said a senior U.S. defense official speaking on background.

In the secretary's view, this omission underscores the need for the sort of joint civilian-military strategic security issues dialogue that he has proposed, the official said.

Can there really be such a split between the Communist Party leaders and the military high command? A split that could encourage Americans to believe there are still reformers and not just hard-liners in Beijing? Or is this just another example of the "good cop, bad cop" ploy that has been used so often before to encourage "soft-liners" in the U.S.?

The second scenario is more likely. It is well known that President Hu relies on the People's Liberation Army as one of his core constituents. Also, two days after the first photos of the J-20 appeared last week, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times ran an editorial arguing,

The rumored Chinese stealth jet, or "aircraft-carrier killer," has been making headlines in the US. It is both natural and unnatural for the US to be concerned about China developing new weapons. Most powers wish that their superiority will last forever. China is growing up fast, and the US military edge over China is unavoidably shrinking.

There does not seem to be any difference between the CCP and the PLA about the J-20 and what it means. The timing of the J-20 unveiling was well known in both parts of the Beijing regime; and that the timing coincided with Gate's visit cannot be considered a coincidence. If the Pentagon gets its own Strategic Dialogue with China, there is little chance that it will be any more successful that the State-Treasury S&ED has been in resolving the growing friction from Beijing's more assertive behavior.

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Military tests China stealth fighter without telling leaders

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates mentioned the test in a Beijing meeting with President Hu Jintao, it was clear that Hu was unaware it had occurred, a senior U.S. Defense Department official says.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in Beijing. (Keith Bedford, Bloomberg / January 10, 2011)

By David S. Cloud and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times January 12, 2011

Reporting from Beijing —

China's military conducted the first flight test of an experimental stealth fighter Tuesday, apparently without informing the country's civilian leadership in advance and only hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met with the Chinese president to discuss ways of improving military ties.

The test flight of the J-20 fighter seemed to represent a snub of Gates by China's military establishment during his three-day visit to Beijing and to deepen questions about how much control the country's civilian leadership exercises over the armed forces, which have often taken a harder line on improving relations with the United States.

When Gates mentioned the test in an afternoon meeting with President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, it was clear that neither Hu nor the other Chinese civilian officials present were aware it had occurred, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said.

After confirming the test flight, Hu told Gates that it was not timed to coincide with his visit.

"He said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a preplanned test," Gates told reporters, "and that's where we left it."

Gates added that the civilian leadership "seemed surprised by the test."

U.S. officials refused to speculate about why the test flight occurred when it did. Gates said he "took President Hu at his word."

But the timing of the test flight reinforced the impression among some U.S. officials that some within the Chinese military establishment continue to see the U.S. as more of a rival than a potential partner, just as some within the American government view China as a potential military adversary.

Gates, however, described his talks as a success and said "both the civilian and military leadership seemed determined to carry this relationship forward."

The flight at an airfield in Chengdu — in western China's Sichuan province, more than 900 miles from Beijing — received extensive coverage by bloggers, some of whom were posting on news sites controlled by the Chinese government. Normally, comments on sensitive military matters are deleted quickly by censors; the fact that they weren't this time suggested that the People's Liberation Army wanted to show off its capabilities in front of Gates.

Gates spoke to reporters after his meeting with Hu, which included discussion of Chinese ally North Korea, Taiwan and other regional issues. He warned that he believed North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were within five years of developing a ballistic missile that could strike the continental United States.

"North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States," Gates said.

U.S. officials have long been worried about North Korea's nuclear and missile development efforts, but their main concern has been that Pyongyang would share this technology with other countries or terrorists.

Gates said the development of even a small number of nuclear-armed missiles was something the U.S. could not ignore. He said North Korea needed to take concrete actions, such as announcing a moratorium on missile testing or on nuclear tests, before expecting America and its allies to agree to resume diplomatic contacts.

China's test flight of the J-20 was the latest in a series of Chinese military incidents, including a 2007 anti-satellite missile test and a 2009 confrontation between Chinese vessels and a U.S. warship in the South China Sea, in which civilian leaders in Beijing appeared unaware of or poorly informed about what their armed forces were doing.

The first photographs of the stealth fighter prototype began circulating on Chinese websites around Christmas, and video appeared last week showing it taxiing on a runway. The sudden appearance of the plane surprised defense analysts, who had assumed that the Chinese were some years away from developing a radar-evading aircraft.

"The way they rolled out this stealth aircraft, that got our attention," said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

On one defense forum, Feiyang Military, photographs were posted showing crowds — including a few people who had climbed trees to get a better look — watching the flight near the airfield. Commentators gushed over the plane, which has been nicknamed "Black Stockings," Chinese slang for a sexy woman.

"This moment made me cry. Go, China!" read a posting on the Chinese news site 163.com.

Gates concluded his China visit Wednesday with a stop at the headquarters of the 2nd Artillery Corps, which commands China's nuclear missile force, and a brief tour of the Great Wall of China, an hour's drive outside Beijing.

Gates said Gen. Jing Zhiyuan, the corps commander, had accepted an invitation to visit U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska, which controls U.S. nuclear forces.

Gates' next stop is Japan, where talks with officials are expected to focus on North Korea.

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For the die hard skeptics doubting China's ability to produce any real challenge to the US: It's all good; China now says the J-20 is no threat, you can go back to sleep now.

For the rest of you...more Sun-Tzu Deception activity:

SUN-TZU: THE PRINCIPLES OF WARFARE "THE ART OF WAR"

A Philosophy of Deception

Warfare is a philosophy of deception.

When you are ready, you try to appear incapacitated.

When active, you pretend inactivity.

When you are close to the enemy, you appear distant.

When far away, pretend you are near.

China grabs attention with new jet, says it's no threat

• China's military modernization12:47am EST
• Stealth fighters in operation and development4:58am EST

Analysis & Opinion

• Washington Extra – hello goodbye
• China’s South Asia tour: win-win meets zero sum

Combination photo shows what is reported to be a Chinese J-20 stealth fighter (top) in Chengdu, Sichuan province, dated January 7, 2011 and a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter performing a flyby over Daytona Beach, Florida on February 19, 2006.
Credit: Reuters/Kyodo/Pierre DuCharme/Files

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard
BEIJING | Wed Jan 12, 2011 8:11am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China told the United States on Wednesday its first test-flight of a stealth fighter jet should not be seen as a threat, reiterating it had no intention of challenging U.S. military might in the Pacific.

China confirmed on Tuesday it held its first test-flight of the J-20 stealth fighter jet, a show of muscle during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that sought to defuse military tensions between the two powers.

The flight came against a backdrop of a massive Chinese military modernization program. China's plans to develop aircraft carriers, anti-satellite missiles and other advanced systems have alarmed neighboring countries and Washington.

"China is showing off that its defenses have been strengthened to a high level," said Ahn Yinhay, a professor at Korea University in Seoul.

"The United States has been ... questioning whether China is targeting the U.S., to which China is replying implicitly and explicitly that it is fully equipped with high-tech weapons."

