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December 27, 2010

China’s new stealth fighter?

Pictures alleging to be of a new Chinese fighter jet hit a few aviation forums this Monday. Is this plane China’s new fifth-generation stealth fighter? As the US and its allies develop the F35 platform, how far along has China gotten developing this plane dubbed the J-20?

The impression here is of a big, long aircraft, 70+ feet from nose to tail, which would make sense for a number of reasons. Rob Hewson at Jane’s has reported that Russia has supplied 32,000-pound thrust 117S engines for the J-20, which would be adequate for an aircraft in the 80,000 pound class – with perhaps lower supercruise performance and agility than an F-22, but with larger weapon bays and more fuel.

But ask yourself: why would China need or want a short-range stealth aircraft? Any targets with defenses that call for that capability are a long way from the mainland. Also, the bigger that the aircraft is, the more likely it is that it is a bomber as much as, if not more than, a fighter.

This entry was authored by Stephen Taylor at 10:49 PM | Tweet this | Comments (8)

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http://twitter.com/tjfriese Timothy J. Friesen

Isn’t the term “Fifth-Generation fighter” trademarked exclusively by Lockheed Martin? I hope you don’t get into trouble for using it in the context of this Chinese fighter…
Nobody

The F-22 Raptor is also quite large by comparison to other fighters. This fighter appears to be slightly larger than the F-22. From China’s perspective, this fighter would provide them an edge over adversaries such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and India. The large size may also account for the weapons having to be carried internally.
Anonymous

As you note, it’s a multi-role plane.

It’s only natural that China would make advances in aviation and other technical frontiers, both as a matter of national pride, and to secure their future by moving from “imitators” to innovators. (And to think we created the Avro Arrow.. .-sigh-)

Fortunately, we are not in another cold war, and the chance of direct armed conflict with China remains very remote. China has conquered us commercially: most of the west has voluntarily surrendered their own manufacturing capabilities to them in return for cheap goods and bountiful credit. Our occasional bleat to them about their human rights abuses are only token, never backed up, and easily ignored.

So, this plane’s role in China is more about pride and internal technological capability than as a signal of hostile intent. This is almost identical to the US situation, where military superiority is also a point of national pride, and the source of technical innovation that trickles down to non-military applications.

I suspect that unlike the US with the F-35, China doesn’t have to badger/bully their “allies” into buying the thing, in order to cover the development costs.
Bert Wikkerink

Betcha $10.00 that most of the tech was stolen from thew west.
Liz J

Perhaps Mo Strong could fill us in on the details.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NXL6LEAETO522P4PJUEPBYKVKE Lynn Brooks

First a comment to two previous comments. One, “Fifth-Generation fighter” is not copyrighted. Its a generic term used to describe aircraft capabilities. A term, that I might add that has not hard and fast criteria.

Secondly, it will probably incorporate some western technology, but, I’ll bet that most of it will be Russian. The Chinese were able to reverse-engineer the Russia supplied Flankers and some of this technology will likely be incorporated in the J-20.

As for the J-20, its possible that the aircraft shown here is an experimental aircraft to test various concepts before entering production. Whether its a test-bed or actual series aircraft, it will be years (10+) before it enters production.
Liz J

C’mon, China would never do anything described as “stealth”, just ask Uncle Moe.
Liz J

What, no predictions or speculations on what might be in store in the realm of politics for 2011?

Oh well, time keeps ticking on, Happy New Year anyway, some are bound to be happier than others, I know who I’m picking to be happier.