China Unveils New ‘Dark Sword’ Drone

(Photo Credit: Chinese Social Media & Pakistan Defense Ministry)

 

This is a substantial leap forward for the People’s Liberation Army in aviation technology.

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According to a report published over the weekend by the SouthFront website, the Chinese government has been experimenting on a number of designs to increase speed, maneuverability, and stealth. Dark Sword, however, is “qualitatively” different that previous People’s Liberation Army designs:

The Road to War: China vs the US

 

In 2016 Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, declared that there was no doubt, in his mind, that the US would go to war with China in the South China Sea in the next five to 10 years.

A US-Chinese military conflict would be on top of a vow by Trump in his inaugural presidential address, to not only take on radical Islamic terrorism but to “eradicate it from the face of the Earth.” This would be done by building up America’s already supreme military. “Our military dominance must be unquestioned,” the billionaire businessman, who now controlled the most powerful political office in the world, declared in his first address to the nation.

A year and a half after that speech, the United States is not at war with China, but its economic saber-rattling is arguably the beginning of a confrontation between the world’s largest and second-largest economies. Trump’s tariff threats against not only China but Europe, Canada, Mexico and its other trade partners, are also symbolic of a shift in US foreign policy towards a more isolationist stance – one that may not strictly be due to Trump’s belligerent personality. This article will get into the antecedents of this economic and military showdown and point the way to some possible future scenarios, including a war in space.

Chinese Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing US Military Aircraft Data

A Chinese man has pleaded guilty in a “years-long” conspiracy to hack into U.S. networks to steal sensitive information, including data on the C-17 cargo plane and fighter jet aircraft, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Su Bin, also known as Stephen Su and Stephen Subin, 50, a citizen and resident of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to the crime in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, according to a press release from the department.

China’s Copycat Jet Raises Questions About F-35

 

Did the Chinese theft of data on the US fighter jet and other weapons shrink the Pentagon’s technical superiority?

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China’s twin-engine design bears a striking resemblance to the single-jet F-35. Still, the Joint Strike Fighter is expected to fly slightly farther and carry a heavier load of weapons, according to the data, which was first reported by Jane’s.

Military experts say that while the J-31 looks like, and may even fly like, the F-35, it’s what’s under the hood and embedded in the skin that really matters. The U.S. has the better computer software, unique sensors and other hardware, stealth coating, and engines technology—all critical attributes that make fifth-generation aircraft different than the military jets of last century.

J-20 may become China’s future stealth bomber: Duowei

 

After the completion of the test flight of the sixth J-20 prototype known as 2015, it is expected to take a further two to three years for the fighter to enter service. It is the job of the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute to decide what kind of aircraft the J-20 should become in the future. Earlier predictions said the J-20 may be developed as a carrier-based stealth fighter, but Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s J-31 seems more suitable for that role.

Analyst: Russian MiG-29 and Su-27 Top American F-35

 

Can Soviet-era fighter jets like the one above, the twin-engine MiG-29 Fulcrum, or the bigger one below, the Su-27 Flanker, outperform the newest American design, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter?

Yes, according to Bill French, a policy analyst with the National Security Network, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank favors progressive defense policies. He’s the author of a report released Tuesday by the organization. It’s titled, “Thunder without Lightning: The High Costs and Limited Benefits of the F-35 Program,” a pun on the jet’s official name, Lightning II.

Fifth Generation Super Weapons to Significantly Increase China’s Air Power

 

The Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (J-20) and the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (J-31) are subsidiaries of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). These two companies have been working on the designs of the super jets.

J-20 is closer to becoming operational it is expected to reach initial operating capability (IOC) by 2018. As both jets are still in the prototype stage, their exact capabilities are not certain.

Chinese Official: J-31 Stealth Fighter Could ‘Definitely Take Down’ F-35

 

The president of a leading Chinese defense company boasted that China’s J-31 stealth fighter jet could definitely take down the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Appearing on China’s state broadcaster on Tuesday, Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), the state-owned Chinese defense company that manufactures the J-31, boldly declared that “When it [the J-31] takes to the sky, it could definitely take down the F-35. It’s a certainty.”

It is widely believed that the J-31 is modeled in part off of stolen F-35 technology.

China moves ahead to develop sixth-generation fighter

 

China is moving ahead to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter after it finishes the fifth-generation J-20 and J-31, Igor Korotchenko, head of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, has told the Moscow-based Voice of Russia.

