China’s navy ‘set to pick J-20 stealth jets for its next generation carriers’Minnie Chan
Published: 11:00pm, 27 Aug, 2019
Updated: 11:49pm, 27 Aug, 2019
China’s military
is likely to pick the country’s first active stealth fighter, the J-20, for its next generation aircraft carriers, according to military sources and a recent report on state media. The J-20, made by the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC), appears to have a
won a head-to-head contest with the FC-31, a fighter made by another company which is still undergoing testing. A military insider told the South China Morning Post that the Central Military Commission, the People’s Liberation Army’s top decision-making body,
now favoured adapting the J-20 for its new carriers.“The Chengdu Aerospace Corporation will announce some new products,
which will include a new version of their J-20. You can guess what type it will be,” the military insider, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said. ...
A recent programme aired by the state broadcaster China Central Television also suggests the J-20 will be chosen. An episode of Military Documentary shown on
August 16 reported how the PLA Navy was selecting candidates for pilot training and illustrated the feature with a mock-up of jets that looked like J-20s taking off from a carrier.
Ground-based J-20s – also known as Powerful Dragons – entered service with the PLA Air Force in 2017.
Mass production of the stealth fighters began late last year as China stepped up its efforts to counter the deployment of American F-22s and F-35s in the Asia-Pacific region. ...
... “Both the J-20 and FC-31 have their advantages. The size of the J-20 is similar to the J-15 since both are powerful heavy fighters,” Song Zhongping, a military commentator for Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, said. Song said the lighter FC-31 could be developed into a medium-sized carrier fighter that would complement the J-20 in future.
But another military source close to the PLA Navy said it would be almost impossible to develop both aircraft over the next few years given the risk of an economic downturn as the trade war with the US continues to escalate. The source said
China’s next generation aircraft carriers would be with equipped electromagnetic catapults similar to those used on the US Navy’s Ford-class supercarriers. ...
... “The key problem of the J-20 is not weight, but length. If it wants to be a carrier-based fighter jet,
it needs to be made shorter.” Military insiders have previously said that CAC engineers
are working to produce a shorter version of the J-20 that will work with the new launch system. ...
China’s navy plans to build at least four carrier battle groups by 2030, three of which will be active at any given time. ... the J-15 will remain in service for at least a decade, if not two. ...
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