Posted on 12/23/2010 8:24:07 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
One Foggy Day In China
Posted by Bill Sweetman at 12/23/2010 8:30 AM CST
Is China about to give airpower hawks their best Christmas present ever?
The internetz are buzzing (start here and here) with a picture that allegedly shows China's next-generation Chengdu J-20 fighter - the first known Chinese stealth aircraft - undergoing high-speed taxi trials, with rumors of a first flight within weeks.
The picture appeared today on the very popular Chinese military fan web site Top81, apparently taken by a cell phone from a car. The bad news is that it makes 1950s shots of new MiGs and Sukhois look like Katsu Tokunaga material. Rumor has it that better shots have put in transient appearances on Chinese websites before being zapped by the censor.
China military specialist and DTI contributor Rick Fisher notes that "in China's military fan web culture, the rapid intervention of the censors is always a boost for the credibility of the poster" and adds that his sources are also predicting an early first flight.
"Such drip-by-drip revelations are apparently condoned or even encouraged by the PLA," Fisher adds. "One rarely hears any more of web posters going to 'drink tea', the Chinese euphemism for having your life upended by the military or party police."
Overall, Fisher notes, "the web leaks will continue, as this feeds directly into the Communist Party's massive and well-stoked program to promote militaristic nationalism."
Some people are speculating intensively about details such as diverterless inlets and all-moving tails, but as Fisher cautions, "like so much of the PLA, you just can't say for sure what it is until it's falling on your head."
Hold down the Ctrl Key and use you Scroll button on you mouse to enlarge.....................
gotta wonder how that stealth crash in serbia that clinton wouldn’t destroy ended up helping the chinese.
Wow, I didn’t know you could do that, too cool!
Merry Christmas!
This airplane has way, way too many external right angles for it to be considered a “stealthly” airplane. The intake for the engine alone would throw back a return so strong it would burn the radar operator’s eyes.
Wow, I didn’t know you could do that, too cool!
Merry Christmas!
Better yet, no need to hold the Ctrl key. Just click your scroller wheel on your mouse and then you can zoom in and out when you scroll.
The most overwhelming source of their fighter tech is from copying the stuff they buy from the Russians. The second most important source is a prototype of the Israeli Lavi Fighter (containing a lot of F-16 technology) that the Israelis gave to the Chinese.
I don’t see anything./s
So you’re saying that the Chinese have the plans for the YF-23?
Plans or a decent Revell model.
The picture posted on #2 is not the stealthy J-20/JXX ....that is the J-10.
Still, I'm not worried. The Chinese, for the most part, have not shown themselves adept at the design, development and successful deployment of military technology.
It's 2010 and they cannot keep their indigenous nuclear subs at sea.
We've had ours deployed and operational for over 50 years.
The Russian weapons are F A R superior to everything/anything the Chinese make and are still far behind us.
On September 27, 1985, I was in Harold Fuchs Hobby Shop at The Burlington Mall looking at a model of the Stealth Fighter, which we denied existed.
I’ve seen this plane before, I think I know where too.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2280981273/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.