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The Russian Air Force’s Super Weapon: Beware the PAK-FA Stealth Fighter

 

The Russian Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA stealth fighter could prove to be a formidable competitor to American fifth-generation combat aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Indeed, in some measures, the new Russian warplane will exceed both U.S.-built jets, but the PAK-FA is not without its flaws.

“The analysis that I have seen on the PAK-FA indicates a pretty sophisticated design that is at least equal to, and some have said even superior to U.S. fifth-generation aircraft,” former U.S. Air Force intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula told the National Interest. “It certainly has greater agility with its combination of thrust vectoring, all moving tail surfaces, and excellent aerodynamic design, than does the F-35.”

Indeed, the PAK-FA appears to be optimized for the air-superiority role like the F-22 more so than the multirole, strike-optimized F-35. Like the Raptor, the PAK-FA is being designed to fly high and fast to impart the maximum amount of launch energy to its arsenal of long-range air-to-air missiles—which would greatly increase the range of those missiles.

Space to be the next frontier for China’s air force

Not only was this China’s fifth-generation fighter, but China’s fifth-generation fighter that is equal in technology and capability with its American counterpart. The sixth-generation will have surpassed American prowess — while America is suicidally inflicting itself with budget cuts, mothballing and technical problems of its latest generation.

What’s more, it makes you wonder what China’s doing under the radar with such a large ownership share of rare earths. It’s within the realm of possibility that the PLA could in the future begin to crank these (and future generation fighters) out like Twinkies, en masse.

When the wraps came off the J-31 stealth fighter at the Zhuhai air show yesterday, there was double cause for celebration for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. It not only marked the public debut of the country’s the fifth-generation stealth fighter, it represented the progress China has made in the 65 years since its air force first got off the ground.

The J-31 is just one of a series of fighter jets to roll off mainland military production lines in recent years. Despite the advances there remains one gaping hole in China’s winged military industrial complex – one that could stop it from realising the next mission set for it by the highest echelons of power.

Whatever their individual missions, the various jets fighters and aerial drones are building blocks for China’s aim to push the next frontier – space.

China Flight Tests New Stealth Jet During Obama Visit

 

 

China’s military upstaged the Asian economic summit in Beijing this week by conducting flights tests of a new stealth jet prototype, as the White House called on Beijing to halt its cyber attacks.

Demonstration flights by the new J-31 fighter jet—China’s second new radar-evading warplane—were a key feature at a major arms show in Zhuhai, located near Macau, on Monday.

The J-31 flights coincided with President Obama’s visit to Beijing for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. In a speech and meetings with Chinese leaders, Obama called on China to curtail cyber theft of trade secrets.

China obtained secrets from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter through cyber attacks against a subcontractor for Lockheed Martin. The technology has shown up in China’s first stealth jet, the J-20, and in the J-31. Both of the jets’ design features and equipment are similar to those of the F-35.

‘Stolen’ J-31 can beat American jets in dogfight, says US pilot

It’s been said many times here that the Chinese military is on par or more advanced than the U.S. military. Now, with proof from actual U.S. military personnel – and an experienced pilot, we see that it is more advanced.

 

 

 

The J-31, China’s second fifth-generation stealth fighter designed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, is capable of outperforming all US fourth-generation fighters in aerial combat, according to a US fighter pilot cited in our sister newspaper Want Daily.

J-31 could bring one-two punch to China’s air power: expert

 

China’s mysterious fifth-generation J-31 stealth fighter jet, set to make its debut later this month, could form a lethal tandem with the country’s existing J-15 carrier-based fighter aircraft, says a Chinese military expert.

The J-31, also known as “Gyrfalcon,” or Falcon Hawk by some military enthusiasts, is a twin-engine, mid-size fifth-generation jet fighter currently under development by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. The jet, set to make its debut at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition on Nov. 16, has already been seen performing test flights and stunts after arriving at the city of Zhuhai in south China’s Guangdong province ahead of the event.

PLA to buy 700 stealth fighters, says Jane’s

The PLA Air Force and Navy Air Force are likely to purchase 700 new stealth fighters, said Edward Hunt, a senior defense consultant at IHS Aerospace, Defense & Security in an article written for the UK-based Jane’s Defence Weekly.