J20 Stealth Fighter

[black eagle]

Old School Jet Retooled to Slay Stealth Fighters

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.


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/old-school-jet/

 

[fulcrum]

I remember 4G and above aircraft must be able to perform vertical take off and landing right?

I don't think this so call 5G can do it.

Oi Oi, your jealousy is overflowing. Just because of our incompetance, don't make random crap to belittle others' achievement.
The only disadvantage as of now is the canard. The Bay doors will be incorporated into the later prototypes, there is no doubt of that.

J-20 is a milestone worthy bragging about. They do indeed secured bragging rights with this one, unlike paki brainless bragging we often hear w.r.t JunkFighter-17.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

stick to the topic guys personal things can be discussed by pm

 

[niceguy2011]

Armand is French and he has been here long enough! You are new and if you have any issues do let the mods know, rather avoid writing personal rants!!

Please stop writing personal stuff here, we all know about hidden debt, cooking of books, corruption, slave labor, poverty etc etc in China, please stick to the topic and refrain from personal attacks!

I know he is lying,I just want him to approve his words.
ps.How do you guys know he is a French or not?

 

[maomao]

I know he is lying,I just want him to approve his words.
ps.How do you guys know he is a French or not?

P.S: Talk to him in French!

 

[niceguy2011]

P.S: Talk to him in French!

LOL. I'm using English right now,do u think I'm a English ppl?

 

[maomao]

​

LOL. I'm using English right now,do u think I'm a English ppl?

Exactly, thats the point, how can you claim he is not French!!

P.S: Mods know him, clear everything with them, rather than argue uselessly!!

 

[Daredevil]

Stop discussing the members and their identity. Here we are to discuss the points raised by the member based on evidence and facts. If you don't agree with the poster's points you free to ignore the poster or agree to disagree with him. Anymore posts irrelevant to thread will be deleted

 

[black eagle]

The Invisible Bird

China's earlier-than-expected test flight of the fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighter has caught the world defence establishment napping. Bravado aside

Hours before American Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, 11 January, an aircraft took off from an airfield in the southwestern city of Chengdu. The flight lasted barely 15 minutes, but it was a clear message that the strategic balance of global air power was set to shift inalterably. The fifth-generation Chinese stealth fighter, the J-20, which took off on that day, was a signal that the end of American technological dominance of the skies may no longer be a question of decades but years.

Denis Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, notes, 'The unveiling of the new Chinese stealth fighter, which the US press is characterising as a rival to the US F-22, reinforces two general US perceptions about the Chinese military. The first is the sense that the PLA (People's Liberation Army) is modernising more quickly than expected and catching up with US capabilities. The second is anxiety about Chinese intentions, and the fear that Beijing plans to challenge the accustomed US role and US interests in the Asia-Pacific.''

For weeks before the flight, pictures of the stealth fighter had been making their way to several Chin-ese websites. The very fact that they were not pulled out and the websites left free to operate was a signal that the world was meant to know of the existence of this fighter. The photographs were impressive, displaying the kind of technology that the world had suspected the Chinese were a decade away from developing. For this very reason, there was no shortage of sceptics, among them Robert Gates.

In July 2009, in a speech at Chicago, he had said, ''Consider that by 2020, the United States is projected to have nearly 2,500 manned combat aircraft of all kinds. Of those, nearly 1,100 will be the most advanced fifth generation F-35s and F-22s. China, by contrast, is projected to have no fifth generation aircraft by 2020. And by 2025, the gap only widens.''

Now, on his way to China, he admitted that US intelligence had underestimated the Chinese. He told reporters aboard his plane, which arrived in Beijing on Sunday, "I think what we've seen is that they may be somewhat further ahead in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had earlier predicted." But even then he said he remained unsure of how 'stealthy' the plane was.

The flight that took off from Chengdu was the Chinese answer. This time the news did not filter out through grainy photos on the Web. It was Kanwa Asian Defence magazine (an East Asian military journal) editor Andrei Chang, a long-time observer of the PLA, who confirmed this in a report from Hong Kong. He said the J-20 took off at 12:50 pm local time, and this was the report the Chinese state-run media picked up to confirm the flight.

