China has created a fifth-generation fighter threatening Russian T-50

January 6 2011 1

China, according to some sources, independently created a fifth-generation prototype of the aircraft, using the technology of "stealth" - it can take to the air today. The first images of the stealth aircraft appeared on the Internet at the end of December, but it is still not clear where the data came from and how authentic they are. The Chinese Ministry of Defense left sensational photos without comment, Vesti reports.

If we consider that the Chinese government tightly controls all the media in the country, and the photos are still available for viewing on the network on some Chinese resources, it looks as if they were deliberately missed on the network, observers say.

Experts interviewed by the influential American edition of The Wall Street Journal say that the photographs seem real to them. Some signs indicate that only a few weeks, if not days, are left before the test flight of the “Chinese stealth”. Meanwhile, the US military indicates that so far we are talking only about the prototype, and China is still separated from the creation of a full-fledged stealth fighter.

Photos of the alleged Chinese fighter inspire fears that China ahead of its expected deadline will ensure a military advantage in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, writes British The Guardian. China’s high-tech weapons will interfere with the US Air Force and Navy when they demonstrate their power in the Taiwan region and in other coastal areas of China.

"The photo appears to be a prototype of the J-20 fighter at the time of the test on the runway. The photo circulates on the Internet from last week and fuels the assumption that the fifth-generation Chinese fighter will take off earlier than predicted," the article says . Perhaps the picture was taken with a telephoto lens near the Aviation Design Institute in Chendu. The author of the photograph is unknown, the origin of the picture and the motives of the person who spreads it, as well as the question of its authenticity is a mystery.

News of the fighters arrived at a delicate moment - on the eve of the summit, where Barack Obama and Hu Jintao will try to resolve bilateral differences, quotes the observations of The Guardian InoPressa.

Chinese fighter threatens Russian T-50

Meanwhile, the chief editor of the Hong Kong-based military intelligence agency News Kanwa Andrei Chan told an ITAR-TASS correspondent that China independently created the fifth generation fighter J-20 - "Jian-20" - and is now starting to test it.

According to Chan, on Wednesday in the city of Chengdu in the province of Sichuan, ground tests of the fighter were held, and its test flight can take place "today, if the weather permits."

Calling the design of the aircraft and its maneuverability "very impressive," Chiang stressed that Chinese aircraft manufacturers had made great progress in a relatively short time. The fighter has a Chinese-made aircraft engine WS-10 ("Taihan") in an upgraded version.

According to the expert, although we are talking about the fifth-generation aircraft, the Chinese car "still does not meet the standards inherent in the Russian T-50 fighter and the American F-22." Among the shortcomings of J-20, he called the lack of engine power, the inability to fly at supersonic speeds, as well as the imperfection of the radar system and stealth technology.

According to Chan, the current prototype, rather, belongs to the 4 + generation aircraft, which can later be brought to the fifth generation by improving engines, radar and other equipment.

The new fighter is quite capable of competing with Russian manufacturers on the international market, since it will be significantly cheaper, the editor-in-chief of Kanwa believes.

Note that the “Chinese threat” to the Russian aircraft industry is spoken not only in the PRC. China has mastered Russian military technologies for decades and is now beginning active exports, undermining the position of the Russian Federation among developing countries and threatening to change the balance of power in a number of hot spots, she noted The Wall Street Journal just a month ago, analyzing China’s technological policy and its first results.

The “landmark shift”, according to the WSJ, is clearly reflected in the November Airshow China exhibition in Zhuhai. Previously, the Russian Knights aerobatic team had performed there, and Russia had signed multibillion-dollar contracts. This time, there were no real aircraft on display in the Russian Federation, only plastic models, but China’s military technologies were presented in abundance (“almost entirely based on Russian know-how”), and the participants of the exhibition were Pakistani aerobatic team Sherdils stars fighters of Russian origin, which are now produced in China and Pakistan.

China does not hesitate to "clone" Russian combat aircraft. So, in particular, happened with the famous Su-27, which the Chinese engineers turned into a fighter J-11B. China began to export such products abroad, taking wages from the Russian defense industry and causing outrage in Moscow.

Now the “Chinese threat” may also be looming over a fifth-generation Russian aircraft, the T-50 (PAK FA) fighter, whose tests began last year. The first flight of the ultra-modern Russian combat vehicle took place on January 29 at the aviation production association, part of the Sukhoi holding, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

The Russian Federation plans to become the second country after the United States, armed with fighters of a new generation. Americans use the F-22 Raptor aircraft for more than 140 million dollars. In 2009, the US administration and the Senate decided to stop the production of F-22, saving billion dollars on 1,75. Most senators supported President Barack Obama, who demanded to abandon the cost of expensive and not very necessary aircraft, switching to the production of new fighter-bombers F-35 Lightning II.