U.S. and Chinese defense-related ships have jostled in seas near China in past years, and in 2001 a mid-air collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese air force fighter erupted into a diplomatic standoff.

China has always said its military modernization is needed to protect the country's development and interests, to maintain regional stability as well as to upgrade sometimes woefully outdated equipment.

"The People's Liberation Army has no ability and even more than that, has no intention, to challenge America's territory and global military advantage, and does not have any aims to pursue military hegemony in the region," wrote rear-admiral Yang Yi in a commentary for the overseas edition of the People's Daily.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, speaking to reporters ahead of a state visit to the United States by President Hu Jintao next week, repeated that the test flight was not aimed at any country or to coincide with Gates' visit.

"No other country has reason to feel worried or troubled about this.

What you've raised (about the stealth flight) had nothing to do with Defense Secretary Gates's visit or with China-U.S. relations," Cui said.

Gates, after a visit to the arm of China's military which oversees its nuclear arsenal, sought to play down tensions between the two countries.

"I think the discussions were very productive and really set the stage for taking the military-to-military relationship to the next level," he said after three days of talks with Chinese military and civilian officials.

In Taiwan, the self-ruled island China has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control, the government said the test flight constituted yet another threat to it.

"China's consistent military expansion creates a threat to Taiwan's security, and we think the international community should give support to Taiwan. This would include Taiwan's ... need to purchase weapons," said Chao Chien-min, deputy chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

China cut off ties with the U.S. military for most of 2010 and turned down a proposed fence-mending visit by Gates last summer, because of the Obama administration's proposed $6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan.

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New Chinese arms aimed at US: military chief

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 12, 2011

China's new weapons programs, including the J-20 stealth aircraft, appear to be directed against the United States, the highest-ranking US military officer said Wednesday. "China is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities and the question that is always out there is to try to understand exactly why," said Admiral Mike Mullen, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The opaqueness of that, tied to our lack of relationship, is something I'd like to see if we can crack open," he told reporters, stressing the importance of direct military relations between the United States and China to defuse any potential problems that could escalate into violence.

The J-20, China's first radar-evading combat aircraft, had its inaugural flight on Tuesday as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates toured China.
The airplane appears to give "significant capability" to the Chinese military, Mullen said.

Military officials see the J-20 as China's response to the F-22A Raptor stealth fighter. The United States is currently the only country to have an operational stealth fighter-bomber.

"The Chinese have every right to develop the military that they want, they're a emerging, global country with global influence, as the United States does -- we developed our capabilities to protect our interests," said Mullen.

Mullen wondered aloud why China was boosting its high-tech weaponry, whether it was anti-satellite missiles or anti-ship missiles.

"Many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the United States so that's why having this relationship is so important," said Mullen.

The timing of the China's J-20 flight co-inciding with Gates's visit appeared to be a snub to Washington, fueling the sense of a military rivalry despite positive statements from both the Chinese and US governments aimed at defusing tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan and maritime disputes.

The incident illustrated Beijing's confidence and also raised questions about the role of its military, as a senior US defense official said Hu and other top Chinese civilians apparently were unaware of the test flight.

Gates on Wednesday completed a visit to China aimed at convincing the Chinese to maintain a permanent military dialogue, similar to the relations Washington had with Moscow during the Cold War.

[Ryan Ruck]

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New Chinese arms aimed at US: military chief

"China is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities and the question that is always out there is to try to understand exactly why," said Admiral Mike Mullen, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The Chinese have every right to develop the military that they want, they're a emerging, global country with global influence, as the United States does -- we developed our capabilities to protect our interests," said Mullen.

Mullen wondered aloud why China was boosting its high-tech weaponry, whether it was anti-satellite missiles or anti-ship missiles.

"Many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the United States so that's why having this relationship is so important," said Mullen.

This is disturbing...

Either our military has no clue what the Axis is planning, or they are not saying.

Notice both the T-50 and J-20 are stealthy dog fighters to take out high value targets. Couple that with superior numbers of SU-30-34's and 35's in close quarters within an enemies territory that has been blinded and disoriented.

Consider a limited number of F-22's and or the overrated F-35's in tight quarters in and around mountains and cities facing down superior numbers these opponents with no SAT or AWAC support.

Australian's made the Movie Tomorrow: When The War Began over more than just entertainment but over China's obvious military build up.

They are deeply concerned...why aren't we?

[Ryan Ruck]

I would only take issue with one part...

Notice both the T-50 and J-20 are stealthy dog fighters to take out high value targets.

With the massive size of the J-20, it's not going to be a knife fighter. That isn't to say it won't be capable of holding its own but, it won't do it as well as the F-22.

It will have more payload and fuel though.

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Agreed.

They're wanting to reach out and touch someone with the J-20.

China tests new stealth fighter believed to have been designed to shoot down AWACS

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The J-20 Black Eagle took its first flight earlier this week.

​CHINA has unveiled a new stealth fighter which defence analysts believe is designed to shoot down AWACS aircraft – like those based near Lincoln.

The J-20 Black Eagle took its first flight earlier this week, prompting international speculation as to exactly what its purpose might be.

Influential specialists Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon believe that, in the event of a conflict, it would be specifically sent to hunt and destroy AWACS aircrafts – such as the E-3D Sentrys based at RAF Waddington, near Lincoln.

If Britain were ever called upon to take up arms against China or its allies, such as North Korea, it is possible the Black Eagle could be used to attack any RAF AWACS operating in the war zone.

In their report on the angular black aircraft, Mr Kopp and Goon said: "The size of the J-20 airframe, and the self-evident focus on supersonic persistence, suggests, at a minimum, an intention to provide a long-range interceptor.

"It is likely any production design J-20 will incorporate an aerial refuelling probe to further extend its large operating radius.



"A stealthy, super-cruising, long range interceptor would provide the Chinese air force with the capability to penetrate an opposing IADS to destroy assets like E-3 AWACS, RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, other ISR systems, and importantly, air force and navy tankers."

But not everyone agrees with Mr Kopp and Mr Goon's analysis.

Flight International spokesman Craig Hoyle said: "I think the perceived wisdom on this programme is that the West, and the US in particular, has been caught on the hop by the speed of movement on the J-20 programme.

"One week ago we were looking at grainy internet images and wondering whether they were fakes, and on Tuesday a video emerged of it flying in Chengdu. There's a huge difference between flying a demonstrator or prototype and actually fielding an operational system.

"While this aircraft has flown, we don't know specifics about its engines, or about other key equipment, such as its future radar and air-launched weapons. It looks stealthy, but it also remains to be seen how much China has been able to develop the vital low-observable technologies to create a genuine stealth aircraft.

"Given a successful combination of a stealthy launch aircraft, advanced radar and long-range missiles then a Western AWACS aircraft could, in theory, be vulnerable to this type of fighter, but Beijing would not have developed the J-20 specifically for such an application."

