China's First Stealth Fighter Test Successful
BEIJING - China's radar-eluding stealth fighter made its first-known test flight Tuesday, marking dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies.
The prototype plane dubbed the J-20 flew for about 15 minutes over an airfield in the southwestern city of Chengdu where it was spotted carrying out runway tests last week, Kanwa Asian Defense magazine editor Andrei Chang said.
Photos of the plane in flight and on the ground surrounded by men in civilian clothes and army overcoats were also posted on unofficial Chinese military websites. A J-10 fighter - China's last homegrown jet - flew behind it as a chase plane.
The test flight comes on the second day of a visit to China by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and the normally secretive military made no attempt to hide it or remove photos and reports about the J-20 from the Internet.
The timing and hands-off approach is apparently intended to send the message that Beijing is responding to calls from the U.S. and others to be more transparent about its defense modernization and future intentions.
Although likely many years from entering China's inventory, the J-20 is a potential rival to the U.S. F-22 Raptor, the only stealth fighter currently in service. The U.S. is also employing stealth technology on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while Russia's Sukhoi T-50's stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is set to enter service in about four years.
In the photos, China's twin-engine J-20 appears larger than either the Russian or U.S. fighters, potentially allowing it fly farther and carry heavier weapons.
The J-20 would pose the greatest immediate threat to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory - to be recovered by force if necessary. Taiwan's air force is composed mostly of aging U.S. F-16s and French Mirage jets, and its electronic warning systems would find it difficult to cope with stealth technology.
A Chinese stealth fighter would "seriously undermine the Taiwan air force's advantages," said Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University.
While a state newspaper reported last week on the plane's appearance, China's government and military have yet to comment officially. People who answered phones at government and Communist Party offices in Chengdu, as well as the plane's developer - the Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group - all refused to comment.
China's aviation industry - both military and civilian - has made rapid progress in recent years but still relies heavily on imported technology. Propulsion has been a special problem, with Russian engines still powering the J-10 and J-11, a copy of Russia's Su-27 fighter.
Stealth technology is even more difficult to master because it relies on systems to hide the presence of the plane, while equipping the pilot with enough information to attack an enemy. Emissions must be hidden and the plane's fuselage sculpted to avoid detection by radar and infrared sensors.
Despite the challenges, the J-20's entry into the test flight stage seems to indicate China is progressing faster than expected with the new technology, even while the plane's true capabilities aren't known. Analysts said two prototypes have been developed, with one employing a Russian engine and the other a Chinese one.
Chang said the Chinese engine-equipped prototype flew in Tuesday's test. "They're investing a lot to speed up development. You could call this a success," he said.
Chinese progress also potentially calls into question Gates' decision to cap production of the F-22 at 187 planes, partly because of claims that China would not have a fifth-generation fighter for years to come.
Along with the J-20, China's military is developing sophisticated new warships, submarines, missiles and possibly one or more aircraft carriers.
The military-backed space program has also conducted three manned flights, making China only the third country in the world to put a person into space.
AP The prototype plane dubbed the J-20 flew for about 15 minutes over an airfield in the southwestern city of Chengdu where it was spotted carrying out runway tests last week, Kanwa Asian Defense magazine editor Andrei Chang said.
Photos of the plane in flight and on the ground surrounded by men in civilian clothes and army overcoats were also posted on unofficial Chinese military websites. A J-10 fighter - China's last homegrown jet - flew behind it as a chase plane.
The test flight comes on the second day of a visit to China by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and the normally secretive military made no attempt to hide it or remove photos and reports about the J-20 from the Internet.
The timing and hands-off approach is apparently intended to send the message that Beijing is responding to calls from the U.S. and others to be more transparent about its defense modernization and future intentions.
Although likely many years from entering China's inventory, the J-20 is a potential rival to the U.S. F-22 Raptor, the only stealth fighter currently in service. The U.S. is also employing stealth technology on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while Russia's Sukhoi T-50's stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is set to enter service in about four years.
In the photos, China's twin-engine J-20 appears larger than either the Russian or U.S. fighters, potentially allowing it fly farther and carry heavier weapons.
The J-20 would pose the greatest immediate threat to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory - to be recovered by force if necessary. Taiwan's air force is composed mostly of aging U.S. F-16s and French Mirage jets, and its electronic warning systems would find it difficult to cope with stealth technology.
A Chinese stealth fighter would "seriously undermine the Taiwan air force's advantages," said Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University.