John J Tkacik Jr, Chief of China Intelligence in the US Department of State during the Clinton Administration and now part of the right-wing Heritage Fou-ndation, tells Open, ''Obviously, we don't know the technical specifications of the J-20 aside from what we see in the videos, but it appears from the videos that the engine nozzles are for a Chinese-manu-factured engine, and that they show very little exhaust, which indicates that they are quite well advanced, not relative to the US, but to most other countries."

''The Chinese also indicate that they have Russian-made engines as well, and this could mean the fighter will be available before 2017. Photos of the underside of the test aircraft don't reveal any lines for weapon bays, so either the test aircraft doesn't have weapon bays, or they are very tightly incorporated into the fuselage, and hence signal quite acceptable stealth characteristics. I could not see whether the thrust vectoring [the engine's ability to change altitude and velocity] was performing well in the test flight videos, but it seemed to be part of the design. I could not see whether supercruise—supersonic cruising spe-eds—were tested.''

The characteristic indicated by Tkacik are indicators of the advancements the Chinese have managed. Stealth characteristics, the ability to remain concealed from enemy radar, are what distinguish fifth-generation fighters from all other serving fighters around the world. Supercruise is the ability to reach supersonic speed without the use of afterburners (used on most military jets to achieve extra thrust by injecting additional fuel into the jet pipe), which show up on the radar.

So far only one fifth-generation fighter, the US Air Force's F-22 Raptor, is in active service, but its performance in air exercises demonstrates a vast superiority vis-à-vis the US F-15 and F-16. As Tkacik notes, ''The J-20 appears to be about two metres longer than the US F-22, and this could mean that it could hold more weapons, and hence each J-20 could shoot at more targets. Or it could mean that the J-20 will hold more fuel, and therefore be able to fly longer distances and/or loiter longer in target areas. One F-22 is said to be able to shoot down as many as twelve fourth-generation fighters before exhausting its air-to-air missiles and turning to on-board cannon. The purpose, of course, is to deploy effective fighter cover with the least number of aircraft. A J-20 would nullify or erode that advantage.''

The possibility that these aircraft could be deployed in the next few years is one that should worry not just Americans. Says Tkacik, ''India has the most to lose with this new Chinese capability, especially as the J-20 could be based in Tibet and Xinjiang, and it will be able to support significant Chinese ground-troop operations all along India's Himalayan borders—and those of Sikkim, Bhutan and Kashmir (not to mention Nepal).''

THE INDIAN RESPONSE

Indian defence officials have taken note of the potential of this aircraft in reshaping the strategic context over the Himalayas. The stealth characteristics of the aircraft and the relatively thin deployment of Indian radar cover ''can potentially mean a pre-emptive running attack by the PLA air force,'' says a senior air force planner requesting anonymity.

It is not that India has been unaware of the threat, but, like Robert Gates, it has been labouring under the illusion that it still lies in the distant future. The Indian response was planned in conjunction with Russia. The air force planner adds, ''We have jointly developed fifth-generation aircraft from Russia joining in around the same time [as the J-20 becomes operational]. It's too early to tell in this dogfight." Harsh V Pant of the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, London, agrees: ''By the time the J-20 becomes operational, the joint India-Russia response will be ready, and it will add complexity to the South Asian theatre. Do not underestimate the Russians in aircraft technology."

The aircraft they are talking about is the T-50. Just a month ago, India signed an agreement with Russia for joint development of a fifth-generation aircraft. Russia has already flown a few sorties of the platform on which the T-50 is to be built.

According to Air Marshal (Retd) Kapil Kak of the Centre for Air Power Studies, a think-tank that tracks strategic developments in aerospace: "The Chinese have this seeming headstart with the new prototype, but the Indians have a credible answer. We are not buying the next plane. We are co-developing it. And Russians are to aircraft what Germans are to motorcars. The T-50 platform will develop and outmatch the Chinese for the simple reason that it's a few steps ahead already. India will be in an easy position, come 2020, with its 124 new fourth-generation multi-role aircraft contract well on the way, and add to that the Tejas (a third-generation fighter) to take on the MiG-21 workload."

THE PROBLEMS

It is this mention of the Tejas that makes most strategic affairs experts pause on India's ability to develop a credible alternative, even in partnership with Russians. The Tejas has been 23 years in the making, and as Kak says, it is a third-generation aircraft. India now hopes to skip a generation and do as much work in the next five years as it was unable to do in the past two decades or so.

