In recent years, China has rapidly increased its military power and developed defense technologies. One of the main tasks of the Chinese military industry, repeatedly announced by the Chinese media – to develop and create its own fighter of the sixth generation. At the same time, Beijing is convinced that such a fighter can and should surpass all similar aircraft of the future. They even call the timing of the production of the fighter – by 2035.
As you know, Xi Jinping is a very ambitious ruler, and the longer he rules, the more the President of the People’s Republic of China wants to enter the history of modern China as a figure comparable to such political titans as Mao Tse-tung and Deng Xiaoping. Plans to build their own latest weapons fit well into Xi Jinping’s overall strategy to make China the number one world power.
But in order to create your own fighter – the invisible of the sixth generation is few ambitions and even the thousands-year history of the Chinese state in this case will not help. The main thing is the availability of technologies and resources for their implementation. But does China have them? This question is being asked today by many Western analysts.
Meanwhile, not so long ago, the Chinese aircraft manufacturer Shenyang Aircraft, announced the research of the structure and functions of the prospective fighter. Chris Osborne, author of the American magazine The National Interest, writes that the Chinese company clearly touches on in its research the areas underlying stealth aircraft design. One of them is the control of the thermal characteristics of the aircraft.
But the American author notes the similarity of Chinese fighters with American F-22 and F-35 aircraft. Following in the usual direction of the American media accusing China of stealing American technology, Osborne notes that the activity of China in the field of stealth technology may be connected with the silence of the Pentagon about the project to create a U.S. stealth fighter of the sixth generation.
Now the U.S. is seriously worried that the Chinese could not quickly steal the technology of the latest aircraft. Therefore, the U.S. is likely to hide its own project of a promising sixth-generation fighter for a long time. However, Osborne writes, only one copying of the shape of the fuselage is not able to provide a low visibility of the aircraft, meeting modern requirements. For example, special materials will be required to cover the aircraft, improved electronic warfare technologies, internal weapons compartments and an engine hidden inside. With engines, by the way, Chinese aviation has a problem so far: even the newest Chinese fighters work on Russian engines, and own engines of this quality in China have not yet learned.
For example, that year can not solve problems with WS-15. This may also be a key obstacle to the implementation of a plan to create the world’s best stealth fighter, with which China is going to bypass the United States and Russia.