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China-Japan-Koreas
StrategyPage: The Chinese F-22 Being Built
2005-06-03
China is developing an aircraft designed to match the performance of the American F-22. Models are undergoing wind tunnel tests in preparation of the construction of a prototype. The aircraft will use warplane technology China has developed, bought or stolen in the last decade. The Chinese plan to use two of their own WS10A engines (Chinese copy of SU-27's AL-31) in the new aircraft, referred to as the J13. In fact, all of the technology going into the aircraft is expected to be Chinese. For that reason, the J13 won't enter service for another decade, at least. This project demonstrates the Chinese resolve to develop a world class military aircraft industry, something they have been working on energetically since the 1980s.
Posted by:ed

#17  here's hoping they try to bring one down a la P3-Orion.....heh heh

Before it's all said and done the Chinese air defense guys may well be sick of seeing P3s.
Posted by: badanov   2005-06-03 21:56  

#16  War is very much a clash of systems - suring WW2 without LendLease the best Stalin could hope for on the Eastern front was stalemate, and more likely defeat. Except for expendable manpower, China does not have the resources of the former USSR now Russia - she would be similar to WW2 Japan in being heavily super-dependent on overseas imports. CBS just showed programming whereby Russian citizens were surprised to learn that many of the weapons they or their ancestors fought the Nazis with during WW2 were American, not Russian!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2005-06-03 21:31  

#15  Of course, a manned F-22 is no match for an unmanned aircraft that is faster, more maneuverable, has better armaments and auto damage control. And it *especially* is no match for an air-to-air laser or other energy weapon, that could burn both it and its missiles out of the air before the pilot could push a botton.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-06-03 21:26  

#14  here's hoping they try to bring one down a la P3-Orion.....heh heh
Posted by: Frank G   2005-06-03 21:06  

#13  Is it even a real engine?

The Russians denied the Chinese a license to build the Al-31. The engines are instead shipped complete from Russia.
The Chinese would find it extremely difficult to copy this.
Posted by: john   2005-06-03 20:58  

#12  Here's hoping it f*cks up in one way or another - or our military hasn't put out enough in the open for "passerby" to notice.

How good is the WS10A anyway?
Posted by: Edward Yee   2005-06-03 20:40  

#11  rjs: Methinks they need to stop copying and borrowing and start creating new stuff if they ever want to get ahead.

Usually, you need to copy somebody else's technology before you can start improving upon it. There's that little matter of mastering simple production technologies before moving on to more complicated ones. The Imperial Japanese Navy copied British designs. The US and Soviet Union copied German designs. The Germans copied the bazooka to come up with the Panzerfaust, which the Soviets copied to create the RPG. If they can rig up an F-22, I'll be real surprised. The reason it's so expensive is that it's got a lot of new moving parts and weapons systems. To do it from scratch would probably cost them as much as it cost us, given that we have the production technology for building the F-15 and they don't.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2005-06-03 20:32  

#10  One needs to be realistic as well. They are two generations behind in technology.
Even with (Israeli) tech from the Lavi program and a sample F-16 (courtesy of Pakistan), the Chinese are struggling to build a clone of a F-16A.

So why claim to be building a F22 (i.e. militarily matching the US)?
What is in the Chinese psyche that demands this parity?
No other nation does this.








Posted by: john   2005-06-03 20:27  

#9  Of course, you still need skilled pilots to fly the thing

plus the casualties in test-piloting and ramp-up on maintenance...ask the Indians
Posted by: Frank G   2005-06-03 20:11  

#8  yet they are going to design a competitor to the F-22 ?

It's good to have big dreams, even if just on paper. Of course, you still need skilled pilots to fly the thing.
Posted by: SteveS   2005-06-03 19:58  

#7  Hilarious.
After the Chiese assembled the first of their Su27s. the Russians had to send a team to rebuild the aircraft (so they could actually fly).

The Russians did not provide tech transfer for the AL31 engines. Chinese ability to reverse engineer this is extremely doubful.

They are unable to design something like a Flanker, yet they are going to design a competitor to the F-22 ?

Posted by: john   2005-06-03 18:55  

#6  sounds good - Taiwan is safe til 2015... roughly 7 years after they acquire nukes
Posted by: Frank G   2005-06-03 18:50  

#5  Methinks they hope for another Clinton in the Whitehouse who will give them the tech....
Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-06-03 18:31  

#4  For that reason, the J13 won’t enter service for another decade, at least. This project demonstrates the Chinese resolve to develop a world class military aircraft industry, something they have been working on energetically since the 1980s.

So they've been working on it for the past twenty years, and won't be ready to go for another ten. Check.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-06-03 18:04  

#3  We should get the ACLU to sue them for copywright infringement.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2005-06-03 17:43  

#2  In fact, all of the technology going into the aircraft is expected to be Chinese.

Gonna be a race with the subs to the bottom of the sea, methinks.
Posted by: BH   2005-06-03 17:18  

#1  Methinks they need to stop copying and borrowing and start creating new stuff if they ever want to get ahead.
Posted by: RJ Schwarz   2005-06-03 16:54  

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