J-20... The New Generation Fighter

Re: New Generation Fighter

Bltizo said:

I personally hope the US doesn't continue to get more F-22's, because the limited number of F-22s seem to be the only absoloute advantage for China's future 4th generation fighter (espicially as the F-35 has so many more limitations than an F-22 class fighter).

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The US should go right ahead and arms itself with more F-22's. Let see when it is going to bankrupt itself.

For each dollar spent on the F-22, that's two dollars less able to spent elsewhere, with the other dollar being the cost of maintenance for the aircraft itself.

Re: New Generation Fighter

It's a form of soft power. Nobody will respect you if, for example, they think your main forces are still third generation J-7s and J-8s, and are on average 30 years behind. (This is not my opinion, but is according to one of the posters here!). But I think this only works if you brag about something already in existent or close to it.

Re: New Generation Fighter

Besides that I'm thinking about, if CAC has the capacity to stem three projects at the same time … the FC-1/manufacturing for the PAF, the J-10-serial production besides the B-testing and production ramp-up and now this top-priority XXJ program.

And here with capacity I mean both from the infrastructure (production lines + work-shops, … and so on), manpower and (won’t be a too big issue) the budget.

It seems as if CAC is really one of the big-players in the aerospace sector and not only for China !

Just my two cents,
Deino

Re: New Generation Fighter

Yep, I also think transparency is a good thing. If something happened like Taiwan formally declaring independence and China decided to invade, the US would think twice about getting involved if they knew China had a 4th (5th whatever) generation fighter.

They are also positioning themselves to make money off the defence industry, the way Russia does, by advertising the level of their technology to other countries.

Re: New Generation Fighter

Transparency is always a good thing... but we must also remember that this might cause an arm race in the region... something not good.

It would be something like this - China declare that they have good 4th gen fighters... India started to pump in more money to make better fighters so as to counter China, Japan and South Korea will do like wise. And when China found that she is again lacking behind, she pump in yet more money... and the cycle carries on...

Re: New Generation Fighter

^ Let's say hypothetically an arms race does develop. Between those countries you mentioned, China would win hands down and in doing do would bankrupt those 3 countries.

Re: New Generation Fighter

rhino123 said:

Transparency is always a good thing... but we must also remember that this might cause an arm race in the region... something not good.

It would be something like this - China declare that they have good 4th gen fighters... India started to pump in more money to make better fighters so as to counter China, Japan and South Korea will do like wise. And when China found that she is again lacking behind, she pump in yet more money... and the cycle carries on...

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I'm sure that China learnt a few lessons from the US-Soviet Cold War and wouldn't go that far (ie. ruin their economy) in regards to an arms race. In any case, even if China does indeed go into an all out arms race, they would have the bigger economy of Japan, South Korea or India, so taking the US-Soviet Cold War as a template, China would be in the position of the US (stronger economy/less % of GDP to spend on the military), while the others would be in the Soviet position (weaker economy/more % of GDP to spend to match China's military budget). Currently only Japan can probably match China's military to GDP ratio, South Korea maybe has to double whatever China's military to GDP ratio is, though if Japan militirizes, South Korea might side with China to counter the Japanese. India probably has to reach levels of military to GDP spending that eventually bankrupted the Soviet Union in order to match China, so things might actually work out in China's favor if an arms race were to happen right now, as it would almost ensure the collapse of India, Soviet Union-style, and bring South Korea closer to them in order for the South Koreans to counter Japan's militarization.

Re: New Generation Fighter

flyzies said:

^ Let's say hypothetically an arms race does develop. Between those countries you mentioned, China would win hands down and in doing do would bankrupt those 3 countries.

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I second that! All the nations mentioned have achieved their peak of performance in term of economy while China is still developing and has much more potential than any of them. an arms race will only hurt those nations...

The only exception would be India, which is also in the middle of an economic development. However, if India decides to pump money into defense and ignore the much needed development in their infrastructure, they can't go too far either.

Re: New Generation Fighter

vesicles said:

I second that! All the nations mentioned have achieved their peak of performance in term of economy while China is still developing and has much more potential than any of them. an arms race will only hurt those nations...

The only exception would be India, which is also in the middle of an economic development. However, if India decides to pump money into defense and ignore the much needed development in their infrastructure, they can't go too far either.

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no the exception is japan, ppl always underestimate japan and overestimate india. it'd be another 50yrs before india can independently make their own heavy stealth fighter. japan is already top notch in some areas. a lot of the f 22 parts were made in japan. and japan's economy is like 3 times the size of india's. india is not even close to where Japan and China are standing today

Re: New Generation Fighter

The criticism behind "transparency" is only an excuse not the reason. Does anyone really think the critics will ever be satisfied? China becomes "transparent" and they just move on to the next thing to complain about. Look at the Chinese military official who came out and said China should use space for military purposes. Isn't that transparency? China isn't getting kudos for that from the very same critics that want to weaponize space themselves.

As long as China has at the minimum the power to be independent and capable of defending herself, there will always be paranoia from the critics. They want something from China, they have to do something in return. Anything expected other than that is all about power over the other not mutual respect.

I just hope this "transparency" just means there's something more advanced coming up.