The idea behind Tejas was to develop an aircraft and its engine from scratch. The Kaveri engine was to be a gas-turbine engine, but the programme ran into trouble soon. The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) could find neither the right talent nor the parts to put it together. Then, it was hit hard by sanctions. Finally a semblance of an engine was readied three years ago with a little bit of reverse engineering. After failing several cold-weather trials in Russia, the Government finally decided to invite a foreign manufacturer as a partner in the development of the engine, which is still underway. Meanwhile, the GTRE is proud to present the failed LCA engine as one fit for ships.

It was then decided that the initial versions of the aircraft would use the American GE404 engine. The pace of the programme was hit by American sanctions, and so far only 12 GE404 engines are available to power the first squadron. The radar that HAL, DRDO and ADA were developing ran into problems as the radar units developed by these entities ''did not talk to each other'', meaning the on-board radar was dysfunctional. The Government was forced to requisition Israeli radars.

The Tejas is touted as a fly-by-wire system; that is, one that uses sophisticated computer electronics to make it as foolproof as possible. A fly-by-wire aircraft normally has four circuits for each connection, meaning even if one circuit to the landing gear fails, three others will still operate. But in reality, the Indian Tejas has only two such circuits, not four. Technically it does not qualify as a fly-by-wire aircraft. And guess what India is handling in the fifth-generation fighter project it is planning with Russia—the fly-by-wire system.

THE CHINESE PAST

Ranged against India's faltering attempt is the Chinese past, which has made a virtue of reverse engineering. A Wall Street Journal report recently summarised how China was able to build its current generation of fighters—the J-11B. In 1996, Russia agreed to supply 200 SU-27s to the Chinese. In 2004, China abruptly cancelled the contract after 104 such planes were developed. In three years, a Chinese version of the SU-27 was shown flying on state television.

The J-11B is a fourth-generation aircraft and its rapid development is what has, in all likelihood, given China its ability to look at a fifth-generation fighter. Far too often, Western firms have ignored the Chinese ability to develop cheap imitations only to find that within years China has upgraded its design and capability to be more than a match for Western firms. History is now being repeated with the technology of war.

Tkachik is clear that ''this test flight was designed to be provocative, in the sense that it will provoke the United States to reassess its ability to challenge China's rise as the pre-eminent power in Asia. I think the Chinese military believes that once the US sees how rapidly China has modernised, and how much disarray its own economy, industry and financial structure has fallen into, the US will quietly back away''.

This may not be the most likely option, but it remains a real possibility. If so, India will be left to fend for itself. For the moment, it has no choice but to place more faith in Russian scientists than its own.


With reports from Adam Mathews, Anil B Lulla and Ninad D Sheth

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/international/the-invisible-bird

 

[Achilles]

This thread is getting out of the topic hence lets bring back to it. In many forums the disscusion is driven by the shear patriotism and not by the facts.. US military might is the result of the long term planning and ambition of remaining at top of all. No daught that they got enough funding, RND, vision and adequate experience (about 100 years) in designing and developing the fighter aircrafts. China, India etc are newbies in this arena. Still the chinese have brought in to the picture their so called 5G bird. Congratulations!!!! Now the aircraft is in its early developmental phases and several questions which has been raised about its canards, weapons bays, engines (whethere they gonna produce enough thrust and whether AC will have supercruise ability) etc etc etc...
One thing has to be taken in to consideration that there would be lot of scope for development and improvement of this fighter jet. Though said that how much state of the art facility Chinese can incarporated in this Jet is questionable. Tactical necesity of the bird would be deciding factor for its improvement.
A 5G bird in terms of specifications is a aircraft which has LO, internal weapons bay, AESA radar, BWR, supercruise ability and super manuverability. Only operational 5G bird F 22 raptor has above mentioned specifications in it. But mentioned that, it doesnt mean the aircraft is invincible. Wise words are "Excellence is not a journey but a Path", hence continuous improvements are required. Lets see how much catching up T 50 and J20 can do in above specs. Also to mention that a machine is as good as its pilot is is.. Hence all thoes factors will contribute to the performance of these killing machines...