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China's J-20 fighter may take 3-4 years to be fully operational

BEIJING (PTI): China’s radar evading stealth fighter that made its high-profile debut coinciding with the visit of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates may take three to four years before it actually becomes operational, official media reports here said.

Yang Yao, one of China’s top test pilots told state run Global Times that after the maiden flight, the J-20 will undergo a battery of tests prior to being approved for use in the field, a process that usually lasts at least three years.

"After that, at least another year is needed before full production of the plane. Then the Chinese pilots will need to learn how to manoeuvre this new-generation fighter aircraft, which will take a certain amount of time," he said.

It is perhaps extraordinary that Chinese President Hu Jintao himself confirmed Tuesday’s test flight of the J-20 during his meeting with Gates.

"I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a pre-planned test. And that's where we left it," Gates later told reporters.

Before that, Chinese official media launched a high voltage campaign saying the flight "reportedly" test flown for 15 minutes. All official media websites were agog with reports and some even with the video footage of the plane conducting the trial run, presumably at Changdu air base where it was being developed.

Ni Feng, a researcher of US Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the timing of the test flight to coincide with Gates' visit showed the confidence the military has in the project.

"The timing of the J-20's maiden flight is a coincidence, but it showed that China is more confident and honest in unveiling its military progress. This is a step forward for promoting mutual trust with other major players in the global community," he said.

Gary Li, a China expert with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the exposure a sign of "unofficial transparency".

"The PLA (People's Liberation Army) would not have decided to unveil such a leap in aeronautical development in such a manner if they were not confident about it," Li said.

He was apparently referring to comments by some analysts that China has not yet produced an engine for its home-made fighter jets, including the J-10 being manufactured in collaboration with Pakistan. Its engines are imported from Russia.

Refuting this, the official newspaper China Daily said days ahead of the flight, China's Central Military Commission had awarded a first-class merit to Gan Xiaohua, an aircraft engine expert from a PLA Air Force equipment research institute, on January 6.

It is perhaps an indication that China might have developed the engine too, though the daily did not mention it.

"Many analysts and Chinese netizens regarded the award as a positive sign that implied the country had achieved a remarkable advance in the aircraft engine field," it said.

The Chinese media also highlighted reports from the US that J-20 may be superior to US Air Force's stealth fighter F-22 Raptor.

Due to defence cuts, the US has ceased the production of F-22 in favour of F-35, a cheaper fifth-generation fighter jet that has fewer capabilities.

Global Times quoted retired US Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney as saying that the F-35 will be no match for the J-20, repeating his call for inserting funding for F-22s into the Pentagon's defence budget for 2011.

It also quoted Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon, partners in the Air Power Australia think-tank as saying that the US Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornets and the F-35 fighter jets are "aerodynamically and kinematically quite inferior" to the J-20.

They claimed that due to the J-20's larger size, the Chinese plane would be optimally designed for fast, high-altitude interception using long-range missiles, as opposed to close-range dog fighting, it said.

Li Daguang, a military expert at the PLA National Defence University, however, disagreed with those predicting the potential outcome of battles between the J-20 and F-22.

"It is too early to say whether the J-20 can challenge the F-22, since we don't have any technical details for the Chinese plane. I also have doubts over the plane's stealth capability," he said.

"The J-20 is definitely stronger than previous Chinese jets, but one plane's development doesn't necessarily bring about great progress in the country's overall air strength," he added.

The US-based Aviation Weekly reported that, based on the pictures, the J-20 jet has features that make it less compatible with stealth activities.

"The J-20 may not match the all-aspect stealth of the F-22," it said.

Some analysts said the J-20, with a larger size and a higher ground clearance than the F-22, might be a mixture of a stealth jet and a bomber.

[vector7]

January 13, 2011, 7:02 PM HKT
What The J-20 Says About China’s Defense Sector


Tai Ming Cheung is an associate research scientist at the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation in San Diego. His book, Fortifying China, examines the transformation and workings of the Chinese defense economy.

The stealthy online unveiling of China’s next-generation fighter aircraft, dubbed the J-20, represents an important marker in the accelerating development of China’s defense science, technology, and innovation capabilities. Although it will likely take another five-to-ten years before the aircraft is ready for serial production and operational service, its unofficial public debut serves notice of China’s intent to become a world-class military power within the next decade.

Strategic Significance of the J-20 Program
The Chinese military aviation industry has made impressive strides over the past 15 years in narrowing the technological gap with the world’s advanced aviation powers. In the mid-1990s, China was struggling to produce third-generation, 1970s-era combat aircraft that were 20-to-30 years behind their global counterparts. After major structural reforms and considerable assistance from Russia, China is now able to field fighter aircraft such as the Chengdu J-10 and Shenyang J-11 that are only 10-to-15 years behind the most advanced Western models. The J-20 will reduce this gap even further.

China’s military aviation industry is now a prospective candidate to join an exclusive group of countries able to indigenously develop a stealth aircraft. The only established member of this elite set is the U.S., which has successfully developed and fielded a number of stealth aircraft over the past two decades.

Russia is in the early stages of test-flying its first stealthy aircraft, called the T-50. Other advanced military aviation powers such as the U.K., France, and Sweden that potentially have the technological capabilities to develop stealth programs have opted not to because of the huge costs involved, uncertain sales prospects, and their considerable investment in more traditional non-stealthy fighter aircraft projects.

Besides China, no other country in the Asia-Pacific region has the technological and industrial capabilities to pursue a stealth fighter program. Japan has built a scaled mock-up of a stealth fighter, but it has yet to make any significant investments in conducting serious research and development in this area and most likely will seek instead to purchase the F-35 stealth fighter from the U.S. India signed an agreement with Russia in December 2010 to acquire fifth-generation fighter aircraft based on the T-50. Other regional powers, especially Taiwan, may now have to reconsider their long-term plans for the modernization of their air forces in anticipation of China’s arrival into the stealth fighter club before the end of this decade.

Technological Breakthrough?

Associated Press

While web images of the J-20 offer some tantalizing glimpses of its design profile, there are critical knowledge gaps that make it difficult to determine whether the aircraft represents an incremental or breakthrough technological innovation or something in-between. One big question concerns how stealthy the aircraft is. This refers to its ability to minimize its radar-cross section through its architectural design and radar-absorbent composite materials. Another issue concerns the sophistication and integration of avionics capabilities. The latest generations of state-of-the-art Western fighter aircraft are now being equipped with Active Electronically Scanned Array radar and advanced sensors and there are few indications that the Chinese defense industry has been able to master this technology. Additionally, stealth aircraft are supposed to be exceptionally maneuverable and able to cruise at high speeds because of high-performance vectoring engines.

If the J-20 were able to meet all or even some of these requirements, it would be a remarkable breakthrough technological accomplishment. While the Chinese aviation industry has made some important progress in the fields of composite materials, avionics and sensors, design processes and propulsion technology over the past decade, these technological capabilities and standards remain considerably short of world-class standards. For example, the Chinese aero-engine sector has yet to begin serial production of its own high-performance turbofan engines such as the WS-10 even though it claims to have mastered development a few years ago.

