(Luft) Lockheed Martin F-35 - Lightning II

[revan]

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China Promises New, Advanced Fighter

China has the resources and technology--some of it obtained quasi-legally and illegally--to build a fifth-generation fighter, say U.S. Air Force and intelligence officials. But Beijing's aerospace industry may be missing key skills needed for it to match the performance of advanced, Western-built combat aircraft.

What neither Beijing nor the Western defense community yet knows is whether Chinese technicians can generate the systems engineering and integration capabilities required to actually build in large production numbers and arm advanced aircraft with features similar to those of the aging B-2 and F-22 or the newer but less stealthy F-35 (AW&ST Nov.16, p. 26).

"You need a combination of the right shape, structural design, surface coatings, aerodynamic performance and flight control system," says a U.S. Air Force official. "It's not magic, but there's still a lot of art in it."

It remains to be determined if the People's Liberation Army Air Force (Plaaf) will pursue a fighter design optimized for low observability or how much it will be willing to trade in terms of performance, supportability and delivery schedule.

The requirement--dubbed J-XX by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence in 1997--may well seek a more "balanced" approach to stealth, likely focusing on front-quadrant radar-cross-section reduction and the use of reapplicable coatings, rather than pursuing an all-aspect design. A twin-engine delta-canard concept has previously been suggested to be the general design approach.

While China is unlikely to field a platform with F-22-like capabilities within 10 years--as claimed by the Plaaf's deputy chief, Gen. He Weirong--a new fighter is in development and may soon make its first flight, say Chinese aerospace industry and U.S. intelligence officials.

The U.S. intelligence official, a veteran analyst of China's airpower, summarizes his view of the nation's access to advanced technologies. "Between legal, quasi-legal [diverted] and espionage-based tech transfer, I'm sure China has obtained most of the data available on how we build our stealthy aircraft structures and the materials involved," he says. "They also have taken full advantage of our open patent system, our open engineering undergrad and grad schools, our publish-or-perish academic promotion process and the ease with which an integrated, centralized [government] can thwart artificial, social-democratic distinctions between military, police, civil and commercial data."

Aging F-22 and B-2 designs are another factor. They have given Chinese researchers more than 20 years to chase down those technologies. The B-2 has already gone through its first service-life-extension program.

"[With] what they've gotten from us, Japan, [South Korea], Russia and the European Union, they have access to all they need data-wise," the intelligence official says. "Their only limitations are investment cash and the ability to work out production process engineering and integration, which we still do better than anyone. [Those skills] really reflect corporate culture and learning curve more than anything readily documented, although ISO 9000/9001/9002 and similar software documentation standardization are making that easier to steal, too."

China's J-10 strike fighter, which has an F-16-like capability, is considered the country's best indigenous effort so far in terms of engines, avionics and aerodynamic performance. It began large-scale service in 2006. China's military aircraft are profiting from knowledge about commercial composite-structure production garnered from building components for Boeing airliners and space materials....

Die Meldung ist na sich für mich nichts neues auf der zweiten Seite des Artikels wird weiter darauf eigegangen und einige altgediente Experten brachten es auf den Punkt die Chinesen rüsten für den echten Krieg wehrend wir Milliarden in unbrauchbares Spielzeug investieren. Die J-XX wird Realität werden auch wenn manche daran zweifeln und 10 Jahre ist auch realistisch ob nun 1 zu 1 mit der F35 oder mit der gar F22 vergleichbar kann man nicht sagen und dies ist eher unwahrscheinlich aber man hat die Marge die es zu Topen gilt mit der F35 deutlich herabgesetzt rechnet man nun noch die unendlichen Ressourcen die vielen gestohlenen Daten und Techniken aus Russland, Europa und den USA so kann man sich sicher sein das die Chinesen die Us Luftüberlegenheit Mittelfristig brächen werden.

Der Grund dafür ist an sich einfach, die Chinesen werden riesige zahlen ihrer J-XX produzieren können und das in großer Geschwindigkeit und zum materialpreis während die USA und verbündete erst recht nicht mahl annähernd die Anzahl an Kampfflugzeugen beschaffen werden können werden.

Nun ja, alles an sich noch Zukunftsmusic aber dieses Szenarien könnte besiegelt werden wenn demnächst der Kahlschlag bei der F35 ansteht oder die Entwicklung sich weiter hinauszögert.


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DIA on China's new fighter

he Defense Intelligence Agency is sticking by its estimates of when China will deploy a fifth-generation jet fighter after recent remarks by a Chinese general that Beijing's most advanced jet could be fielded by 2017 - years earlier than U.S. intelligence projections.

"We believe that first flight of a Chinese fifth-generation fighter will occur in the next few years; however, we also believe it will take about 10 years before the [People's Liberation Army] begins to operationally deploy a fifth-generation fighter in meaningful numbers," DIA spokesman Donald Black told Inside the Ring.

As reported in this space last week, Gen. He Weirong, the deputy commander of the Chinese air force, told Chinese state-run media that the new advanced jet would fly soon despite U.S. intelligence projections that it will not be ready for combat for at least 10 years. (Gen. He was incorrectly identified as Gen. Ho Weirong last week.)

Gen. He said the first jet could be deployed by 2017, and his remarks have sparked renewed debate over whether to continue production of the Pentagon's most advanced jet, the F-22. Production of the jet, beyond 187 more planes already in the pipeline, was effectively canceled by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates earlier this year.

If deployed by 2017, the new advanced warplane would make China's jet force more advanced than those of Britain, France and other Western European statesaccording to military analysts.

Asked if U.S. projections about the new Chinese jet were incorrect, Mr. Black said "the intelligence community has been warning of the development of a Chinese fifth-generation fighter for several years."

"Intelligence estimates typically provide a range of dates associated with operational deployment," he said. "Gen. He's comments are generally consistent with these intelligence community estimates of Chinese fifth-generation fighter operational deployment."

The United States is deploying large numbers of F-35 jets, which lack some fifth-generation capabilities of the F-22, such as supercruise, a propulsion system that allows the jet to fly longer distances, fire its long-range weapons, and then exit without running out of fuel....

Das Aussagen die von Tölen (Gates) von Friedensapostel und Berufsidiotien der Obama Administration genau so viel wert sind wie die der Busch Administration in Sahen Irakische Massenvernichtungswaffen war an sich auch klar.

Ja Gates wird zwar fast recht behalten was die Zahl der 5 Generations Kämpfer in Jahr 2020 angeht, so werden sicherlich nur einige LRIP J-XX bei den Chinesen in Hangar stehen aber ab 2025 werden es wohl ähnlich viele wie F35 insgesamt sein. Z.b brauchte China nur 4 Jahre um über 200 J10 in Dienst zu stellen dabei ist die J10 eher wie viele momentane Waffen nur ein experimental Flugzeug auf dem Weg zum Anschluss an den Westen und den Russen.