China's stealthy leap in to global stealth technology club
- By Shafei M. Hali
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E-mail CRI, January 14, 2016
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Illustration by Robert Wiggin |
This Christmas Chengdu Aerospace Corporation played Santa with China's fighter pilots and unveiled the biggest Christmas present yet; The J-20 with the serial number 2101 which hints towards the fact that this might be the first unit of the semi mass production phase and is not merely a prototype designed for testing.
The unveiling of the latest J-20 fighter is a very significant achievement as it makes China the second country in the world to have indigenously produced its Stealth jet fighter. Apart from the United States now China will be the only country to have war ready stealth fighter jets. It is not clear as to what role the J-20 will play as a fighter jet. Will it be for ground attack like the U.S Air Force's (USAF) F-117? Will it be a high altitude flying interceptor like the USAF's F-22 Raptor or will it be a 5th generation stealth multi role fighter like USAF's newly launched F-35?
Judging from the officially released pictures the J-20 with its massive size, has a very sleek design and some analysts have predicted it to be an "aerial assassin" and feel that it might have more of a support role of eliminating support air crafts like the AWACS and refueling tankers but others believe that it might be a deadly multi role fighter. Bill Sweetman believes the J-20 to be a ground attack stealth fighter jet, while Analysts Carlo Kopp and Peter Goon, writing for the Air Power Australia think tank, disagree with Sweetman's assessment and they believe that the J-20 is a heavy duty "interceptor" which can go deep in to enemy territory undetected to not only take out support assets but also enter a dog fight.
To answer the question of what role will the J-20 exactly have, we will have to wait until a squadron of these will be ready along with a new more powerful engine WS-15 in the near future, until then we cannot know for sure but what this news does answer is a long standing question. Does China has, what it takes to innovate rather than imitate?
Many around the world and even in China held strong beliefs that China has a long way to go until it can start innovating. These recent developments in the defense industry have answered that question and the answer is that China has come of age and the world should embrace the many innovations springing from China.
World history is replete with examples of innovations reaped through investments in R&D involving the defense industry. Every time the military spends money on research and development, countless new technologies are developed because of the residual effect. The internet came into being when the US Department of Defense wanted to link military bases, the micro-wave oven was a by-product of a radar-related research project. The Jet engine was also developed for the military and much later incorporated in the air-line industry. The Mobile phones is also a spinoff of portable radio phones which were enhanced first for the police and military communication purposes. The concept of the TV remote controls was also developed by the German military during WWI. Non-stick frying pans are a byproduct of rocket technology research. The jeep vehicle was also developed for the military in 1939 because the US military needed a new, universal vehicle to replace the motorcycle and its other vehicles. Portable power generators were developed for the military operating in remote areas. Most of today's gadgets and inventions were either first developed for the military or are a by-product of military R&D spending. Similarly China too is experiencing tremendous advancements when it comes to innovations.
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