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Stealth Fighter or Bomber?
A photo from a Chinese aerospace exhibit, posted on an Internet forum, provides the first new evidence in more than six months regarding the role and capabilities of China’s first stealth fighter prototype.
The photo depicts the underside of a scale model of the Chengdu J-20, showing the angular fighter’s three weapons bays open and eight air-to-air missiles mounted inside. The missile loud-out includes one short-range infrared-guided missile in each of two small side bays, plus six medium-range missiles packed into the single, large, belly bay.
Since shortly after the J-20 made its public debut on Christmas Day, the consensus among Western observers has been that the new fighter is optimized for air-to-ground attacks against heavily defended targets. That belief stems from the J-20’s apparent large size: up to Read more…
China used downed U.S. fighter to develop first stealth jet
China was able to build its first stealth bomber using technology gleaned from a downed U.S. fighter, it has been claimed.
Beijing unveiled its state-of-the-art jet – the Chengdu J-20 – earlier this month.
Military officials say it is likely the Chinese were able to develop the stealth technology from parts of an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.
Lift-off: China’s J-20 stealth plane has made a successful test flight. Military officials say it is likely the Chinese were able to develop the stealth technology from parts of an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999
It was during Nato’s aerial bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war, that an anti-aircraft missile shot a Nighthawk (pictured). It was the first time one of the ‘invisible’ fighters had ever been hit
During Nato’s aerial bombing of the country during the Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot the Nighthawk. It was the first time one of the ‘invisible’ fighters had ever been hit.
The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and luck had allowed a Soviet- Read more…
China J-20 STEALTH FIGHTER VIDEO FOOTAGE
Robert Gates, the US defense secretary, recently said China would be able to produce a combat jet by 2020, but if the video is genuine, it would suggest that it may be able to do so a decade or more sooner.
The photographs come amid growing fears over China’s rapidly-expanding military capabilities. Naval experts have expressed concern over the Dong Feng-21D ballistic missile, which is designed to target aircraft carriers in mid-sea – thus denying the United States its traditional military dominance of the Pacific.
China Stealth Jet Fighter J-20
Aviation experts believe China may have started testing a new stealth aircraft – putting it well ahead of Western predictions that a revamped air force would not be ready for take-off for another decade.
Photographs of the J-20 taking high-speed taxi tests at an airfield have appeared on several websites, fueling speculation that Beijing is not particularly concerned about keeping its latest weapon under wraps – at least unofficially.
The plane photos surfaced just one week after a U.S. naval commander warned that China is stepping up testing on a space missile that could sink American aircraft carriers in the Pacific.
The Chinese prototype looks like it has “the potential to be a competitor with the F-22 and to be decisively superior to the F-35,” said Mr. Fisher. The J-20 has two engines, like the F-22, and is about the same size, while the F-35 is smaller and has only one engine.
China’s stealth-fighter program has implications also for Japan, which is considering buying F-35s, and for India, which last month firmed up a deal with Russia to jointly develop and manufacture a stealth fighter.
The Chinese military are also expected to launch their first aircraft carrier next year – a year earlier than anticipated by U.S. experts.
But China’s Foreign Ministry insists his military is one of peace, saying: ‘We pose no threat to other countries.’
According to the Aviation Week website, security at the airfield where the J-20 was photographed was slack and the prototype could be viewed from several public areas.
The ‘leak’ supports earlier claims by the Chinese military that a stealth aircraft would be airborne by 2011 and could be operational by 2017.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed that idea at the time, claiming that China would not have stealth fighters operational before 2020. “China has the money, they have the industrial expertise, they have the scientific base, the drive and motivation and of course the benefit of American research over 30 years acquired by legal or illegal means,” one anonymous observer was quoted by a Time magazine blog site. “These enablers give China wide latitude in matching or exceeding American designs that are now 20 years old.”
Stealth aircraft – which can evade detection by radar, infrared and other tracking devices – have been in development since the end of World War Two.
Experts point out that the Chinese version is larger than most observers expected – ‘pointing to long range and heavy weapon loads’.
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