With regards
Achilles (Shrikant Parwate, India)

 

[BackToEast]

This thread is getting out of the topic hence lets bring back to it. In many forums the disscusion is driven by the shear patriotism and not by the facts.. US military might is the result of the long term planning and ambition of remaining at top of all. No daught that they got enough funding, RND, vision and adequate experience (about 100 years) in designing and developing the fighter aircrafts. China, India etc are newbies in this arena. Still the chinese have brought in to the picture their so called 5G bird. Congratulations!!!! Now the aircraft is in its early developmental phases and several questions which has been raised about its canards, weapons bays, engines (whethere they gonna produce enough thrust and whether AC will have supercruise ability) etc etc etc...
One thing has to be taken in to consideration that there would be lot of scope for development and improvement of this fighter jet. Though said that how much state of the art facility Chinese can incarporated in this Jet is questionable. Tactical necesity of the bird would be deciding factor for its improvement.
A 5G bird in terms of specifications is a aircraft which has LO, internal weapons bay, AESA radar, BWR, supercruise ability and super manuverability. Only operational 5G bird F 22 raptor has above mentioned specifications in it. But mentioned that, it doesnt mean the aircraft is invincible. Wise words are "Excellence is not a journey but a Path", hence continuous improvements are required. Lets see how much catching up T 50 and J20 can do in above specs. Also to mention that a machine is as good as its pilot is is.. Hence all thoes factors will contribute to the performance of these killing machines...

With regards
Achilles (Shrikant Parwate, India)

Cannot agree more with you.
You are among the few reasonable guys here. China has a long way to go. When the J-20 appears ,the chinese military fans including me are wild with joy.
But we all now J-20 is only a start ,we still have a long long way to go to improve it.
We know our strenghs and weaknesses. Aand we have no illusion for USA.

 

[black eagle]

Another video of the J-20 flight...

http://www.56.com/u17/v_NTc4ODAxNTg.html

 

[Minghegy]

From the above posts I see the hope of India, modest & calm & congratulation, you are not loser.
Bless you.

 

[chex3009]

Hu confirms J-20 stealth jet test

President Hu Jintao reportedly confirmed that China's first stealth fighter jet, the J-20, underwent its first test flight Tuesday, making the first official acknowledgement of the plane's existence since the surfacing of online photos in December.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, currently in Beijing, was told that the test was not timed to coincide with his trip. His visit has seen Chinese military figures and officials frequently repeat that China's military development remains decades behind that of Western countries.
"I asked 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 was quoted by Reuters as saying Tuesday.
Responding to a question on the fighter jet, Guan Youfei, deputy director of Foreign Affairs Office of the Defense Ministry, said Tuesday that China's military hardware development was not aimed at any other country.
During his meeting with Gates, Hu stated that China and the US share extensive common interests and enjoy broad prospects for cooperation, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The Pentagon chief hailed his Beijing visit as a "positive" step forward but called for patience, saying military ties with China could not be improved overnight, AFP reported.
"I think this is an arena where we have to play the long game," Gates added.
Gates will visit the command base of the Second Artillery Force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) today before flying on to Seoul.
An aviation enthusiast surnamed Zhang, who live-broadcast on fyjs.cn the test taking place near the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute, told the Global Times that the J-20 had been escorted by a J-10S trainer, had taken off at 12:50 pm and had landed at 1:10 pm after making a few passes over the airfield.
Citing pictures posted by bloggers, Xinhua reported that people cheered after the prototype landed safely, showing pictures of a large group of people standing around the plane.
Yang Yao, one of China's top test pilots, told the 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 maneuver this new-generation fighter jet, which will take a certain amount of time," he said.
Ni Feng, a researcher of US Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that "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."
Gary Li, a China expert with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, called the exposure a sign of "unofficial transparency."
"The PLA 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.
Despite the absence of official technical details of the J-20, some Western analysts are comparing it to the US Air Force's F-22 Raptor stealth jet, the world's only operational fifth-generation stealth fighter.
Due to defense cuts, the US has ceased the production of the F-22 in favor of the F-35, a cheaper fifth-generation fighter jet that has fewer capabilities.
Retired US Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney wrote in a Fox News story last week 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 defense budget for 2011.
Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon, partners in the Air Power Australia think-tank, told wired.com, a US-based technology website, 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.
Li Daguang, a military expert at the PLA National Defense University, 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.

http://www.defencetalk.com/hu-confirms-j-20-stealth-jet-test-31261/

 

[maomao]

^^^^^^ defencetalk.com is not a valid news source!! Its more of a forum like DFI, only difference being defencetalk has pakistani ownership, credibility of articles they publish will always be in doubt!

