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-{SpoonmaN}- · 06-14-2006, 06:56 AM

Yeah as far as I'd heard the PLA were in the early design and developement stages with the J-XX, but given their history of tech trouble and time overruns I'd say it's a pretty long way off serivce. Last I read about the Pak-Fa was that it was being developed from the Su-47 tech demonstrator with a conventional wing design and all that, but it was also claimed to be a long way from realisation, especially given the trouble finding funds, since the Russian Military seems to be planning to simply skip the 5th Generation of warplanes and stick to 4.5 until their economy is back up to strength and they can start catching up with the next gen in a few decades. Whether or not that would work is beyond me. I thought they were trying to merge the program with the MCA but that could well have been baloney. Really it seems to me that China would benefit from Russian know-how if they're ever going to have a chance of producing a plane to rival the Raptor before the USAF is taking delivery of something like the F/A-22E Super Raptor.

06-14-2006, 06:56 AM	#22 (permalink)
-{SpoonmaN}- Death, the Destroyer of Worlds... *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 09-08-04 Location: The badlands of West London. Posts: 1,455 Country:	Yeah as far as I'd heard the PLA were in the early design and developement stages with the J-XX, but given their history of tech trouble and time overruns I'd say it's a pretty long way off serivce. Last I read about the Pak-Fa was that it was being developed from the Su-47 tech demonstrator with a conventional wing design and all that, but it was also claimed to be a long way from realisation, especially given the trouble finding funds, since the Russian Military seems to be planning to simply skip the 5th Generation of warplanes and stick to 4.5 until their economy is back up to strength and they can start catching up with the next gen in a few decades. Whether or not that would work is beyond me. I thought they were trying to merge the program with the MCA but that could well have been baloney. Really it seems to me that China would benefit from Russian know-how if they're ever going to have a chance of producing a plane to rival the Raptor before the USAF is taking delivery of something like the F/A-22E Super Raptor. __________________ "I have this to say to the people of Australia: Kick me, I'm different."