Kopp didn't say that the J-20 was a strike platform! He thinks that the J-20 is a super F-22 F-111 hybrid that could own anything from the air, the land, and the sea with the exception of the F-22. I recall his preliminary assessment stated that the J-20 was clearly designed to be a very manoeuvrable platform and that neither the F-35 nor the F-18 was a match for it, sparking much debate on the internet.
The first guy to propose this was Sweetman although he clearly stated that he was "hypothesizing" at the time and backed his comments up with professional assessments. After that a bunch of sour grapes from other forums started parroting him (the most extreme calling the J-20 a pure bomber with no air to air capabilities).
Sweetman is generally fair in his assessments and I believe that he is genuinely interested in the J-20. I don't think that he'll be upset to be proven wrong. Those sour grapes, on the other hand, will receive many more slaps to the faces as the J-20 matures as a platform.
I get a kick everytime Carl drags F-111 in the story to claim something is a "strike platform".
F-111 originally was designed to be a mach-2 mssile interceptor taking off from carriers forchristsake.
which MacNamara wants to save a buck so it became a multi-mission pig which can do low level penetration bombings, thus saddled with a heavy swing wing which penalized its range and true potential.
F/B-22 would be a better comparison...
if the J-20 didn't have any canards and just a compound delta.
what throwed Bill and some other off was the fact the body volumn to wing area ratio. and the fact that it has high mounted wings. some one even commented that it looked like a TSR.
to some people.
Small wing, volumnious body, high mounted wing... strike.
Big wing, small body, mid mounted wing... fighter
they forgot what aggressive LERX and closed coupled canards can do to their lift curves.
