Now imagine if that Americanized J-20 has a tail hook and it can be the next 6th gen fighter for the Navy. I think someone or Brat brght this up before.
It would only be 5th gen, there would have to be a very large technology or capability leap for any aircraft to qualify as sixth gen, the bird Kwai describes, could be, maybe considered a 5.25 or even a 5.5 maybe, but really . not sure what would qualify as a true sixth gen. It is very important to realize that the ATF, which became the Raptor was an extremely well thought out and executed aircraft, with lot of doodles by lots of doodlers contributing.... the Raptor is the first and quite possibly only true embodiment of a fifth gen. In my opinion the haste to "qualify or classify" anything as a sixth generation is extremely premature, what is even more disturbing is the fact that neither the Air Force, nor the Navy have come to the realization that at this stage of the game, they really need to have a manned aircraft in order to be able to call it a sixth generation "fighter aircraft". So to get back on topic, this artists rendition, would make a fine carrier aircraft, it is much more compact, but it would likely lose some fuel capacity, speed, and agility.
Which brings us the crux of the matter, and that is that the J-20 is a very fine aeroplane in its present configuration, and really is only lacking refinement. The WS-10/ AL-31s will work to get it up to speed, a follow on will likely be powered by a WS-15, barring that, we might see an F-117S variant, but I'm going to go out on a limb and predict the Chinese will have the WS-15 up to speed. I would remind everyone, that with the advent of the East China Sea ADIZ, I predicted a a more urgent sense of need would ramp up the priority of the J-20, and push the carrier to the back burner, "relatively speaking", so I believe that what we are seeing now is that sense of urgency taking hold, and propelling the J-20 to high priority status.
