Posted on 12/31/2013 12:23:36 PM PST by Seizethecarp
Photographs circulating online this week raise the prospect that the twin-engine Hongzha-6K may not be the only plane the Chinese are preparing to field. Grainy images show a B-2-like bomber taxiing down a runway on what it is purportedly Chinese soil. They were posted on the Chinese website Tiexue with speculation that it's yet another new advanced stealth bomber for the Beijing's rapidly-advancing military.
The post already has received interest abroad. Tim Robinson, the editor in chief of "Aerospace," the top publication for the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, posted the link on Twitter on Monday, questioning whether the photos had been doctored: Via SecretProjects forum - grainy pic of Chinese 'B-2' stealth bomber. Photoshop or another LO surprise from China?
It wouldn't be the first time that valuable military intelligence about China emerged online first. Chinese civilians blogging obsessively about the their country's military hardware has revealed secrets before, raising some to question whether the Chinese government actually tacitly endorses the practice by not immediately wiping them off the Internet.
(Excerpt) Read more at complex.foreignpolicy.com ...
I agree, and that looks like Barksdale AFB...
f-117. read something recently, maybe here, about the serbian gunner who shot it down. IIRC he recognized the intermittant blips, figured out the path and shot into that are.
my 2 cents, stealth is not cost effective. would rather have 3 F-15s for 1 F-35.
If I remember correctly, a Chinese immigrant PhD - who had worked on the B2 - was arrested a few years back as he prepared to return to China. I believe he was taken into custody in Hawaii.
Stealth going forward will be how capable is your electronic warfare system? The ability like the B-1, and Growlers have to locate and fry enemy radar, and systems.
There are a lot of Chinese in defense design and only more coming. Look at who have the top math scores. That’s not to say that every Chinese person is a suspect, but with the tiny amount of Americans who understand Chinese, it’s rather easy to slide spies in, I imagine.
I agree wholeheartedly, “stealth” is not the end-all and be-all. It is way overhyped. I would imagine the Russians and the Chinese have been developing anti-stealth fixes for a long time.
Go to the link and hit “translate.” The “translated” comments are hilarious ...
Not having any military background, I had to look-up those models, and there are so many variants/costs involved, I don’t have a cost comparison basis. Sounds like you have first-hand experience with them, so I’ll go with your call on that point.
Unfortunately, in order to sell a new system, its proponents have to WAY oversell it. The littoral combat ships can (they say) perform every mission the special purpose ships have. A fighter must also be a bomber and perform every mission the older planes do. The salesmen (and military officers) promise that we can do away with all the older planes (or ships) and save bushels of money. But the new systems are often in many ways less capable than the systems they replace. We have to be careful not to buy our own hype. It’s often deadly to the poor sap who operates the new system.
Looks like another "Concorde-ski" to me.
Av list ping.
BTW, that aircraft carrier looks shorter than a Sea-Ray 50.
No Tom, that was Barack Obama. The Chinaman also had a Honolulu "Home Birth" BC, though.
Agreed. My own personal opinion is, the F4 Phantom II was the last “all purpose’ combat aircraft. Specialty aircraft in some cases cannot be replaced by all purpose units (witness the A-10).
The picture looks like Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA when they first rolled out the B-2 bombers.
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