PRC doesn't want to project power the same way as US, and is for the foreseeable future defensive in nature. The only power they want to project is economic and political. I don't see them invading anyone soon.
Then The stealth bomber reports, the Carriers and other programs are a waste. The PRC intends to apply power to project power. you cannot power project on the defensive.
10 years of development would be 2027, any numbers produced will easily be 2030s. And not jus J10 that needs replacing, think of all the J7 and J8 in service still. A small multirole plane will be replacing all of those eventually. Its about volume and not just quality. China can't afford what the USA can, and don't want to spend all that money either.
Fifth generation platforms are not just stealth. They are sensor fusion and multi role ability A Stealth F5 is not a fifth gen fighter.
You don't need a stealthy plane for dropping bombs against ISIS and the like.
Okay first true but that's not the point of F35 or fifth gens.
And anything less than a F35 is pretty much useless vs a country with developed air defences.
The MADL, low probability of intercept radar, sensor fusion, low observable technologies that's the whole point of fifth generation platforms! F35 has a much higher chance of survival vs a sophisticated Air defence equipped nation then a legacy fighter.
Fifth generation fighters are not just fourth generation fighters with faceting. the whole point of Stealth is to avoid detection and application of Shaping, Materials, sensors and frequency hopping emissions and occasionally even low level jamming sit at the heart of that. yes yes we have all heard the Claims of Stealth being a sham or stealth killer radars but if that was the case why would the US, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Sweden, and even Iran are looking into stealth fighter technologies? why are Naval ships taking on stealth technology?
As you just pointed out Stealth is not needed to drop bombs on IS or AQ nations without air defense systems could be bombed by drones and F16's or J10's heck B52s.
the point of stealth is for near peer level adversaries and those with air defence networks. the point of fifth gens is to allow a nation with them to counter other nations area denial. to do that it is designed to avoid detection by radar though shaping and materials, but that only works to a point eventually if you fly blindly into an enemy radar network you will be seen.
Even the invisible man has to breath in the cold and leave footprints in the sand. for Stealths if you fly too close to the radar you are visible. so you need sensors to tell you this area is emitting strongly but these are not.
but if you are there you need to communicate if you are in numbers and you need to see who else if flying. so you need radar and radio, but if you broadcast you can be heard.
no matter how invisible you are everyone will know you are there is you start singing. So you need to to keep changing frequencies to keep your signals from getting tracked.
Of course we have all heard about long frequency radars Old school systems that don't reflect the same way as the modern stuff. Yet they always forget the reason everyone moved away from those radars is they are not going to give clear images, they are prone to static, demand huge arrays, and don't give allot of the data for attacking radars. Farther more they are easily confused, Aluminum foil chaff, and active jamming in the latter it doesn't even need to be powerful jamming low level jamming can fill the screen with white noise clutter which resembled the same signature Stealth fighters produce.
Of course there is the Claimed "Quantum Radar" but a proof of concept and a actual deployable system are very different things.
