The Chinese fifth-generation fighter does not threaten Russia militarily, but economically - Russian fighters will have to make room for the international arms market. At the same time, it is aviation that is the basis of the income of the Russian military export.
In China, on January 11, flight tests of the fifth generation fighter Chengdu J-20 ("Jian-20", aka "Black Eagle") began. "Chinese stealth" is a relatively large tactical combat aircraft of the "duck" aerodynamic design with a large deltoid wing and all-moving forward horizontal tail (CSC).
The characteristics of the aircraft are classified, but we can already say that the length of the aircraft is 23-24 meters, the wingspan is 15-16 meters. The maximum take-off weight can reach 40 tons. Experts argue quite a lot about whether the aircraft are equipped with Russian engines or of their own production. “Of course, they use our engine, the Russian one,” says Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. - Therefore, until they make their own reliable engine of at least the fourth generation, we are not talking about the fifth, which will provide cruising super sound, it will still be a game of mind of Chinese engineers. Chinese patriots will post pictures of him on the Internet, but this is a plane that cannot fight."
“The fighter is equipped with a Chinese-made aircraft engine - the WS-10 (Taihan) in a modernized version,” Andrei Chan, editor-in-chief of the military news analytical agency Kanwa, said.
Also, various versions of the combat purpose of the vehicle are being considered. One by one, it is a long-range and long-range stealth strike aircraft for patrolling remote sea areas, the main task of which is covert strikes against aircraft carriers. According to the second version, the "black eagle" is predominantly "sharpened" for intercepting bombers, airborne early warning aircraft (AWACS), transport aircraft and enemy air tankers at long distances.
By the way, the first flight of the next-generation prototype fighter took place during the stay of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Celestial Empire. In Beijing, he had to remove the Chinese side's dissatisfaction with the new supplies of American military equipment to Taiwan, which is considered by the government to be an integral part of China. At the same time, the United States already has a fifth generation fighter - the multipurpose F-22 Raptor. By September 2010, 166 F-22s had been produced.
Russia also has its own fifth-generation fighter. More precisely, while tests are being carried out on the promising front-line aviation complex (multipurpose fighter) T-50. The first flight of the ultra-modern Russian combat vehicle took place on January 29 last year at an aviation production association, part of the Sukhoi holding, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The aircraft will enter service in 2015.
According to the promises of its creators, the Chinese "eagle" will be put into service in 2017-2019. True, some experts believe that this, given the pace of development of the Chinese defense industry, may happen earlier - also on the horizon of 2015. That is, "Jian-20" poses an immediate threat to the Russian defense industry.
Of course, this threat is not military in nature, but economic. By copying a Russian Su-27 fighter called the J11B, China has already begun to squeeze Russia out of the international arms markets. Pakistan is buying Chinese fighters, and there are reports of interest from Iran, Myanmar and the Philippines. In the future, experts predict the loss of Russian military aviation markets in Venezuela and Syria. "The new fighter is quite capable of competing with Russian manufacturers on the international market, since it will be significantly cheaper," the editor-in-chief of the Kanwa agency believes.
Meanwhile, it is aviation that is the basis of RF military export earnings. Thus, according to Igor Korotchenko, general director of the World Arms Trade Analysis Center (TSAMTO), in 2011 Russia will sell abroad weapons and military equipment worth at least $ 10.14 billion (second in the world). And the share of aviation equipment (the first place in the structure of military exports) in this volume will be $ 3.384 billion (the second place is occupied by naval equipment - $ 2.33 billion). Thus, willingly or unwillingly, China is heading towards further ousting Russia from high-tech international markets.
It cannot be said that this threat remains unnoticed in the Kremlin, and the Russian defense industry has nothing to respond to the Chinese plans. According to the deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Konstantin Makienko, the export version of the Russian fifth-generation fighter T-50 / FGFA will be offered to the world market in 2018-2020. In December 2010, during a visit to India by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a contract was signed for the preliminary design of an Indian version of the fighter, and it is this version that will be offered for export.
However, now the main threat to the Russian military aircraft industry is the development of unmanned systems. Here Russia is only taking the first timid steps, and the lag can be called critical.
