I thought the discussion started in the CHinese Stealth thread, but I thought it is so interesting that perhaps more of you want to contribute. (I have copied Garries and my posts on the subject)
seahawk
Charter Member
747 posts, 19 feedbacks, 34 points 11-12-02, 06:46 AM (GMT)
7. “RE: I guess, that’s why it’s known as a classified project…”
In response to message #5
In my opinion China is more liely to produce a stealth fighter then Russia.
The buying of Russian equipment is no longer the way to go into the future for China. The Russian arms industry is mostly trapped in the late 80´s and has not made any significant advantages during the years. I do strongly doubt that Russia can built a stealth fighter in the forseeable future. I do not doubt that the design teams could not come up with a working desgin, bit I doubt that the Russian industry has the capability to mass produce such a plane. Stealth planes means near zero tolerances, that means highly accurate production methods.
And I simply doubt that Russia has the industrial base to achieve the needed production quality on all subassemblies etc.
I mean look at a MiG-29 or Su-27 most western cars are built with lower manufacturing tolerances. And I doubt that making the jump they would need would be too much, because they lack the trained workforce, they lack the machinery and they lack the basic construction capabilities.
China on the other hand has a fair share of highly advanced civilian production facilities. So I think the process is known in China and they could bring military construction to a low tolerance level with relative ease. They should have the skilled workforce needed.
So given this considertions China must go for their own stealth developments.
Don´t bother running – you´ll only die tired
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December 11, 2002 at 2:14 pm