New Chinese surprise J-20 Stealth Fighter carries ASAT Missiles

INSIDE CHINA

East-Asia-Intel.com, February 9, 2011

Willy Lam is traveling this week.

A state-controlled Chinese press report on Beijing’s new stealth jet, the J-20, said the aircraft has expanded China’s strategic capabilities and also will be capable of carrying anti-satellite missiles.

The U.S. F-22.

The Wen Wei Po newspaper quoted Hong Yuan, who it described as a “famous strategy expert,” as saying that the new J-20, which conducted it first flight test last month, will expand China’s strategic border to a distance of 1,000 nautical miles from the coasts.

The report said that the stealth jet has eased the “unbalanced military forces at sea and on the ground within the first island chain and the second island chain.”

The report then stated, without quoting an expert directly: “Besides, the J-20 also has anti-satellite capabilities. It can carry anti-satellite missiles. By using its speed and altitude, it can realize mobile launches and fast launches. This will make it possible to seize an advantageous position in a theater.”

The report also stated that as a result of the J-20, which U.S. intelligence estimated would not be deployed until 2020 and then only in small numbers by 2025, the United States may be forced to re-launch production of the world’s only deployed fifth generation aircraft, the F-22.

Another Chinese government specialist, Jiang Feng, of the Institute for Studies on Chinese Strategies, told the newspaper that the maiden test flight of the J-20 during the visit to China by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was meant “to convey a message to the world.”

Jiang said the political message was that China’s defense is not meant to “menace any other country such as the United States, a common propaganda theme of Chinese military experts and one that is increasingly dismissed by the U.S. military which has growing concerns about China’s military buildup and its aggressive military activities, notably naval or maritime encounters.”

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Willy Lam is a Hong Kong-based China scholar and journalist specializing in Communist Party politics and foreign policy.

But by all means, drastic cuts to defense as well as building high speed rail so someone can go Dallas to Fargo in 20 hours at the price of a plane ticket.