Time to reminisce and flashback. First flight 2011 started with bunch of busses congregating at Chengdu airport. We are now at the gate of IOC Who would have guessed? Gen He Weirong is right on the button He predict 2017-2018 IOC.
Of course she is a beaut and using cutting edge technology
Skywalker just publish J20 article on his blog
It is the smoothest program sofar. No mishap, NO accident. No snafu. I guess they learn their lesson from J 10 program and of course the base industry has improve beyond anybody wildest expectation.
Nothing is better than the sweet revenge of success
And the usual critic scoff at the idea Here is their comment
Douglas Barrie, an aerospace expert at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, noted that the J20's airframe resembled that of an abandoned Russian prototype, the MiG 1.42.
"I'm not sure that its even much of an impressive airframe," said Richard Aboulafia, another analyst. "It looks like something that might have been designed in 1985."
For the most part, China's combat aircraft programme has lagged behind its competitors in the west and Russia.
China's fourth-generation combat jet, the J-10, appeared in 2006 – but experts say it compares with western aircraft that went into production two decades ago. Beijing has also struggled to develop the Shenyang J-15 carrier-borne jet, reverse-engineered from the Russian-made Sukhoi 33.
China's fifth-generation fighter programme, experts say, faces several critical challenges as it moves forward from prototype stage to actual production.
For example, Chinese avionics – the software-controlled electronic systems which gave modern combat jets their cutting-edge mission capabilities – are believed to be a generation behind their US, European, Israeli and Russian counterparts.
Ruben Johnson predict it will take China 10 years for the engine Hmm let see
