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China's stealth jet is no cause for alarm: US,,,photos: Did China leak them intentionally? (737 hits)

The day after a Chinese newspaper published photos of what is supposedly a prototype of China's first stealth jet, US officials said they are not worried about the development.

Photos leaked online that appear to show a prototype of China's first stealth fighter jet were discussed in state media Wednesday — a move that supports claims the country's military aviation program is advancing faster than expected.
Both the English and Chinese language editions of the Global Times ran front-page articles on the photos of what appears to be a future J-20 fighter, along with extensive reports on the buzz the pictures have generated overseas.

Photos of the plane appeared on unofficial military news websites and hobbyist blogs last week and were still viewable Wednesday.

IN PICTURES: China's military muscle

The Global Times did not comment on the authenticity of the pictures, but since the government wields extensive control over state media, the report's appearance and the fact that censors have not removed images from websites suggest a calculated move to leak the information into the public sphere.

That in turn would reflect the growing confidence of the traditionally secretive People's Liberation Army, which is pushing for greater influence and bigger budgets.

But the U.S. Defense Department said it wasn't worried about the reports.

"It is not of concern that they are working on a fifth-generation fighter," Marine Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said, since the Chinese are "still having difficulties with their fourth-generation fighter."

Calls to the spokesman's office at the Defense Ministry rang unanswered.

Aviation websites said the photos were taken from outside a fence at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute's airfield in southwestern China. The plane appeared to be undergoing a taxiing test of the sort that precedes an actual flight test.

A future Chinese stealth fighter has long been considered an inevitability. Deputy air force chief He Weirong told state broadcaster CCTV in November 2009 that China's fourth-generation fighter — a reference to stealth technology — would begin flight testing soon and could enter service within eight to 10 years.

China's aviation industry — both military and civilian — has made rapid progress in recent years but still relies heavily on imported technology. Propulsion technology has been a particular problem, with Russian engines still employed on China's homemade J-10 fighter jets and the J-11, a copy of Russia's Su-27 fighter jet.

Stealth technology is even more difficult to master because it relies on systems to hide the presence of the plane while equipping the pilot with enough information to attack an enemy. Emissions must be hidden and the plane's fuselage sculpted to avoid detection by radar and infrared sensors.

Chinese progress in that field calls into question U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' decision to cap production of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter at 187 planes. Supporters of the F-22 have warned of growing threats from China, as well as Russia, which has developed a stealth prototype that is already in the test flight stage.

Analysis of the J-20 photos shows it to be larger than either the Russian or U.S. planes, likely allowing it fly farther and carry heavier weapons.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News...

Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Thursday, January 6th 2011 at 7:56PM
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Washington

As Defense Secretary Robert Gates prepares for a trip to Beijing starting Sunday in an effort to repair stressed relations with America’s biggest military rival, senior Pentagon officials are warning that the Pentagon has been “pretty consistent in underestimating” Chinese This week, China quite publicly launched a test run for what appears to be its first J-20 stealth fighter plane, capable of evading radar detection. This development comes on the heels of a new anti-ship ballistic missile.

Although the United States miscalculated the speed with which China is capable of developing its defense technology, Vice Adm. David “Jack” Dorsett, head of Navy intelligence, told reporters Wednesday that accounts China has been hard at work building a stealth fighter are “not a surprise.”military advances.

At the same time, military analysts caution that China’s defense capabilities can be overestimated. “There does tend to be some tendency to take a Chinese asset – whether it is a particular type of missile or boat or radar or whatever – and ascribe to the Chinese the same capability that we would have if we had the same item,” says Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“We have enormous experience on how to use these things. We have tested them in combat,” he says, while China has not. “And that makes an enormous difference.”

For his part, Dorsett said that the Pentagon “certainly would not have expected them to be as far along as they are today” in technology – and that the Pentagon needs to refine its intelligence on military matters in China. “We’ve been on the mark on an awful lot of our assessments, but there have been a handful of things we have underestimated,” he said.

Another thing that’s been underestimated is the development of the new anti-ship ballistic missile. That weapon “has increased their probability of being able to employ a salvo of missiles to be able to hit a maneuvering target,” Dorsett said. This includes aircraft carriers, for example. But such moving targets are tough to hit, he emphasized. “The chances of hitting a carrier with a ballistic missile are pretty remote,” he said.

Still, Dorsett said, “Yes, they have increased their proficiency in hitting a moving target. How proficient? They don’t know – and we don’t know.” To the Pentagon’s knowledge, China has not yet test-fired a ballistic missile “over water with moving targets,” he added.

More troubling is the dexterity that China has “clearly” shown in cyberwarfare, said Dorsett, who called it the area he is “most concerned about.”

With Secretary Gates going to Beijing, the Pentagon will be closely examining how to increase military-to-military ties, which are imperative when tensions over maritime territorial disputes crop up, says Dr. Lieberthal. The potential for such disputes degenerating into violence remains high, he adds.

“Ideally, when these problems arise, we should use mil-to-mil channels rather than cutting them off,” he says.

In the meantime, is the US military underestimating China’s war-fighting capabilities? Dorsett said he doesn’t think so. Senior Pentagon officials are focused not just on where China’s military is today, but also on where it would like to be years from now – namely, Dorsett says, a global power. “They’re pragmatic,” he said. “They have a game plan that deals in decades.”

Thursday, January 6th 2011 at 8:08PM
DAVID JOHNSON

military analysts caution that China’s defense capabilities can be overestimated. “There does tend to be some tendency to take a Chinese asset – whether it is a particular type of missile or boat or radar or whatever – and ascribe to the Chinese the same capability that we would have if we had the same item,” says Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Friday, January 7th 2011 at 6:15PM
DAVID JOHNSON