Just out of curiosity (I am relatively new here )
I wonder if the Chinese NGAD means "Air Dominance" by itself against its adversaries or does it mean "Air Dominance" working in conjunction with its cohort, like the latest American NGAD concept. My unlearned opinion is that an NGAD airframe of any sort, Dorito or otherwise, can dominate any current hostile peer airspace by itself; nor can it carry enough munitions and electronics to do so. Chinese NGAD, in my opinion, would be a team up of manned stealth aircrafts and multiple unmanned stealth UCAVs of, probably, different types. And if the manned-unmanned team up is what NGAD is about, then that manned airframe will probably carry little armament, but lots of sensors and a huge multitude of electronics leaving little space for armament since the actual fighting will have been delegated to its robotic teammates. If that were the case, it is probably no longer a fighter in the sense of Roman gladiators wielding different weapons in a colosseum beating each other to death. Instead, it is now more like a quarterback (in American Football parlance) leading 11 man down the field and choosing the correct offensive pieces and plays to do that. And most quarterbacks don't usually fight for yardage on their own as they usually don't possess the athletic prowess to do so. So the next/6th gen fighter is probably no longer a fighter in the traditional sense, but more like a Battle-Field-Manager riding in a very expensive getaway car. So I am just thinking perhaps the title for this thread should reflect the teamed NGAD concept that and merge the "Chinese Loyal Wingmen" thread into it.
The cost was rumoured to be 250 million. Project may have started with such estimates but when it's time to buy, budget becomes an issue.