To address these weaknesses in its research, development and engineering capabilities, China has turned to foreign sources, especially Russia, for critical assistance. Without reliable Chinese aero-engines, China has had to import Russian engines to equip its mainstay J-10 and J-11 fighter fleet. Of particular relevance for the J-20 program was China’s request to Russia for Type 117S aero-engines during annual defense technology cooperation talks between the two countries last year. These engines are being used on Russia’s T-50 aircraft.

Reverse engineering is another technique extensively employed by the Chinese aviation industry to overcome technological hurdles and shorten development times. This includes cooperative deals with Russia in which the Chinese purchased licenses for production rights to produce Su-27 fighter aircraft in the late 1990s, and unauthorized reverse engineering of the same aircraft at the same time. Having access to foreign technologies and knowledge will allow China to mitigate the considerable developmental risks posed by an ambitious but technologically immature aviation industry.

State of China’s Aviation Industry
After sixty years of struggle and stagnation, the Chinese aircraft industry has been experiencing a renaissance over the past decade. The industry is reaping record profits, receiving plentiful flows of orders, developing and producing new generations of advanced aircraft, and forging business and technology ties with some of the world’s leading aircraft and aircraft-component firms.

This is a far cry from the end of the 1990s when the industry was a loss-making relic of the bygone central-planning era. The aviation industry, along with the rest of the defense economy, was severely impacted by the introduction of economic reforms in the late 1970s. Heavy cuts in defense spending and a sharp decline in support for the state sector led to a prolonged downturn during the 1980s and 1990s. The aviation industry’s problems were exacerbated by the unwillingness of conservative defense industrial leaders to implement meaningful reforms to reduce enormous waste, inefficiency, and widespread obsolescence.

The inability of the aviation and defense industries to meet the modernization needs of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, became a critical national security concern from the mid-1990s, as tensions intensified in the Taiwan Strait. In the late 1990s, the central authorities intervened and carried out sweeping reforms of the defense and aviation sectors:

• Shifting from Administrative to Corporate Mechanisms: The outdated administrative management structure was replaced by new corporate arrangements intended to foster market competition. Two new aviation conglomerates, Aviation Industries Corp. of China (AVIC) 1 and AVIC 2, were established and given considerable autonomy along with major industrial enterprises such as Chengdu Aircraft Corp., which is responsible for development of the J-20.
• Overhauling the Research and Development (R&D) Base: Reforms were launched to break down entrenched compartmentalization by integrating R&D and production activities. Funding for R&D activities was also revamped with more money going into viable high priority projects and the culling of lower priority and failing projects.
• Paying Attention to End-User Requirements: The aviation industry’s blinkered technology-push approach to product development was wrestled open and the PLA, especially the air force, was given the lead role in setting and overseeing equipment research, development and evaluation.
• Changing the Leadership: Reform-minded technocrats took charge of the defense and aviation sectors and vigorously implemented far-reaching reforms, including slashing costs and laying off tens of thousands of workers.
• The implementation of these and other reforms created the conditions for a remarkable turnaround in the aviation industry’s fortunes since the beginning of the 21st Century:
• Financial Performance: After more than a decade of losses, the aviation industry became profitable again in 2003 and has posted record earnings and revenue growth annually since then. In 2009, AVIC had profits of US$1.4 billion and revenue of $28 billion, and was also included for the first time on the Fortune 500 list of top global companies
• R&D and Innovation: Heavy investment in R&D has led to a strong surge in innovation activities, especially with the establishment of dozens of research laboratories and expansion of aviation universities and institutes. By 2009, AVIC had received more than 5,300 patents, the vast majority of which were obtained in the last few years.
• Product Development: An extensive range of military aircraft from fighters to electronic warfare aircraft has emerged from the Chinese aviation industry over the past 10 years. Chinese air force officials proudly stated that more than 90 percent of the 15 types of military aircraft that took part in the 60th national day anniversary fly past in October 2009 were indigenously developed products.

While these performance indicators show impressive gains, the aviation industry still suffers from serious structural weaknesses that threaten its long-term ability to narrow the technological gap and catch up with the top tier of global aviation powers. The aero-engine sector, as already pointed out, has struggled mightily to develop and produce state-of-the-art high performance power plants.

Another major structural weakness, and a legacy of the Maoist past, is the widespread duplication and balkanization of industrial and research facilities. The aviation industry has more than 130 large and medium-sized factories and research institutes employing 250,000 workers scattered across the country, especially in the deep interior, and often possessing the same manufacturing and research attributes.

But intense rivalry, local protectionism, and huge geographical distances mean that there is little cooperation or coordination among these facilities, preventing the ability to reap economies of scale and engage in innovation clustering, and also hampering efforts at consolidation.

The extended cut-off in ties between the Chinese and Western military aircraft industries since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has also contributed to its technological weakness. But Beijing has been able to mitigate the severity of these restrictions by forging a close relationship with Russia that has allowed the Chinese aviation industry to gain access to state-of-the-art weapons, and technology and knowledge transfers through off-the shelf purchases, offsets and license production arrangements.

State of the Chinese Defense Industry
The Chinese defense industry is making a concerted effort to build a strong and capable indigenous innovation capacity, but overall progress is at an early stage and focused predominantly on incremental and sustaining types of activities. More advanced forms of innovation, especially disruptive approaches that would lead to important defense technological advances, are likely to be beyond China’s reach for the near to medium term, although there may be exceptions in select high-priority areas that enjoy access to ample funding, foreign knowledge and technologies, and leadership support. The J-20 program appears to be accorded this special status.

China has demonstrated that it can engage in radical defense innovation leading to significant technological breakthroughs if the country’s security is considered to be in acute danger. This was achieved in the 1960s and 1970s with the development of nuclear weapons and strategic missiles. If China’s leaders were to become as seriously alarmed again, this could see another concerted drive to attain breakthroughs in critical defense technological capabilities. This may have occurred in the 1990s with the development of long-range precision ballistic missile capabilities to counter military contingencies involving Taiwan, especially to deny access to the U.S. navy to waters near China.

China’s present approach appears to be the selective targeting of a few critical areas for accelerated development while the rest of the defense economy pursues a more moderate pace of transformation. But as the country grows more prosperous, more technologically capable, and its security interests become more global and complex, this focused strategy is likely to be broadened. The defense electronics, aviation, shipbuilding and select portions of the space industries are leading the way in the Chinese defense economy’s transformation, especially in forging close ties between the civilian and defense economies, access and linkages with global production and innovation networks, the building of innovation capabilities, and ability to adapt to market competition.

To fully understand China’s defense innovation potential requires the examination of a broad range of tangible and intangible science, technology and innovation indicators. This includes not only hard performance measures such as research-and-development budgets, corporate investment, the output of patents, publications, and products–and the size of the science and technology workforce–but also soft process-related factors such as leadership, organizational flexibility, marketing, entrepreneurial skills, risk cultures, and governance factors.

