People's Power Eight ways China's military is catching up to the United States.

I guess China wants to be just like us or perhaps imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I look forward to the comments from China hands.

V/R

Dave

People's Power

Eight ways China's military is catching up to the United States.

BY JOHN REED | DECEMBER 20, 2012

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/20/peoples_power?page=full

Although the Pentagon has routinely dismissed some of China's very publicly touted military advances as being decades behind the United States, they are still significant. Just because someone gets a new piece of tech later than you doesn't mean that you will always be better at using it than they are. So, we thought we'd bring you a list of the eight most noteworthy military enhancements that China is making by buying, stealing, and innovating:

Stealth jets

First up are China's J-20 and J-31 stealthy-looking fighters. We call them "stealthy looking" because until more information is made public, we won't know how well the jets mask their heat signatures, noise, and electronic emissions -- all critical elements of modern stealth that go beyond radar-evading shapes and radar-absorbent coatings. Nevertheless, China has developed two jets that appear stealthy.

Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group's large J-20 made its first flight in early 2011 and is thought to be either a high-speed interceptor, designed to fly out and shoot down incoming enemy bombers (similar to the famous MiG-25 Foxbat), or a stealthy bomber along the lines of the U.S. F-111 Aardvark or the more recent F-15E Strike Eagle, meant to penetrate enemy defenses and bomb bases and ships. One has to notice the similarities between the cockpit and nose section of the J-20 and the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor.

Less than two years after the J-20 appeared, Shenyang Aviation Corporation unveiled China's second stealthy fighter, the J-31. This jet is smaller than the J-20, and its fuselage bears a striking resemblance to the U.S.'s F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. (It has been widely reported that the computers of numerous defense contractors working on the F-35 program were hacked and information on the jet was stolen.) Some speculate that the J-31 will be used as a complement to the J-20 -- similar to the role that F-16 Vipers play for F-15 Eagles or F-35s play for the F-22s. Others point to the twin wheels on the J-31's nose landing gear as sign that it is being developed as a carrier-based fighter. (Land-based fighters usually have just one wheel on their nose gear while naval fighters have two because of the increased strain of landing on ships.)

Chinese Internet/China Defense Blog

Aircraft carriers

Speaking of aircraft carriers...after decades of buying old British and Russian Cold War-era aircraft carriers and turning them into museums and theme hotels, China converted the hull of the incomplete 1980s vintage Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag into its first operational carrier: theLiaoning. Chinese investors purchased the ex-Varyag from Ukraine in 1998, claiming they would turn it into a casino. That obviously didn't happen, and China spent much of the last decade completely modernizing the old hulk, installing new engines, electronic warfare gear, radars, defensive weapons, and modernized interior spaces (right down to the galleys). She took to sea for the first time in August 2011 and was commissioned into Chinese naval service in September 2012. The first carrier landings and takeoffs by Chinese fighters occurred in late November.

Interestingly, China's first carrier fighter, the J-15, is a knockoff of another Soviet/Russian design, the Sukhoi Su-33. China may have purchased a partially completed Su-33 from Ukraine in 2001, after Russia refused to sell it the aircraft because China was reverse-engineering the very similar Sukhoi Su-27s that Russia was selling to China. (Got that?) While many are quick to point out that China is conducting its first carrier ops more than a century after Eugene Ely landed on the deck of the USSPennsylvania, it's worth noting that China plans to have at least three carriers by the middle of this decade. Still, the learning curve is extremely steep for carrier ops. As we've said before, it took the U.S. Navy decades to master the art of landing jets on ships. 

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/20/peoples_power?page=full