China 'leaks' sneak peek of first stealth aircraft going for a test run

• Aircraft is larger than expected 'pointing to long range and heavy weapon loads'
• Photo comes one week after news Chinese military is developing missile that can sink an aircraft carrier

Aviation experts believe China may have started testing a new stealth aircraft - putting it well ahead of Western predictions that a revamped air force would not be ready for take-off for another decade. 
Photographs of the J-20 taking high-speed taxi tests at an airfield have appeared on several websites, fuelling speculation that Beijing is not particularly concerned about keeping its latest weapon under wraps - at least unofficially.
The plane photos surfaced just one week after a U.S. naval commander warned that China is stepping up testing on a space missile that could sink American aircraft carriers in the Pacific.
Fears that China will challenge America's naval supremacy in the region have also been fuelled by the country's plans to launch its first carrier.

Ready for take-off? Aviation experts believe China may have started testing the J-20 stealth aircraft

The Chinese Foreign Ministry  insists that, despite their missile development, the country's military pursues a purely defensive national policy

CHINA'S 'HISTORIC TASK FOR THE ENTIRE 21ST CENTURY'

China plans to launch its first carrier in 2015. Five years later it intends to have a huge carrier fleet on top of its 27 destroyers, 52 frigates and 66 submarines.
At the end of last year an official government report stated that China wants to be ‘a great naval power’. It added that naval supremacy was ‘China’s historic task for the entire 21st century’.
China, which already has 1.6 million serving in the world’s biggest army, now has a navy of 250,000 men and has invested heavily in ships and hardware over the past decade.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, one of six aircraft carriers in the U.S. Pacific Fleet

The Mail on Sunday reported last month that China has secretly built a base, thought to be capable of housing up to 20 nuclear submarines, at the tip of its southernmost province, Hainan Island.
Details of its aircraft carrier programme, contained in a State Oceanic Administration report, were disclosed by a newspaper in Japan where officials have for years been troubled by China’s growing naval might.
Chinese aircraft carriers will be a direct challenge to America, which last month sent the USS George Washington to South Korean waters after its neighbour North Korea shelled one of its islands.
The Chinese move will also alarm Vietnam and the Philippines, who have long-running disputes with China over the sovereignty of chains of Pacific islands that lie on vital oil and trade routes.
With their strategic importance to both China and America, disputed strings of coral atolls such as the Spratly and Paracel Islands are seen by analysts as potential triggers for global conflict.
Beijing has asserted its sovereignty over the deserted islands aggressively, leading to skirmishes with Japan and other neighbours who view the arrival of Chinese aircraft carriers as ‘a total game-changer’.
China’s aircraft carrier programme will propel it into an exclusive military club. The US currently has more than every other country in the world combined, with 67 in total and 11 in service.

The country's growing economic muscle and the rise in its military capability have seen the communist state's confidence grow on the world stage.
But China's Foreign Ministry insists its military is one of peace, saying: 'We pose no threat to other countries.'

According to the Aviation Week website, security at the airfield  where the J-20 was photographed was slack and the prototype could be viewed from several public areas.
The 'leak' supports earlier claims by the Chinese military that a stealth aircraft would be airborne by 2011 and could be operational by 2017.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates dismissed that idea at the time, claiming that China would not have stealth fighters operational before 2020.
Stealth aircraft - which can evade detection by radar, infrared and other tracking devices - have been in development since the end of World War II.
Experts point out that the Chinese version is larger than most observers expected - 'pointing to long range and heavy weapon loads'.
The plane, coupled with the aircraft carrier and the ballistic missile in development, means China will be a global military power.
The missile system requires state-of-the-art guidance systems, and some experts say it will take China a decade or so to field a reliable threat.
But if the plane's development is any sign, it could be much sooner.
The missile is considered a key component of China's strategy of denying U.S. planes and ships access to waters off its coast.
At its most capable, the DF 21D could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 900 miles.
That could seriously weaken the United States' ability to intervene in potential conflicts over Taiwan or North Korea, as well as deny U.S. ships safe access to international waters near China's 11,200-mile-long coastline.
The question now concerning the U.S. government and its allies is whether the J-20 is a genuine prototype, or simply a a technology demonstrator - a concept model.
The answer to that will be revealed by the number of J-20s entering flight testing in the next two years.

Facing new competition: The Lockheed Martin F-22, developed for the U.S. Air Force

SPY TECH: HOW THE J-20 SHAPES UP AGAINST ITS RIVALS

A study of photographs of the aircraft by industry journal Aviation Week revealed the J20...

• is a single seat, twin-engine aircraft.
• is bigger and heavier than its Russian (Sukhoi T-50) and U.S. (F-22) equivalents.
• is around 75ft long with a wingspan of 45ft
• has landing gear that retracts into body-side bays, indicating the likely presence of F-22-style side weapons.
• could be loaded with larger weapons including air-to-surface munitions because of the distance of its base from the ground.
• likely weighs 75,000-80,000lb, with no external load, suggesting a generous fuel capacity.
• is compatible with newly developed air-to-ground weapons revealed by Chinese engineers at the Zhuhai air show in November.

The F-22 Raptor...

• is also a single seat-twin engine stealth fighter.
• is 62 feet long with a wingspan of 44ft 6in, making it lighter and more maneuverable.
• It stands 16ft, 5in off the ground.
• can carry medium and short range air-to-air missiles in three internal weapons bays on the bottom and sides of the fuselage.
• It weighs 43,430lb when empty, and around weight: 64,460lb when loaded. Its maximum takeoff weight is 83,500lb.
• Its fuel capacity is 18,000lb internally, or 26,000lb when it uses two optional external fuel tanks,
• While many are still operational, the F22 is coming towards the end of its shelf-life, with the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act containing no funding for F-22 production.

The Sukhoi T50...

• is currently being developed for the Russian Air Force by Moscow defence company Sukhoi.
• had, by November 2010, made 40 test flights. The second prototype is due to start its flight test this year.
• will replace the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker and directly compete with the F-22 Raptor.
• is a one-seat twin engine stealth fighter.
• is 65.9ft long with a wingspan of 46.6ft and stands 19.8ft high.
• weighs 40,785lb when empty and 57,320lb fully loaded with a fuel capacity of 22,711lb.
• has a top speed of Mach 2, 1,560mph.
• does not yet have armaments but there is apparent provision for two 30mm cannons with two internal bays for guns and missile.