Monday 26 September 2016

Big Spending on Warplanes Spurs Aerial Arms Race



By ROBERT WALL
Sept. 25, 2016 1:26 p.m. ET

For more than two decades, combat aircraft flown by the U.S. and its European allies have pretty much owned the sky. Now, Russia and China are spending lavishly on new weapons that could challenge that superiority, spurring a new arms race.

Some of the hardware, both planes and antiaircraft capabilities, is expected to roll out in the next few years. The upgrades come as Moscow flexes its muscles in hot spots such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Beijing does so in the South China Sea—heightening urgency among Western military brass to push for their own, next-generation combat planes. (See interactive graphic: Comparing the World’s Fighter Jets)

“The most pressing challenge for the United States Air Force is the rise of peer competitors with advanced military capabilities rivaling our own,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told lawmakers in June, days before being confirmed in the job.

Two months later, the U.S. Air Force certified its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Designed to be hard to detect, the plane is specially built for the sort of limited, precision strikes that have become a hallmark of Western military action since NATO’s bombing campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s.

What is considered the Ferrari of combat jets, the F-22, is still relatively new, first fielded in 2005. Designed to shoot down enemy aircraft while flying as fast as twice the speed of sound, it has more recently evolved into a bomber, too, and can soak up intelligence over enemy territory.

More than three-fourths of the U.S. fleet of jet fighters, however, can be traced back to the 1970s. The Air Force has flown its F-15 since 1975. The widely used F-16 has been operational since 1979, and the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 was first deployed in 1978.

Those older planes are also the backbone of the air forces of many Asian and European allies, along with newer jets like France’s Rafale and the Eurofighter.

Russia plans to start fielding its first stealth fighter, the T-50, in 2018. The twin-engine plane is designed to be highly maneuverable and equipped with sophisticated electronics to spot enemy aircraft from miles away.

Meanwhile, it has deployed some of its latest combat planes, such as the Su-34 bomber and Su-35 fighter, to Syria. Russia’s Defense Ministry couldn’t be reached for comment.
China has historically relied on Russian designs, many older and some built domestically under license. That is starting to change with the new projects. The country’s air force “is rapidly closing the gap with Western air forces across a broad spectrum of capabilities,” the Pentagon said this year in its annual assessment of the Chinese military.

China’s J-20, which resembles the U.S. F-22, started flying in 2011, though it hasn’t yet entered military service. A year later, Beijing began flight trials of the FC-31, a look-alike of the U.S. F-35.

China’s Defense Ministry referred to its response in May to the Pentagon’s report when it expressed “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” and accused the U.S. of “improper comment” on issues including China’s weapons development.

The U.S. still maintains an edge—its radar-evading planes are operational, while Russia and China are still developing theirs. But it isn’t just new aircraft raising concerns.

Both China and Russia are also fielding more sophisticated antiaircraft systems. Moscow says its new S-400 can shoot down planes at a range of up to 236 miles, or roughly twice the previous range.

In August, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the system would be deployed to newly annexed Crimea amid escalating tensions with Ukraine. Moscow is also marketing its new air-defense systems for sale abroad.

“That enormously complicates the challenge of conducting any type of military operation,” said David Deptula, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general.

China this year deployed its HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system to the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, a chain that is also claimed by Vietnam.

To counter those new threats, the U.S. Air Force, in a recent assessment of combat needs, recommended introducing long-range missiles or other weapons that would allow current planes to strike targets while remaining outside the range of an adversary’s defenses.

It is also already pushing new planes, targeting 2030 for an upgraded model, U.S. Air Force Gen. Herbert J. Carlisle, head of the service’s Air Combat Command, said at an air show in England in July.

The U.S. Navy in May kicked off an 18-month assessment of how to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet multi-role combat jet, with a target date around 2035.

The Pentagon is still defining exactly what it wants in a new plane, but such plane makers as Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. have all started circulating futuristic drawings of what such a plane might look like. BAE Systems PLC says the company has a small group of engineers brainstorming for the U.K., according to Chris Boardman, managing director at a military unit of the British arms maker.

Some U.S. lawmakers and others have urged the Air Force to restart production of the F-22 fighter, which the U.S. stopped building in 2012, with new electronics to more effectively counter improving enemy air defenses.

European defense ministries, including the U.K.’s, have also recently begun to consider new combat aircraft, said Douglas Barrie, military aerospace senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. He cited “Russia’s assertiveness in Eastern Europe and its procurement of increasingly capable combat aircraft.”

The U.K. Defense Ministry said it plans a number of technology “maturation” efforts in conjunction with the U.S. and France. It is buying the F-35, but is also pursuing its own efforts, the ministry said.

Germany, too, wants a combat aircraft to replace its aging Tornados, developed with Italy and the U.K., which entered Luftwaffe service 37 years ago.

Berlin is looking at manned and unmanned options, according to a German Defense Ministry report last year. A ministry spokeswoman said the capabilities to be required are still being assessed, along with the future threat picture.

Paris, in addition to working with the U.K. on new concepts, plans to upgrade the Rafale combat plane to keep it effective against evolving threats, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com


Original post wsj

When did the J-20 resemble the F-22?

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