China builds a superpower fighter – International Herald Tribune — This is not a good development if true. The Chinese do not need this jet for any sort of homeland security. It’s built to sell on the open market to further erode our manufacturing base.
Although specific details about the J-10’s performance and specifications remain highly classified, some Western and Chinese military experts say the successful development of this advanced, multirole aircraft could be the catalyst for China to become a leading force in military aviation.
They say that Chinese engineers, with help from Israel and Russia, had refined a design aimed at matching advanced aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-16, the frontline U.S. Air Force fighter that has also been sold to more than 20 countries.
I wonder the point of throwing Israel into this scenario. And I wonder why Russia would help in this. It makes no sense unless they are getting a piece of the sales action. Are they? Something is fishy about the story and the jet too. Keep an eye out for some sort of political nonsense coming from this.
If its quality is as good, and its prices as relatively low as other Chinese made goods, then perhaps the US should start buying them instead. Whats another devastated industry compared to improved economic efficiency and lower taxes for the US ruling classes!
This is the video they are talking about in the article from IHT.
http://www.youtube.com/v/Md_8slvnzm0
Any Chinese speakers that can tell us what’s being said in the video?
I find it a little disturbing that in the video you have a ‘happy-face’ red star logo, especially from what looks like to be a military channel.
The F-16 is sort of end of life for the US. So they must be planning on either attacking the countries who we sold F-16s to or more likely they are going to steal our customers from us because not many countries have the budget for an F-22 or even an F-35. China can probably pop these things out like iPods.
The Russians are probably getting a piece of the action, since the J-10 uses a Russian built engine, the AL-31FN. They probably play a key role in the avionics too.
I think that if this fighter turns out at least decent, it will be a hit in the world market, since it will no doubt be dirt cheap. For the US, this makes the development of the F-22/F-35 mix that much more important, since they are undoubtedly superior to everything else.
Eroding our manufacturing base? Sounds instead that the Chinese saw an existing market, and are bringing a (as the other commentators are presuming) highly price-competitive product to it.
Sounds downright capitalistic!
Where is SDI when we need it. Brush up on your Chinese folks, we’ll all be speaking it in the future.
Israel? common, they have a long history of selling US military and secrets. They’d have no problem with screwing US manufacturers. Perhaps they’re looking for a new sugar daddy, now the US is looking like it going belly up.
Oh because Isreal had something to do with it, all of a sudden the story sounds fishy ? What is that supposed to mean, John ?
Honestly the F-16 is ols news, so any S. African country that might just want a jet that can be blown out of the water by our new fighters can go ahead and buy this piece of junk. 5. was right…Sounds like capitalism to me.
#2 — saw it. Didn’t really say much. Just that it’s a 1 or 2 seater designed by the Chinese for their air force and navy air force, and it’ll be important in securing their borders in the coming years. Also, supposedly, it came out near the end of 2006.
Pretty good PR. Now people will think China can produce decent high tech military goods. As for including Russia and Israel, those countries probably supplied parts and/or other technology. It is also a jab at the US because while China may buy stuff from other countries, it is not buying too much from the US. But the US is buying a great deal from China. In 2008, China will have the spotlight and they will be trying to persuade the world that they are a great country.
“Eroding our manufacturing base”. How arrogant a statement is that. As if China is doing it just for that reason. They’re doing it to make money. There’s a market need for quality fighter aircraft among the militaries of the world.
If you can produce a better, product for a comparable price, or a comparable product for a cheaper price then you’ll have that market.
This is capitalism baby! It’s got nothing to do with you, him, them or they! it’s about making money!
wow. this is so funny. I love the way in which so many people are worried about China. they don’t need the jet for Homeland security? wow, how many weapons systems do we have that aren’t need for Homeland security? next thing you know they will be on friendly terms with dictators that support their foreign policy goals. oops!
all I can say is look at our history as a developing and then true superpower. and then compare to China. you will find that they will probably do the same mix of good and harm throughout the world. Ni hao world!.
Here’s a link to an anaylsis of the J-10 relative to other fighter planes http://tinyurl.com/yuxb3r .
Israel selling military technology to another repressive state? How unusual; of course, while the world boycotted South Africa, Israel disregarded the international boycott and sold them weapons and military technology so they could continue to oppress the indigenous population, much like Israel is doing today. Israel like Russia has become a rogue nation whose only aim is to profit from any situation, disregarding the consequences of its actions.
