What value does this Jai America article add to the thread?
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
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Ever since the Pelosi visit Wilsbach has been trash talking the plane. By his own admission they have had limited opportunity to assess the J-20, but based on the limited observation somehow they’ve been able to not only conclude that it is no match for US fifth gen but also that almost all the tech is stolen from US design, from just glancing at it from the cockpit. Some of the observations are beginning to sound like famous last words.
Given how other supposedly “respectable” Western military analysts of late have behaved of late I still have to give him credit for not inventing some outlandish lie like how the J-20 doesn’t have a working parachute.
His statements are very political. Non-dominating can mean anything. The word domination means extreme overmatch. If the J-20 doesn't extremely overmatch the extant US aircraft, then the statement holds. Then look at this
He is marketing interoperability here, which has been political first and foremost from the start. The bold part makes no sense. The Philippines has no military to speak of. Australia is far away and has a small military. Only SK, Japan and Taiwan matter. And their fleets are overmatched by PLA to a great level. How US is "easy math" on its own but becomes "hard math" with these allies?
I hope this is not some misguided attempt at scaring China off from AR. Because that's the gist of what I got from last year's interview.
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There, fixed it for you!
TBH what is he expected to say? "Sorry, but our guys don't stand a chance against this beastie"?
Also, it never ceases to amaze me why some Merkins think it's a some kind of burn to say China "stole" their technology. I say, well done China's spies, you saved your country tens or hundreds of billions of $$ in development costs! It also suggests China is at least on a par with US tech. Anyway, most military technology is "stolen" somewhere down the line, I don't think there's a rule of war requiring one side not to use equipment it copied or captured from the other!
Taking the comment on its own terms:
"I don’t think that it’s a dominating aircraft at this point, compared to what we have [in terms of stealthy and ],"
I'm not aware of any PLAAF claim that J20 would "dominate" F22/F35, it would probably stand a pretty good chance against them though, which is why the General went on to talk about training, integration, allies, etc. Also the Chief of all USAF (not just PACAF) said that the early block F22s were being retired at least in part because they weren't competitive with J20.
Anyway, "not dominant" is a fairer assessment than the "semi-stealth" sort of assessments we've seen in the past. And "at this point" means there is potential for J20 to become a "dominating aircraft" in the future (maybe pretty soon with WS15 and other imporvements).
PS: Winner of TWZ comments section: "Our technology is the best. Their technology, that they stole from us, sucks."
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I don't expect such a statement. But his statement is political. And especially considering that he stated they didn't have much time to assess the aircraft in the near past, him saying all the tech was stolen is almost trolling.
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Before NGAD and E-7 budget passed:
After NGAD and E-7 budget passed, and AR looks very possible following the Pelosi debacle.
After PLAAF pilots roughed up some allied pilots a little bit with "unprofessional flying".