The Chinese defense economy has been investing heavily in the construction of a comprehensive and high-quality innovation apparatus since the late 1990s that is intended to nurture the ability to conduct disruptive technological innovation R&D. This involves the establishment of large numbers of research laboratories, training a large pool of new generations of scientists and engineers, and forging a robust regulatory regime of standards, regulations, and rules designed to impose discipline, oversight, and raise quality control in a previously haphazardly run system. These structural and process reforms are likely to bear fruit over the next decade and will play an influential role in advancing the defense economy’s innovation performance.

[Ryan Ruck]

China tests new stealth fighter believed to have been designed to shoot down AWACS

Some people in the aviation community don't like Kopp and Goon but, I could definitely agree with that being a possibility.

I'd say the J-20 size puts it more on par with the F-111 which definitely suggests tactical strike aircraft but, I'd imagine it would do well against intercepting big and slow targets like AWACS, tankers, and bombers.

China's J-20 fighter may take 3-4 years to be fully operational

If this is true, it is very scary.

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China’s J-20 transforms military balance in Asia

15. Jan, 2011 0 Comments

Chengdu, China-J20 fighter

While China is strutting out new weapon systems and Russia is developing new plans, the US is canceling planes because it cannot afford to invest in newer technology.

Robbin Laird writing for the second Line of Defense brilliantly describes the US shackles “The Afghan engagement is eating up our military resources, which are no longer available to fund air and naval power transition. And even more significant is the instinct to invest in the past rather than future. The notion of funding 4th generation aircraft with the new generation already here in the F-22 and close at hand in the F-35 is truly amazing. Funding a next generation jammer when the F-35 carries in its combat systems significantly greater capability is equally amazing.

The Chinese are clearly posing a threat to our way of doing air operations. We need to shift to a new concept of air operations leveraging the new aircraft and capabilities, and to build forward from this point.”

Australian defense analysts have gone berserk about the J-20. Japan is panicking, and India is fretting it. Not often is it in the history of aviation that a plane creates such a buzz that it threatens to transform the status quo and change the military balance. The J-20 and the Chinese Space Plan did just that. Neither Japan, nor any of the European powers have the capcity to transform their stealth research into production. Russia‘s T-50 comes the closest. Pakistan is including stealth in the later version of its J-17 17. Bharat wants to buy stealth from Russia at a colossal cost, but that is simply a purchase of some of Russia’s PAKFA fighters dubbed as FGFAs.

The People Daily reports that “the Chinese J-20 stealth stealth fighter jet (R) is seen during a test flight in Chengdu, southwest China on Jan. 7, 2011. Guan Youfei, deputy director of Foreign Affairs Office of the Defense Ministry, said Tuesday that China’s military hardware development is not aimed at any other country while responding to a question on the reported test flight of J-20 stealth fighter jet.” (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90...0/7259973.html)

“Japan should buy a fleet of F-35 stealth jet fighters to boost its air force”, a panicked US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates exclaimed, a day after China unveiled its own version of the radar-dodging aircraft.

In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald one defense analyst Dan Oakes uses hyperbole to say that “the shock unveiling of a Chinese stealth fighter plane has changed the power balance in Asia and means Australia must rethink its regional strategy, an Australian analyst has said.”

Tai Ming Cheung is an associate research scientist at the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation in San Diego. His book, Fortifying China, examines the transformation and workings of the Chinese defense economy. Ming writing for the Wall Street Journal says “The stealthy online unveiling of China’s next-generation fighter aircraft, dubbed the J-20, represents an important marker in the accelerating development of China’s defense science, technology, and innovation capabilities. Although it will likely take another five-to-ten years before the aircraft is ready for serial production and operational service, its unofficial public debut serves notice of China’s intent to become a world-class military power within the next decade.”

Dan Oakes and Ming are not the only ones who think the world of the J-20. Peter Goon, a veteran critic of the F-35 joint strike fighter, and co-founder of the Air Power Australia think-tank, says “the Chinese J-20 is far superior to the American fighter and we must immediately adapt to the new status quo.” He added that US had been ”caught flat-footed” by the J-20. Goon thinks that J-20 is far superior to the JSF, and even to America’s top-of-the-range F-22 ”Raptor” jet. ”It is basically a lot more stealthy than the JSF, will fly faster and higher, be more agile and because it’s a much bigger aircraft it can carry more weapons,” he said. ”This thing has been designed to compete with and defeat the F-22. They haven’t even bothered with the JSF, and why would you?’

China has a string of pearls strategy which extends from Gwader, to Humbolta, to Chattagong to ports in Burma and Thailand. Mr Goon said the J-20 had been designed to advance China’s ”second island chain” strategy, which promotes the protection of Chinese trade routes within an area bordered in the east by Pacific islands such as the Marianas, Guam and the Caroline Islands, all the way to the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. In other words, most of south-east Asia.”

It could have been a coincident, but many think not. The Chinese leaked the information about the J-20 on the day that the US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, arrived in Beijing for defense talks. It was obvious that the Chinese had been testing the plane for a while. The pictures were revealed and leaked in front of the American who had said that China was a decade away from getting stealth technology. To top t all, the Chinese then leaked pictures about their Space Plane too. Many think that the PLA was thumbing its nose at Bob Gates.

The US has canceled the F-35 and stopped production of the F-22 Fighters. Many in Australian oppose these cuts. One of the priorities in the federal government’s 2009 Defence white paper was the need for Australia to achieve and maintain air combat superiority in the region.

Some analysts are using the J-20 to begin the resale of the J-35. Lockheed Martin hinted at a JSF anti-stealth capability in 2009. “The F-35’s avionics include onboard sensors that will enable pilots to strike fixed or moving ground targets in high-threat environments, day or night, in any weather, while simultaneously targeting and eliminating advanced airborne threats,” said Dan Crowley, then-executive vice president and F-35 program general manager.

Northrop Grumman’s lower-frequency, L-band AESA radar on Australia’s Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft is larger and potentially more capable of detecting stealth aircraft at longer ranges.

Ming says “China’s military aviation industry is now a prospective candidate to join an exclusive group of countries able to indigenously develop a stealth aircraft. The only established member of this elite set is the U.S., which has successfully developed and fielded a number of stealth aircraft over the past two decades. Russia is in the early stages of test-flying its first stealthy aircraft, called the T-50.”.

Mr Goon says ”If Defence does not rethink in a timely, objective and coherent way their current plans we should take them out, put them in the stocks and pillory them,” ”If they don’t now redress the situation that’s obvious to everyone else as a result of the J-20 and the T-50, then they’re being delinquent in their responsibilities.”

Dan Oakes says “Air Power Australia has been a loud critic of the government’s decision to order 100 of the joint strike fighters for up to $16 billion, on the basis of cost and capability. The JSF project has been bedevilled by cost blowouts, technical problems and schedule overruns.”