 

[A.V.]

US Lawmaker: China got J-20 Tech From Russia

AFP.
WASHINGTON - 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.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_625722.html

 

[p2prada]

That's a shot in the arm for China. So, looks like there were inputs from Mig, if not Sukhoi.

 

[StarShip Enterprise]

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20110114.aspx

J-20 Flies Off Into Uncertainty
January 14, 2011: On January 11, the new Chinese J-20 stealth fighter made its first flight, two weeks after it was seen doing taxi tests at a factory airstrip in central China. There are two J-20 prototypes, one with Russian AL-31 engines, and one with Chinese WS-10As (a copy of the AL-31). Of the four stealth fighters than have been built and flown so far (U.S. F-22 and F-35, Russian T-50 and I.42), the J-20 looks most like the I.42, a MiG project that was cancelled in 1997. China is releasing very little information, and apparently accepted the fact that flight tests could not be hidden. Based on recent warplane development projects (J-11 in particular), the J-20 has a long development road ahead of it, and will likely change size and shape before it reaches the production design.

While the shape of the J-20 confers a degree of stealthiness (invisibility to radar), even more electronic invisibility comes from special materials covering the aircraft. It's not known how far along the Chinese are in creating, or stealing, these materials. Same with engines. The current engines being used are sufficient for early flight tests, but not capable of providing the "super-cruise" (high speed cruising using far less fuel than usual). Super cruise would be essential for the J-20, since China would most likely use the aircraft singly, or in small groups, to seek out and attack American carriers. Two years ago, China announced it was developing the WS-15 engine, a more powerful beast well suited for the J-20. No date was given as to when the WS-15 would be available for use.

For the J-20 to be a superior fighter, it would need electronics (including radars and defense systems) on a par with the F-35 and F-22. So far, the Chinese have not caught up with stuff used by current American fighters. But the gap is being closed, faster than it was during the Cold War and the Russians were creating, or stealing, their way to military tech equivalence with the West.

Work on the J-20 began in the late 1990s, and the Chinese knew that it could be 25 years or more before they had a competitive stealth fighter-bomber. The J-20 is being tested at an airfield near the Chengdu Aircraft Company (CAC), which builds the J-10 and JF-17. Located in central China, CAC was known to be working on the J-20.

The twin engine J-20 appears to be a 36-40 ton aircraft that is longer (at 24 meters/75 feet) than the F-35 or F-22. The F-35A is a 31 ton, single engine fighter while the F-22 is slightly larger at 38 tons. The I.42 was a 42 ton aircraft that was 19 meters long while the 37 ton T-50 19.8 meters long.

China is also developing other support technologies, like the AESA radar, highly efficient cockpit, stealth and software to tie everything together. Developing, or even copying, this tech is not easy. But the Chinese already know that, having decades of experience adapting stolen technology to their needs. Thus it appears that China is planning on having the J-20 ready for service by the end of the decade. The key factor is their ability to develop or steal the needed technology by then. The J-20 appears to be a fighter-bomber, as this kind of aircraft would be most useful dealing with the U.S. Navy and key targets in Taiwan or Japan, In any event, the J-20 is an attempt to develop some kind of 5th generation aircraft, complete with stealth.

Russian fifth generation fighter developments were halted when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Actually, all development work on new fighters, by everyone, slowed down in the 1990s. But work on the F-22, F-35, Eurofighter and Rafale continued, and those aircraft became, in roughly that order, the most advanced fighter aircraft available today. MiG resumed work on the I.42 in the 1990s, but had to stop after a few years because of a lack of money. Sukhoi has never stopped working on its T-50, funded by much higher sales of its Su-27/30 fighters. This fifth generation may come to be called the "last generation," after they are replaced by the second generation of pilotless combat aircraft (counting armed Predators and the like as the first).

 

[Armand2REP]

If it is reverse engineering of the MiG 1.44, they sure picked a bad model to base it on.

 

[nimo_cn]

If it is reverse engineering of the MiG 1.44, they sure picked a bad model to base it on.

How to reverse-engineer a plane if you don't have one at hand?