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Does China’s J-20 Rival Other Stealth Fighters?

posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 15 2017, @11:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the at-least-it's-in-the-air dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Has the People's Republic caught up?

The Chengdu J-20 marks the first entry of a multirole stealth fighter into China's armed forces. According to the Department of Defense (DOD), China views stealth technology as a core component in the transformation of its air force from "a predominantly territorial air force to one capable of conducting both offensive and defensive operations." Designed for enhanced stealth and maneuverability, the J-20 has the potential to provide China with a variety of previously unavailable air combat options and enhance its capability to project power.

As an advanced multirole stealth fighter, it is speculated that the J-20 can fulfill both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat roles for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army Navy (referred to as either Naval Aviation or the PLAN-AF). According to PLAAF Senior Colonel Shen Jinke, the J-20 will enhance the overall combat capability of China's air force. A 2016 report by the DOD states that the J-20 represents a critical step in China's efforts to develop "advanced aircraft to improve its regional power projection capabilities and to strengthen its ability to strike regional airbases and facilities." In 2014, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission described the J-20 as "more advanced than any other fighter currently deployed by Asia Pacific countries."

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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday December 15 2017, @01:54PM (9 children)

    by looorg (578) on Friday December 15 2017, @01:54PM (#610274)

    Did they design it themselves or did they steal the design plans from Lockheed? The planes look suspiciously similar if one look at the comparison images between say F22, T50 and the J20. Perhaps there is just one way of doing it but that seems doubtful.

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  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:08PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:08PM (#610281)

    We should sell them some F35s or let them steal the plans.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:24PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @02:24PM (#610290)

      Well, the Chinese may be smarter than the Canadians or Ozzies.

      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday December 15 2017, @11:33PM

        by MostCynical (2589) on Friday December 15 2017, @11:33PM (#610545) Journal

        Hey, that was politicians being politicians.
        Most Canadians or Australians who even know what a military plane looks like think buying those was a mistake.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 15 2017, @02:13PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @02:13PM (#610283) Journal

    They have stolen, bought, and reverse engineered as much or more from the Russians, than they have stolen from us. But, why steal it, when so much of our stuff has been for sale, anyway? Clinton made it more or less kosher to sell military tech to China. "Most favored trading partner", remember?

    http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/11/world/clinton-approves-technology-transfer-to-china.html [nytimes.com]

    https://capitalresearch.org/article/flashback-bill-clinton-gave-china-missile-technology/ [capitalresearch.org]

    Bill Clinton was a treasonous bastard, in addition to all his other faults.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 15 2017, @02:17PM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @02:17PM (#610287) Journal

      This article is more to the point than those linked to above:
      https://news.usni.org/2015/10/27/chinas-military-built-with-cloned-weapons [usni.org]

      The fact that the Chinese commonly refer to today’s imitation products as “Shanzhai” indicates that they recognize the dubious nature of the current practice. The term “Shanzhai” translates to “mountain stronghold” and was originally applied to pirate factories producing counterfeit goods in remote areas beyond the reach of regulatory control.

      The copycat business is no longer restricted to outlying lawless regions. It has entered the mainstream and been embraced by government officials who seem content to allow other nations to develop products and technology which they can then acquire legitimately through licensing or illegitimately through counterfeiting and espionage. This approach allows China to stay competitive on the world stage while saving them the time and money it would cost to develop their own products.

      An industry in which Chinese cloning has excelled to a disconcerting degree is the manufacture of weapon systems. China’s expanding military and growing assertiveness has been bolstered by weapons cloned from the arsenals of other countries. Bleeding edge U.S. aircraft including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) have Chinese counterparts that are remarkably similar. Some of the technology used in these designs was almost certainly acquired through a vigorous Chinese cyber spying campaign.

      It is not only American weapon designs and technology that have been stolen and replicated by the Chinese. Russia has at times served as China’s unwitting research and development department. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was in need of money and held a fire sale of its state of the art Sukhoi Su-27 fighter. China bought two dozen of the fighters but later negotiated for a license to assemble additional planes domestically using key components imported from Russia. Within a few years China claimed that the fighter no longer met their needs and canceled the contract. To the fury of the Russians, the Chinese soon debuted the indigenously built and equipped Shenyang J-11B fighter that looks identical to the Su-27.

      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday December 15 2017, @11:35PM

        by MostCynical (2589) on Friday December 15 2017, @11:35PM (#610548) Journal

        "Bleeding edge"? "Bleeding" money, "edge" of reason.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 15 2017, @04:26PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday December 15 2017, @04:26PM (#610339)

      Slick Willie presided over some good times - as is our supreme Orange with the Russian wife and business partners.

      The best leadership would make treason irrelevant. Not that either of those clowns even approach worthiness of a nomination for "best leader."

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by RamiK on Friday December 15 2017, @09:11PM (1 child)

    by RamiK (1813) on Friday December 15 2017, @09:11PM (#610468)

    Did they design it themselves or did they steal the design plans from Lockheed?

    Looking at those Sovietesque canards and exposed jets, I'd say it's pretty obvious the Chengdu J-20 is a domestic Chinese design. I guess you could call it a fighter-mafia F-22 depending on the energy maneuverability charts... :)

    The planes look suspiciously similar if one look at the comparison images between say F22, T50 and the J20.

    Not to me: https://i1.wp.com/fightersweep.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/size-chart.jpg [wp.com]

    Perhaps there is just one way of doing it but that seems doubtful.

    Depending on the role, there are probably just one or two ways that work and a whole bunch of ways that might work but aren't worth it. Again, depends on your air-doctrine of choice. Personally I lean towards the extremes: Lots of drones and lots of dumb fighters. Everything in-between is trash. But hey, I don't have the math to prove it so it's just intuition.

    --
    compiling...

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday December 15 2017, @11:56PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Friday December 15 2017, @11:56PM (#610556)

      The real answer is cheap light drones designating targets for cheap heavy drones carrying lots and lots of fast stealthy missiles.
      Or peace ... Whichever.