Critics point out to the possibilities that China has. “The Chinese aero-engine sector has yet to begin serial production of its own high-performance turbofan engines such as the WS-10 even though it claims to have mastered development a few years ago. China has had to import Russian engines to equip its mainstay J-10 and J-11 fighter fleet. Of particular relevance for the J-20 program was China’s request to Russia for Type 117S aero-engines during annual defense technology cooperation talks between the two countries last year. These engines are being used on Russia’s T-50 aircraft.” (WSJ, Ming).

Trefor Moss is a freelance journalist who covers Asian politics, in particular defense, security and economic issues. He is a former Asia-Pacific editor for Jane’s Defense Weekly. Trefor Moss writing for the Asia Times Online (AToL) says “The story of the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, whose existence was revealed at the turn of the year, is perhaps more remarkable for what it says about the bravura of China’s rulers – and about the West’s reactions – than for what it reveals about the future” . Moss however thinks that the J-20 is technologically inferior to the T-50, F-22 and F-35 and thinks the US reaction to the J-20 is an escuse to revive the JSF and the F-22.

Robbin Laird says t best “The J-20 is built on the top of the global shift in manufacturing capability towards China, a significant investment by China in global commodities and the enhanced presence of China on the world stage are all significant developments. When married to a growing investment in the development and fielding of military capabilities, something globally significant is afoot – of the sort which suggests changing epochs.” We should not be surprised by the J-20 or the Chinese Space planet. These were as inevitable as the Chinease rise to the largest economy in the world and the power that comes with it.

Related articles

• J-20: China has a Stealth Fighter (kashmirpunch.com)
• “Chinese J-20 stealth fighter makes first test flight” and related posts (defencetalk.com)
• The Chinese Stealth Fighter changes everything (timesofislamabad.com)
• Russain PAKFAs to be sold to India after 2020 (newpakistantimes.com)
• China’s J-20 Meant to Counter F-22, F-35 (businessweek.com)
• Russia sells PAKFA fighters to India (viewstimes.com)
• India to buy PAKFA T-50s after production begins in 2020 (pakistanindependent.com)

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Obama's long term answer to the J-20 and T-50...retool F-15's to face developing Axis Stealth Fighters in the future

• By David Axe
• January 14, 2011 |
• 12:00 pm |
• Categories: Air Force

It’s been just three weeks since China unveiled its new J-20 stealth fighter, and already the U.S. Air Force has plans well underway to defeat the mysterious plane from Chengdu.

No, the Pentagon won’t be buying more F-22 Raptors from Lockheed Martin.

Instead, the U.S. military’s main flying branch has turned to an older jet that, with upgrades, could prove to be an even better J-20-killer than the newer, more expensive F-22. That’s right: the Boeing F-15 Eagle, one of the stars of the 1991 Gulf War, is quickly shaping up as America’s main countermeasure to China’s new fighter for the next 20 years.

To be fair, the F-15 and F-22 (and, later, the F-35) will probably usually work in teams. But the F-15, with its better sensors, could prove to be the backbone for U.S. and allied forces in any Pacific dogfight.
The magic is all in the Eagle’s nose. Compared to the angular, stealthy F-22, the totally non-stealth F-15 has a more capacious nosecone that can carry a larger radar. The larger the radar, the more likely it is to detect the J-20, despite that plane’s potentially very small frontal radar cross-section. The F-15 also routinely carries more fuel and missiles than the F-22.

The Pentagon has begun fitting new, electronically scanned Raytheon APG-63(V)3 radars to around 175 F-15Cs dating from the 1980s. In a few years, the 220 ’90s-vintage F-15Es — normally optimized for ground attack, but also capable of air combat — will get new APG-82(V)4 radars, also from Raytheon.

To pay for this electronic transformation, the Pentagon has set aside some of the roughly $34 billion it will save by shutting down several redundant Air Force headquarters and command centers and delaying production of the troubled F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.

The F-15 initiative was important enough to warrant mention in Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ announcement of Pentagon cost-cutting measures last week. Gates said the modernized F-15s would be “viable well into the future.” That might come as a surprise to some observers, considering that just three years ago, an F-15C disintegrated in mid-air, nearly killing the pilot. After that accident, some observers declared the F-15 unfit for duty, for reasons of age.

But the Air Force determined that a poorly made part, rather than age, caused the F-15 disintegration — and that with repairs and good maintenance, F-15Cs could keep flying until at least 2025, and E-models until 2035. “But those are just planning factors,” said Col. Gerald Swift, the Air Force’s top F-15 maintainer. “Right now, there is nothing life-limiting on the F-15. It is a very well-designed platform.”

The sprawling U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan, will be the main home of the modernized F-15s. The first batch of F-15Cs with the new (V)3 radars arrived in December. By 2013, there will be 54 improved F-15Cs at the Pacific outpost, flying alongside a rotating force of 12-18 F-22s.

The Air Force is working on new tactics to blend the F-15s and F-22s into a single team. As currently envisioned, the F-15s would fly with extra fuel tanks and AMRAAM missiles and with radars blaring, while the F-22s, carrying less gas and fewer missiles, would turn off their radar and sneak up on the enemy for ninja-style jabs. “Our objective is to fly in front with the F-22s, and have the persistence to stay there while the [F-22s] are conducting their [low-observable] attack,” Maj. Todd Giggy, an F-15 pilot, told Aviation Week.

This teaming will get a big boost starting in 2014, when the Air Force finally installs secure data links on the F-22, allowing it to covertly swap targeting info with other planes. Even then, the F-15 will have a better radar and more weapons and endurance, making it the Pentagon’s preferred J-20-killer — and the biggest reason why the United States hasn’t yet lost control of the airspace over the Pacific.

Photo: Air Force
See Also:

• China Is Loving America’s Stealth Jet Freakout
• Is This China’s First Stealth Fighter?
• Don’t Panic: China’s New Stealth Jet Takes to the Air [Updated …
• Russians: New Fighter Will Match F-22
• First F-22 Raptor “Shot Down”
• Gates: F-22 Has No Role in War on Terror

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China’s military leaps forward to catch up with US

By Sebastien Blanc

China is sending a strong message to the US and countries in the region that China’s military modernisation is unstoppable, and China is determined to become this region’s dominant actor

BY quietly building up its stash of high-tech weaponry, China is threatening US military supremacy in the Pacific, worrying its neighbours and contributing to a renewed arms race in Asia, analysts say.

Just days before Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington and as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was in Beijing this week to patch up frayed defence ties, China’s military sent its first stealth fighter into the skies.

Analysts agree the test flight of the J-20 carried out by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which surprised many military observers, was no coincidence.

‘China is sending a strong message to the US and countries in the region that China’s military modernisation is unstoppable, and China is determined to become this region’s dominant actor,’ said Taiwan-based PLA expert Arthur Ding. The emergence of the first photos of the J-20 just before Gates’ visit forced the Pentagon chief to admit that China ‘may be somewhat further along in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had predicted’.

