For the first time, I've seen a name attached to the J-20: the Black Eagle. Eagle seems to be an obvious and common name for fighters. The F-15 Eagle is the 4th generation American air superiority fighter. The Russians through Sukhoi built the Su-47/S-37 Berkut (or Golden Eagle). Interestingly and somewhat contrary to stereotype, Russian tank project was also called the Black Eagle.
On to the news, The J-20 has been called a production prototype by the Chinese military. Its status whether it was a one off R&D aircraft or a real deal prototype has been in question. It now seems to truly a production prototype. If it is true and their development program goes smoothly enough, they will be set for IOC between 2018 to 2020.
A tangental aspect of the whole hoopla over the J-20 is the policy and politics behind it. There seems to be a question of just how much the Chinese civilian government actually knew about the J-20. Apparently, they gave the impression, right or wrong, that they didn't know about the unveiling of the J-20 to the world when the SecDef Gates came for a visit. This raised the phantom of just how much control the Chinese government has over the PLA. Im unsure how serious to take this, but...it's provocative. One would hope that we are not seeing a Japan pre WW2 developing here. That's both frightening and ironic, if a bit doubtful.
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