One of the dirty secrets about the Chinese economic miracles is that even though 100 million or so Chinese are now middle class, they have roughly a billion people who are still dirt poor and oppressed. All the worst parts of 19th century American capitalism. They still use rigid economic and social systems to oppress the vast majority of their population.
Also, every militant American now needs to thank Bill Clinton and his next gen military programs in the 90’s for developing weapons that are two generations ahead of this product. Bill Clinton just saved your ass from a China with expansionist dreams.
Also, can someone tell me why we are allies with Israel again?
12 wow, how many weapons systems do we have that aren’t need for Homeland security? next thing you know they will be on friendly terms with dictators that support their foreign policy goals. oops!
I was gonna say…
It looks like it would make a nice jet trainer, but it would be foolhardy to send that up against any current American fighter jet. Our fighter pilots, avionics and weapons systems are far superior. Just look at the 100-1 kill ratio the Israelis had with out jets during the Arab-Israeli wars. The Chinese could pump out a hundred of these for every one we had and would only be breaking even militarily.
Ditto #16, if it’s a successful design (which is questionable), it’s more likely to steal Russia’s arms exports than the U.S.
We here in the US have been long overdue in needing to rethink our unflinching support for our Israeli “friends” who’ve been selling high technology goods and equipment to our Chinese rivals.
14. “Israel selling military technology to another repressive state.
Hmm, wonder where they got that idea, maybe from U.S.?
There’s a sound and potentially profitable reason for this info being released by China, this weekend. It’s the Bangalore Air Show.
Among other shopping carts, India is there looking to buy ~120 fighters as long as they’re not from the U.S..
#15 — maybe they’re “dirty secrets” in the press you read, but, in fact, the Chinese press and TV examine and discuss the spreading differentiation of wealth as their economy grows all the time.
Suggesting an American read a tiny bit of history and understand how cultures and economies grow and change is always a stretch — liberal or conservative doesn’t seem to make a difference. Just do everything the way “we” say you should — and everything will be just peachy.
Cripes, it took us a century or so to get beyond allowing only white male landowners to vote. Folks in most of Asia have a couple of thousand years to make up. When they all can afford to.
According to the Book of Revelations the Chinese one day will march west killing all non-Chinese races as they come. The liberals never thought that the Chinese may be more motivated by racism than Marxism.
#15 – Should we thank him for letting China steal nuclear secrets as well?
Honestly, GregA, you’re an idiot. Shut the fuck up.
#21 If what you say is true, then the Chinese forces will eventually be bumping right into out forces in the Middle East. By that time, they may need to be fighting for oil just as much as we are.
it looks sweet, thats all i gotta say
#23. “the liberals never thought that the Chinese may be more motivated by racism than Marxism.”
there’s a nonsense sentence for you. what in god’s name does this story have to do with “liberals”? And the rulers of China have more in common with the US Chamber of Commerce than the US Communist Party.
The real question here is – since these fighter planes are being made by China, can I buy one at Wal-Mart?
There are many dialects in China so I call it Chinese. Maybe I should brush up on all of them since we’ll all be speaking it soon enough. Can you say 8 billion dollar trade deficet?
This is the end result of the Israeli Lavi Fighter program The Lavi was the first high performance indigenous fighter from Israel. It was based heavily on the F-16 that was already being supplied to Israel by the U.S. The United States was basically giving F-16’s to Israel at the same time that Israel was developing of the Lavi (with all the knowledge they had acquired from the F-16). This is very similar to what happened with the Israeli Kfir which was based heavily on the Dassault Mirage.
Congress did not want Israel to spend gobs of U.S. aid spent on what was basically a copy of the F-16 and, under heavy pressure from the U.S., the Lavi was canceled with the assurance that F-16’s would flow freely from the States.
The agreement was that the Lavi was to be canceled and the aircraft development was to stop. The Israelis agreed and the Lavi was supposed to be scrapped and the drawings either locked away or destroyed.
It turns out that the Israelis decided to make a quick buck and they sold the entire design to the Chinese (apparently, against all agreements). With heavy investment and development by the Chinese, the J-10 is the end result. Basically, it is an Israeli/Chinese derivative of the F-16.
So much for Israel being an ally of the United States.
The F-16 airframe is 70s technology so who cares? Fighter pilot training, avionics, and weapons systems determine lethality. It’s what you put in the airframe, not the airframe itself. The best use of Israeli F-16s was for the flight scenes in the movie Iron Eagle. They did for the F-16 what Top Gun did to romanticize the F-14.