Analysts who have studied every pixel of these shots say while it is difficult to estimate just how advanced the plane - seen as an eventual rival to the US Air Force’s F-22A - really is, the message sent by Beijing is clear. ‘While it does not truly demonstrate China’s capability in terms of developing the latest-technology military equipment, it certainly does demonstrate their ambition,’ said Gareth Jennings, an aviation expert at Jane’s Missiles & Rockets magazine.

The PLA - the largest army in the world - is hugely secretive about its defence programmes, which benefit from a big military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth.

Officially, China says its military technology is 20 to 30 years behind that of the United States, and maintains that the modernisation of its army is purely defensive in nature. But its neighbours are worried. Japan last month labelled Beijing’s military build-up a global ‘concern’, citing its increased assertiveness in the East and South China Seas. Analysts say Beijing’s stated position no longer corresponds to the facts.

China, without formally acknowledging it, is building at least one aircraft carrier, which more than anything else will showcase its ability to project its military might further afield.

‘They have equipment that is far from being defensive. More and more they have planes capable of striking ground targets,’ a Western military expert based in Beijing, who refused to be named, told. ‘What is the use of that when you say you want to defend yourself?’

In 2007, China - a nuclear power - sparked international concern when it destroyed one of its satellites with a missile strike. And last January, the Chinese military intercepted an airborne missile. Now, it is developing a ballistic missile capable of striking aircraft carriers - a move that threatens US supremacy in the Pacific.

Admiral Mike Mullen, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Wednesday that China’s new weapons programmes, including the J-20, appeared to be directed against the United States.

Observers worry that the balance of power will shift in East Asia, where there are several potential sources of conflict revolving around Taiwan, North Korea and territorial disputes with neighbouring states. They say a new arms race seems inevitable.

‘Today, nobody knows for sure how many J-20s the PLA will eventually deploy, nor how many ballistic missiles,’ said Dennis Blasko, an expert on the PLA based in the United States. ‘Neither can we predict the size and composition of US and allied forces beyond four or five years.’ Dean Cheng, a China expert at the Heritage Foundation, a US think tank, said there was ‘still time for the US to take corrective measures to hedge against these Chinese capabilities, both in its own arsenals and in what it provides Taiwan.’

The self-ruled island is a sore point in China-US military ties. Last year’s multi-billion-dollar arms deal between Washington and Taipei angered Beijing so much it suspended defence relations with the United States. But for Rick Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Centre, the United States and its allies ‘have a very short timeframe to get really smart about the PLA’s intentions and technology directions’. ‘If this cannot be done, for reasons of lack of information or lack of political will, Washington could soon find itself increasingly following China, and not leading the arms race,’ Fisher said. afp

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J-20's Stealth Signature Poses Interesting Unknowns

Posted by David A. Fulghum at 1/13/2011 10:01 AM CST
David Fulghum and Bill Sweetman/Washington



Anti-stealth and stealth detection technologies will bring into question all stealth designs, including China’s new J-20. How much invulnerability will current low-observability techniques retain as air defense systems adopt even larger and more powerful active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars?

Airborne detection of stealth aircraft may already be an operational capability. Raytheon’s family of X-band airborne AESA radar family (in particular those on upgraded F-15Cs stationed in Okinawa) can detect small, low-signature cruise missiles. Moreover, Northrop Grumman’s lower-frequency, L-band AESA radar on Australia’s Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft is larger and potentially more capable of detecting stealth aircraft at longer ranges.

Better images emerging from China point clearly to the J-20’s use of stealth technology, but there are still major uncertainties and unanswered questions.

The overall shape resembles that of the F-35 and F-22, with a single “chine line” uniting the forebody, upper inlet lips and wing and canard edges, a curved surface above that line and flat, canted body surfaces below it. The wing and canard edges are aligned – the wing and canard leading edges are parallel and the trailing edge of the canard is aligned with the opposite wing trailing edge. The same basic philosophy has also been adopted in British, Swedish and Japanese studies for stealth fighters.

The aim in all cases is to endow a practical, agile fighter configuration with a “bow-tie” radar signature, with the smallest signature around the nose and the greatest (still much lower than that of a conventional aircraft with curved or vertical-slab sides) to the side. The fighter’s mission planning system, using a database of known radar locations, then derives a “blue line” track that weaves between radars and avoids exposing the side-on signature to those radars more than transiently.

The diverterless supersonic inlet avoids a signature problem caused by a conventional boundary layer diverter plate – the F-22 has a conventional inlet, which is likely to require extensive radar absorbent material (RAM) treatment.

The biggest uncertainty about the design concerns the engine exhausts, which as seen on the prototype are likely to cause a radar cross-section (RCS) peak from the rear aspect. One possibility is that a stealthier two-dimensional nozzle will be integrated later in the program: however, the nozzles on the current aircraft show some signs of RCS-reducing saw-tooth treatment, suggesting that the PLA has accepted a rear-aspect RCS penalty rather than the much greater weight and complexity of 2-D nozzles.

Other details of the design are unknowns. Stealth development has been dogged by detail design challenges. All the antennas on the aircraft have to be flush with the skin and covered with surfaces that retain stealth properties while being transparent in a specific frequency. Maintainability becomes a complex trade-off: some systems requiring frequent attention will be accessed via landing gear and weapon bays, and others by latched and actuated doors that can opened and closed without affecting RCS, but the latter are a heavy solution.

Perhaps the toughest challenge in stealth design is the need to manage RF surface currents over the skin. Early stealth designs used heavy, maintenance intensive RAM. The F-22 introduced a much lighter surface treatment, but it has proven unexpectedly difficult to maintain, causing corrosion issues. Lockheed Martin now claims that the F-35 will be robust and affordable to maintain in service, with a combination of a high-toughness sprayed-on topcoat and a conductive layer cured into composite skin panels.

The Chengdu J-20 design has struck many analysts and observers as familiar and somewhat different that the Lockheed-Martin F-22, F-35 or the Sukhoi T-50.

“The J-20 is reminiscent of the Russian MiG 1.42 both in terms of planform, and also with regard to the rear fuselage configuration,” says Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The most obvious difference is the greater forward fuselage shaping as the basis for low observable characteristics, along with the different engine intake configuration. The MiG program was cancelled by the Russian government around 1997.” However, the similarity to the MiG concept may suggest some collusion with the Russian aviation industry.

[vector7]

Chinese President Visits Amid Mounting Military Tensions

By Jennifer Griffin
Published January 18, 2011
| FoxNews.com

• Comments (1486)

AP Photo/Kyodo News
In this Friday Jan. 7, 2011, photo, a prototype of the Chinese J-20 stealth plane is seen during a runway test in Chengdu, southwest China.

Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States comes amid rising military tensions between the world’s leading powers. And as China flexes its growing might, the Obama administration and the U.S. military are looking for ways to respond.

In a stark reminder of the stakes for U.S.-China military relations, Taiwan attempted to embarrass the Chinese, and perhaps the Pentagon, by testing 19 missiles in response to a host of new Chinese weapons advancements.

