[Allthatucantleavebehind]

China's J-20

USAF's F-22

Russian T-50/PAK-FA PAK-FA

[doc1019]

But, how good are there pilots?

[9422WMR]

Since when did American news media print that US forces are terrified of the supposed enemy forces?
Have we turned completely upside down?
This looks exactly like Russian Pravda back in the day.
Lies, lies and more lies.
Fox news?
F’n idiot traitors.......

[edpc]

Given what we know of the goods they send our way, I’d wonder about the finished product’s real world performance, reliability, and workmanship. There was a time when the MiG-25 was viewed with awe until on landed in Japan. Many aspects were less than impressive.

[Secret Agent Man]

This is a disinformation article to make the chines think we’re scared of their plane. Too many other articles I’ve read recently with logic and facts concluding this chinese plane ain’t ready for prime time and if it’s using the best engines they have (from russia, hence the round exhaust) it’s currently underpowered. Plus will be less stealthy given the canards.

[Mariner]

I don't believe the scaremongering for a second. Neither does the Pentagon.

They are 10-15 years from fielding their first squadron...and that's likely to be a beta test.

By then we'll have our full complement of F-22s, F-35s and hundreds of small UAV's flying in attack formations with them, or in ADVANCE of them.

An acquaintance of mine and drinking buddy was a trainer for the Raptor simulators. Pilots went through his program before they got in the aircraft. He was told there will be no more manned aircraft development in US military programs. Pilots are too expensive financially and politically.

The Raptor's proposed avionics upgrades and the F-35s out of the box complement of avionics are all designed with the capability to control dozens of UAVs...each.

UAVs are very cheap in relative terms. On average 1/5 to 1/10th the cost of manned aircraft with the same capabilities.

You'll soon hear terms about high-powered, high bandwidth airspace networks and UAV swarming.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Looks like a Sukhoi T-50(Su-47). It might be a threat in 10 years, if they can workout all the kinks.

[DesScorp]

Jeez, we don't even know if this thing can even really fly yet. Is this another MiG-25, where we convince ourselves that our opponent has an unbeatable airplane, only to discover later that it's a pig?

[Thermalseeker]

"You can tell it has some serious stealth technology,” he said. “My F-18 looks like an 18-wheeler on radar. That thing might not even show up.”

There is A LOT more to radar stealth than just shape and the shape of this bird really ain't that stealthy. I see lots of areas that will throw a significant RCS. Pilots should stick to what they know and leave the engineerin' to Engineers.....

[GAB-1955]

I don't think General Tso’s Raptor is as stealthy as the Chinese make it out to be. The electronics and materials make up as much of stealth as the frame, and China STILL has problems making a decent jet engine - they have to buy them from the Russians.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Allthatucantleavebehind.

Decorated Navy fighter pilot Matthew "Whiz" Buckley, a Top Gun graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School who flew 44 combat missions over Iraq... said ... "It's obvious that the Chinese are throwing money and technology to making something the best, and here we're worried that one is going to bankrupt the country."

[ponder life]

Alot of good posts about this subject and here is my take. The reality is, the civilian world is more sophisticated than the military world. Not entirely, but for the most part, it is.

China is fully plugged into the civilian world. Some of America's most sophisticated avionics companies, like Rockwell Collins, will be partnering with China to develop avionics for China's commercial aircraft industry. China is further along than the Russians on the civilian side because of greater market access and interaction with the West and Japan.

On the military side, China was cut off from the West in 1989 and have been struggling to catch up. But they did have the help from the Russians. And with Russian help, China moved further along had they not had it, but still not where the West is or even where Russia is today.

China's civilian resources will be needed to close the gap between what China has today in military (i.e., Soviet-era capabilities, but not Russia's latest) and the West. In another decade and a half, China's civilian economy will likely be very close to Western technology. As China progresses in the civilian world, she will be able to further allocate resources and talent to the military side.

I doubt China's overall military capabilities will be able to match the US by 2015, however, I do believe they will no longer need the Russians by 2020 (including no longer needing Russian jet engines) as she will R&D her way past the Russians in military.

So, while China produced the outer frame of the J-20 and rolled it out, we still don't know what is on the inside. There is still a host of tests and re-designs (as well as an all out new engine) that will need to be done in order for the airplane to be fully functional and combat ready. And then when that happens, more time will be needed to field it in significant numbers.

To paraphrase, there is still a large gap between China's military industry and the West (especially the US), but the development of her civilian industry will provide the resources talent to close the gap.

China's biggest asset is patience.