With tensions increasing around the Pacific Rim, the US F35 all weather stealth multirole fighter now has a serious and arguably better competitor – the Chinese J-31.
Today’s South China Morning Post quoted an interview in which Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), which has developed the J-31 stealth fighter states categorically that it could ‘take down’ the US F35.
He went on to say that “The next-generation air forces that are unable to buy the F-35 have no way to build themselves up. We don’t believe the situation should be that way,” Lin said. “The world should be balanced. Good things shouldn’t all be pushed to one party.”
Of course, whether the Chinese pilots are as capable as the US pilots is another matter. When do these guys get any real combat experience?
China now has the aircraft and the aircraft carrier Shi Ling, to project its power world wide. These are worrying developments for strategic planners in the Pentagon.
We are seeing a superpower contest building up rapidly – first it was Industrial, Commercial (buying food production in Africa) then Military, now Cyberwarfare. The Financial onslaught has yet to come as China’s economy is stuttering.
I wrote about Chinese expansionism in ‘Gate of Tears’.
China displayed the new aircraft during President Obama’s recent visit to China. I hope he had indigestion medication to hand.