One-third of the Taiwanese rockets failed, bolstering the island nation’s argument that the U.S. should sell it more F-16 fighter jets, even if it angers China's leaders.

The tests echoed an incident last week when the Chinese military tested a prototype of its J-20 stealth fighter jet during a visit by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Beijing, a move that those traveling with Gates said surprised China’s civilian leaders.

"The civilian leadership has seemed surprised by the test and assured me that it had nothing to do with my visit," said Gates while speaking to a group of reporters at China’s Great Wall.


Jan. 18, 2011: Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied Vice President Joe Biden, waves during an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

Some China experts, though, argue that it is unlikely that China’s civilian leadership was unaware of the test flight.

“Frankly, most intelligence people and China watchers see little if no daylight between Chinese civilian and military leadership with respect to issues of major consequences,” said Lt. Gen.David Deptula, who retired as the Air Force intelligence chief three months ago. “President Hu does not micro-manage the military. Clearly, there is no fissure between Chinese leadership.

What has surprised Pentagon officials more is the similarity between China’s J-20, the prototype of China's first stealth fighter jet, and Lockheed Martin’s FB-22. Several current and former U.S. Air force commanders say its design was likely obtained through online espionage.

Defense officials say that each day, there are more than 1,000 attempts to break into the Pentagon's classified computers - most of them emanating from China.

“The techniques used in the design of the J-20 actually make it appear to be somewhat more sophisticated design than the Russian T-50,” said Deptula.

What continues to baffle Pentagon officials is China's galloping defense budget, which has risen by 464 percent in the past 20 years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute.

The Pentagon’s budget rose by 31 percent during the same period and is now facing cuts. China’s official budget – $98.8 billion in 2009 – is still a fraction of the size of the U.S. budget of more than $600 billion per year.

But it is the type of weapons that China is acquiring that has the Pentagon most worried.

China has a new mobile, land-based ballistic missile that can sink an aircraft carrier. The Dong Feng 21D, known as a “carrier killer,” was revealed in December and includes technology that even the U.S. does not have.

China has added 30 submarines to its fleet in the past decade, while the U.S. has only commissioned one new submarine during the same period.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen expressed concern last week that China’s race to procure state-of-the-art weapons is focused on the U.S.

“China is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities. And the question that is always out there is to try to understand exactly why,” Mullen asked. “Many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the United States.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated Mullen’s concerns.

“I would be the first to admit that distrust lingers on both sides,” Clinton said during a speech at the State Department. “The United States and the international community have watched China's efforts to modernize and expand its military, and we have sought clarity as to its intentions.”

Some in the Air Force have argued that they would like to see Gates reconsider his new limits on the F-22 program. Gates halted F-22 production at 187 planes for budgetary reasons, but the Air Force argues that producing 12 planes a year – the equivalent in cost of two weeks of fighting in Afghanistan – would be enough to maintain U.S. air superiority for decades.

"What this should be, is a wake up call for the strategic complacency of those who believe that the U.S. will continue to maintain air and naval dominance in the Pacific," said Deptula.

Asian military expert Gordon Chang says that China is deadly serious about its plans to challenge American military supremacy.

“Since last February, Chinese flag officers and senior colonels have been talking about waging war against the United States,” said Chang, author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World,”

“I think Secretary Gates needs to understand that, of course, the Chinese military is configuring themselves to fight us.”

[Ryan Ruck]

I was looking for the old F117 stealth-figther.
It looks to more advanced than today's fighter.
I am not an expert i must say.

It might look that way, but it really isn't. Older thinking on stealth theory dictated the design. And because of that, flyability and stability of the airframe was sacrificed. The F-117 is slow, fairly non-manuverable, and so unstable in flight that dedicated flight computers are used to constantly make small changes in its control surfaces to ensure steady flight. Read up on the Have Blue program which developed the F-117.

For more information on stealth theory, take a look at the Wikipedia section on Stealth Technology. It seems to be reasonably comprehensive.

Are you sure this kind of airplanes are really STEALTH ?

Nothing is 100% stealthy. Detectability can only be controlled so much.

Some methods of stealth detection:

• Passive radar detection like the Kulchuga system which can see "holes" of non-EM radiation in an EM radiation environment.
• Older, long wave radar are more effective at detecting stealth aircraft
• IRST

The F-117 that was shot down over Kosovo is believed to have been initially tracked with an older, long range radar and then optically tracked and fired on manually by the SAM operator, who was fairly skilled and exerienced. NATO also made the mistake of flying the same tracks not thinking that Yugoslav air defense was up to the task of shooting them down. This let spotters visually see the F-117 and then gave the SAM operator the chance to use the radar to scan for it. More information is here.

The odd facets are there to control as much as possible the reflection of radar beams. Curved surfaces scatter beams in several directions, thus making radar returns possible.

...

??????

Again, take a look at the Wiki page.

The F-117 uses this:

The most efficient way to reflect radar waves back to the emitting radar is with orthogonal metal plates, forming a corner reflector consisting of either a dihedral (two plates) or a trihedral (three orthogonal plates). This configuration occurs in the tail of a conventional aircraft, where the vertical and horizontal components of the tail are set at right angles. Stealth aircraft such as the F-117 use a different arrangement, tilting the tail surfaces to reduce corner reflections formed between them.

But more importantly, improvements in stealth design were discovered and the F-22, B-2, J-20 use this:

Planform alignment is also often used in stealth designs. Planform alignment involves using a small number of surface orientations in the shape of the structure. For example, on the F-22A Raptor, the leading edges of the wing and the tail surfaces are set at the same angle. Careful inspection shows that many small structures, such as the air intake bypass doors and the air refueling aperture, also use the same angles. The effect of planform alignment is to return a radar signal in a very specific direction away from the radar emitter rather than returning a diffuse signal detectable at many angles.

[Ryan Ruck]

China Got Stealth Tech From Russia: US Lawmaker

January 19, 2011

CHINA got the technology for its first stealth fighter jet from Russia, a senior US lawmaker said on Tuesday, one week after the airplane apparently made its maiden flight.

'My understanding is that they built it on information that they received from Russia, from a Russian plane, that they were able to copy,' House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told reporters.

Mr McKeon, a Republican, said he hoped to 'hear more' on the issue from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was on a visit to Beijing when Chinese state media published photographs of the J-20 fighter in the skies over south-western China. According to the reports, which cited witnesses, the next-generation war jet - the existence of which highlights China's drive to modernise its military - made a 15-minute test flight before landing.

The lawmaker, who had been asked whether Beijing had obtained the technology needed to build such an advanced fighter from cyber-espionage, also stressed that 'China's a concern' for US national security.

'We need to be looking at China, we need to be looking at North Korea, we need to be looking at Iran,' said Mr McKeon, who has given a sceptical greeting to Gates' plans for reductions in US military spending.

'That's what really concerns me when I look at the cuts, the potential cuts, that they're talking about for the defence budget. This is not a safe world,' said the lawmaker.