No, despite the rumors, the China's J-20 stealth fighter has not entered service

A state run media outlet in China ran a story that implied the J-20 had entered service with the Chinese air force. This caused a bit of a shbt storm. However, as of today, the PLAAF actually came out and refuted the reports. This is very rare for the PLAAF to do. They wanted to make it very clear the J-20 is NOT in service.

I'd speculate this is because they know as soon as they announce IOC, it will feed to the more aggressive sides in the US and cause a further confrontation. Keep in mind, China has as many factions as we do, but its not as apparent to the outsider. If they announced IOC of the J-20, the F-22s would be permanently moved to South Asia and China is not ready to deal with that. And they know it.

IOC for the J-20 is coming, but not for a bit. They are still having engine problems.

alert5.com...

a reply to: anzha

Well maybe it's stealth is SO good, no one can see it actually HAS entered service?

a reply to: frostjon361

Then the stealth is so good that the PLAAF can't see it either.

a reply to: anzha


I seriously doubt that they have any better stealth coatings than what survived that F-117 crash. Probably no stealth coating at all. It will have a reduced signature due to design but it will be plenty visible to any radar. I have no confidence at all in the Chinese.

a reply to: Caughtlurking

Hopefully their adversaries take them more seriously than you seem to.

originally posted by: Caughtlurking
a reply to: anzha


I seriously doubt that they have any better stealth coatings than what survived that F-117 crash. Probably no stealth coating at all. It will have a reduced signature due to design but it will be plenty visible to any radar. I have no confidence at all in the Chinese.

They've been doing their own research in RAM for quite some time. You can even find publications by Chinese scientists on that topic, like this one: scitation.aip.org...

a reply to: Orwells Ghost

What demonstration of technology or know how have they shown you to make you think they're capable of anything the US/West should fear? They have great ready rates and impressive arsenals, on paper. A reliable command structure, on paper. Who knows how many Chinese officials are bought off by the US, UK, Russia, etc. They're busy making expensive facilities in the South China Sea. Do you know why? They want the fishing. They can't feed themselves, the rivers are running dry, and they can't make anything without someone else's help. Really they make things in the US look pretty damn good.

a reply to: Caughtlurking

What demonstration of technology did any of the allies provide during the second world war? The Manhattan project for certain, but by that time the German's were beaten and the Japanese on the ropes. In fact the Nazi's were years or even decades ahead in many fields, most notably rocketry and jet engines, yet they lost largely because of the allies superior industrial base and material resources.

I believe it was Stalin who said that quantity has a quality all it's own. Just because the west maintains a technological lead for the moment, that does not negate the threat that the largest industrial base in the world poses, with it's ability to overwhelm with numbers and replace losses at a greater speed.

originally posted by: Orwells Ghost
a reply to: Caughtlurking

What demonstration of technology did any of the allies provide during the second world war? The Manhattan project for certain, but by that time the German's were beaten and the Japanese on the ropes. In fact the Nazi's were years or even decades ahead in many fields, most notably rocketry and jet engines, yet they lost largely because of the allies superior industrial base and material resources.

I believe it was Stalin who said that quantity has a quality all it's own. Just because the west maintains a technological lead for the moment, that does not negate the threat that the largest industrial base in the world poses, with it's ability to overwhelm with numbers and replace losses at a greater speed.

The allies had tech leads in many areas beyong nukes - Radar, proximity fuses, SONAR, tetra ethyl lead, communications intelligence, stategic bombers, the norden bombsight, the oboe based on radio transponder tech etc

In general most weapons tech was about equal, with each side keeping up with each other. The Germans had a bigger focus on rockets, although they would be to late to make any difference, a slight lead in jets although the allies were only months behind and again to late to make a difference. However to focus on those things the German neglected many other less sexy techs that the allies used to great advantage.

of course building today's most advanced weapons requires a much higher degree of skill than it did back then. The Russians have big problems in this area and so do the Chinese. So in a modern global war, you pretty much are fighting with what you have because outside of small arms nobody can churn anything out very fast in any real numbers.