While a state newspaper reported last week on the plane's appearance, China's government and military have yet to comment officially. People who answered phones at government and Communist Party offices in Chengdu, as well as the plane's developer - the Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group - all refused to comment.
China's aviation industry - both military and civilian - has made rapid progress in recent years but still relies heavily on imported technology. Propulsion has been a special problem, with Russian engines still powering the J-10 and J-11, a copy of Russia's Su-27 fighter.
Stealth technology is even more difficult to master because it relies on systems to hide the presence of the plane, while equipping the pilot with enough information to attack an enemy. Emissions must be hidden and the plane's fuselage sculpted to avoid detection by radar and infrared sensors.
Despite the challenges, the J-20's entry into the test flight stage seems to indicate China is progressing faster than expected with the new technology, even while the plane's true capabilities aren't known. Analysts said two prototypes have been developed, with one employing a Russian engine and the other a Chinese one.
Chang said the Chinese engine-equipped prototype flew in Tuesday's test. "They're investing a lot to speed up development. You could call this a success," he said.
Chinese progress also potentially calls into question Gates' decision to cap production of the F-22 at 187 planes, partly because of claims that China would not have a fifth-generation fighter for years to come.
Along with the J-20, China's military is developing sophisticated new warships, submarines, missiles and possibly one or more aircraft carriers.
The military-backed space program has also conducted three manned flights, making China only the third country in the world to put a person into space.
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-your country has murdered in cold blood the president,the whole government and more than 100.000 citizens of an independent,internationally recognized country(iraq)
-your country has murdered in cold blood more than 2 million vietnamese people,simply because those people wanted different system in their own country
-your country has ethnically cleansed the whole country-palestine-out of its citizens and brought and armed holocaust survivors,in order to maintain large millitary base in the middle east,with a purpose of enabling of terrorizing these small countries like iraq from that base
-your country is harrasing cuba for 50 years because they chose different system
-your country is meddling and organizing coups,unrests and installing puppet governments from south korea to lebanon
-your country is not cooperating with international war tribunal,so why would hezbollah cooperate?
conclusion:when your country calls somebody a terrorist,that doesn't mean that the rest of the world buys that.on the opposite,for most of the world you are the terrorists.
After the Great Depression, WWII booted our country in the a** and made us a real powerhouse economically. People were needed for the war effort. Like then, we are now in two different wars, but we are in a much different society now. Now there are seperate companies to make supplies for the military, and we are no longer converting factories such as GM or Ford into military vehicle making facilities, and thus people are losing jobs due to the lack of income...not that this is the sole reason.
Now China has perhaps the strongest economy in the world, and we are sitting ducks..just borrowing and borrowing ourselves into a hole that we may never get out of...thus we may end up following the same relative path that took down the USSR. We are no longer the nation with the technological advancement that we once had on other nations. We were the only country to pass the speed of sound for 9 years because we kept our mouths shut on how we did it...now we are falling behind, economically, and maybe soon technologically. Sad possibilities lie ahead, lets hope that we can all find the solutions that will lead us back to the great nation that we once were....
RedWings_ninety_one
Justsan
Without air superiority, our ground troops would be killed at a much higher rate than they are now. And no, it isn't hand-to-hand combat in all but a few rare cases. A soldier without a weapon is extremely vulnerable.
While I agree that we never should have allowed our trade inbalance to get so far out of control, that doesn't change the fact that China is rapidly progressing and we are fools to ignore it.
1). Humans go to war from time to time. I don't like it but, it's reality.
2). The side that owns the air owns the battlefield.
There are two kinds of people, wolves and sheep. Being a sheep is wonderful but, your wolves give you the luxury to be a sheep. So, give some respect to the wolves.
The obvious weakness of unmanned jet fighters is that the target becomes the centralized control and command. I am not comfortable with writing off manned jet fighters. A human in the cockpit can make split second decisions based on a complete, as possible, accessment of the totality of the circumstances.
The world has been a mean place since humans started walking upright. Thinking that it will change because we unarm ourselves is foolish and dangerous. Air superiority last for as long as it last. Seconds, days, weeks, years, etc.. Lose the air and your ground forces are finished.
I am no fan of our overspending Pentagon, but for crying out loud Gates just shot us in the foot with his stupid choice to end a SUCCESSFUL stealth fighter program. I hope he thinks long and hard about his foolish decision no.