China lifts veil of secrecy to parade new stealth fighter

BREAKING with its usual policy of total secrecy over the country's weapons modernisation programme, the Chinese military has allowed photographs of a new type of stealth fighter to leak - just days before US defence secretary Robert Gates visits Beijing.

• The Chinese military has allowed images of the J-20 stealth fighter to be leaked to the media

The American magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology first reported on tests of the new plane, called the J-20, in an article published this week. Photographs of the new jet on the tarmac at an airfield near Chengdu, have been appearing on blogs since late December.

Both the English and Chinese-language editions of the state-run Global Times ran front-page articles yesterday on the J-20 pictures, along with extensive reports on the buzz the pictures have generated overseas.

The Global Times did not comment on the authenticity of the pictures, but since the government wields extensive control over state media, the report's appearance and the fact censors have not removed images from websites suggest a calculated move to leak the information.

That in turn would reflect the growing confidence of the traditionally secretive People's Liberation Army, which is pushing for greater influence and bigger budgets.

A Chinese stealth fighter has long been considered an inevitability. Deputy air force chief He Weirong said in November 2009 that China's fourth-generation fighter - a reference to stealth technology - would begin flight testing soon and could enter service within eight to ten years.

China's aviation industry - both military and civilian - has made rapid progress in recent years but still relies heavily on imported technology. Propulsion technology has been a particular problem, with Russian engines still employed on China's domestically-produced J-10 fighter jets and the J-11, a copy of Russia's Su-27 fighter jet.

Stealth technology is even more difficult to master as it relies on systems to hide the presence of the plane while equipping the pilot with enough information to attack an enemy. Emissions must be hidden and the plane's fuselage sculpted to avoid detection by radar and infrared sensors.

Chinese progress in that field calls into question Mr Gates' recent decision to cap production of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter for the US Air Force at 187 planes. Supporters of the F-22 have warned of growing threats from China, as well as Russia, which has developed a stealth prototype that is in the test-flight stage.

Analysis of the J-20 photos shows it to be larger than either the Russian or US planes, likely allowing it fly farther and carry heavier weapons.A US intelligence official estimated in May that the J-20 could rival the F-22 Raptor within eight years.

The Raptor is the premier US fighter, with cutting-edge "fifth-generation" features, including shapes, materials and propulsion systems designed to make it appear as small as a swallow on enemy radar screens. It can also fly at supersonic speeds for a huge distance, called "super-cruise".

"We're anticipating China to have a fifth-generation fighter operational right around 2018," Wayne Ulman of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center testified in May before a congressionally mandated group.

In 2009, it was reported that Chinese hackers gained access to a substantial amount of technical design data from a Pentagon computer system about the new US multi-role combat aircraft, the F-35, a variant of which is to be flown off the carriers currently being constructed on the Clyde.

Some observers have noticed similarities between the J-20 and the F-35 - which also employs extensive stealth technology - leading to speculation as to what use the Chinese have found for the stolen information in their own designs.