DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: F-35 Jump Jet Gears Up For Crucial At-Sea Tests

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: F-35 Jump Jet Gears Up For Crucial At-Sea Tests

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Lance M. Bacon, Staff writer - NavyTimes
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 23, 2015: The blue-green team is gearing up for operational tests that could build momentum for the embattled F-35B Lightning II — or add more fuel to the fire of outspoken critics.

The first shipboard operational test period for the Marine Corps' short take off and vertical landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled to take place May 18-30 aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp. Six of the jets will participate, four out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, and two from MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina.

Evaluators will assess the stealth jet's integration and operation within the full spectrum of flight and maintenance operations, as well as supply chain support while embarked at sea, said Maj. Paul Greenberg, Marine Corps spokesman. Lessons learned will "lay the groundwork" for future deployments, he said. The aims of the at-sea tests include:

*Assess day and night take-offs and landings, weapons loads, and extended range operations.
*Assess aircraft-to-ship network communications.
*Evaluate the landing signal officer's launch and recovery software.
*Test the crew's ability to conduct scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
*Determine the suitability of maintenance support equipment for shipboard operations.
*Assess the logistics footprint of a deployed, six-plane F-35B detachment.

The F-35B remains the centerpiece of Marine fixed-wing modernization because "it supports our doctrinal form of maneuver warfare and our operational need for close air support in austere conditions and locations potentially inaccessible for traditional fighters," Greenberg told Navy Times on March 17."The Lightning II will provide effective close-air support to our Marines and sailors when they need it the most."

Twenty-one alterations were required to equip the Wasp for regular operation of the F-35B aircraft, according to Matt Leonard, spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command. Each alteration will be made on all L-class ships during planned availabilities and in line on newly constructed ships in advance of the F-35B's arrival.

Among the biggest challenges has been the downward force and heat of the F-35B's engines as it lands, which has burned the nonskid deck. A new highly tolerant, temperature resistant thermal spray coating was applied and has been successfully evaluated aboard Wasp during F-35B, V-22, AV-8B and other helicopter flight operations, Leonard said.

The Wasp also underwent seven "cornerstone" alterations that provide necessary electrical servicing upgrades, expand weapons handling and storage, provide for the F-35B Autonomic Logistics Information System, secure access facilities, and relocate the flight deck tramline for flight safety.

The Wasp is the test ship for the F-35B and has not made a major deployment in over a decade.

While the Air Force's decision to replace the venerable A-10 with its F-35A variant has nabbed headlines, some analysts and lawmakers remain critical of the Corps' next-generation jump jet for three reasons. It has the shortest range and smallest payload of any F-35, its capabilities are reduced and it's the most expensive. An Air Force F-35A airframe and engine runs $77.7 million, as compared to $105.5 million for the F-35B, and $89.7 million for the F-35C, according to an April 2014 Congressional Research Service report. The Marine Corps also plans to buy the carrier-based F-35C.

Supporters point out that few (if any) potential adversaries can beat the fifth-generation fighter, and this design amounts to a leap ahead for reconnaissance, electronic warfare and close-air support missions

"This actually doesn't just replace the F/A-18, the AV-8 or the EA-6. It's a fundamentally different capability," Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford said in March 10 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's a transformational capability. It'll do everything that those three aircraft will do, but also, in terms of the information environment, it'll do a significant amount more for the Marine air-ground task force."

Initial operating capability for the F-35B is scheduled for July.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources By Lance M. Bacon, Staff writer - NavyTimes
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: US DoD Has Awarded Contracts To Lockheed Martin For F-35 JSF Aircrafts

Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: US DoD Has Awarded Contracts To Lockheed Martin For F-35 JSF Aircrafts

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources U.S. DoD #691-13 Dated September 27, 2013 + Baynet.com

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 28, 2013: The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin signed two F-35 contracts today, valued at $7.8 billion, for a total of 71 F-35 Lightning II aircraft to be produced in the sixth and seventh Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lots. These agreements are a significant milestone for the F-35 Program, and reflect cost reduction initiatives shared by government and industry.
The LRIP 6 contract, valued at $4.4 billion ($3.7 billion awarded through a December 2012 undefinitized contract action; ref: N00019-11-C-0083, and $0.7 billion awarded through today’s contract) funds production of 36 aircraft, with average aircraft unit cost approximately 2.5 percent lower than LRIP 5 aircraft. LRIP 6 per variant unit prices (not including engine cost) follow:

·   23 F-35As CTOL - $103 million/jet

·   6 F-35B STOVL - $109 million/jet

·   7 F-35C CV - $120 million/jet

The LRIP 7 contract, valued at $3.4 billion, funds the production of 35 aircraft, with average aircraft unit cost approximately 6 percent lower than LRIP 5 aircraft. F-35 LRIP 7 per variant unit prices (not including engine cost) follow: 

·   24 F-35As CTOL - $98 million/jet

·   7 F-35B STOVL - $104 million/jet

·   4 F-35C CV - $116 million/jet

The 71 aircraft are currently in various stages of production. Lockheed Martin will begin delivering LRIP 6 aircraft in the second quarter of 2014 and LRIP 7 jets in the second quarter of 2015. LRIP 6 will mark the first delivery of international F-35 jets for Italy and Australia, and LRIP 7 will mark the first delivery to Norway.

 The LRIP 6 and 7 contract terms reduce the government’s exposure to target cost overruns relative to previous LRIP contracts. In the LRIP 6 and 7 buy, Lockheed Martin will cover all cost overruns. The government and Lockheed Martin will share returns (20/80) derived from any under runs in target cost.

 The LRIP 6 and 7 contracts contain performance-based payments, whereby the contractor will receive incremental payment as measured goals are achieved along the production line until government aircraft acceptance. LRIP 6 and 7 contracts also include a concurrency clause which requires Lockheed Martin to share costs equally with the government (50/50) for known concurrency changes arising from System Development and Demonstration testing and qualification. Newly discovered concurrency changes identified during LRIP 6 and 7 production periods will be authorized via engineering change proposals.

F-35 engines are funded through separate contract actions with Pratt & Whitney.

Lorraine Martin, VP and GM of the F-35 Program, said about the contracts “Lockheed Martin is extremely pleased with the LRIP 6 and 7 contract signing, which represents a significant milestone for the F-35 Program and its path to enhanced affordability. With each successive production lot, unit costs have declined. That’s a trend we look forward to continuing as this program moves toward full rate production and operational maturity. Working together with the Joint Program Office, our entire industrial team is focused on delivering the F-35’s 5th generation capabilities to our Armed Forces and partner nations at a 4th generation price point.”

U.S. DoD #691-13 Dated September 27, 2013

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $3,405,427,661 modification with fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-plus-incentive-fee line items to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract (N00019-12-C-0004) for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot VII F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft production. This modification provides for the manufacture and delivery of 19 F-35 Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) for the U.S. Air Force; six F-35 Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps; four F-35 Carrier Variant (CV) aircraft for the U.S. Navy; two F-35 CTOL aircraft for Norway; three F-35 CTOL aircraft for Italy; and one (1) F-35 STOVL for the United Kingdom. This modification also provides for LRIP Lot 7 production requirements, including manufacturing support equipment, diminishing manufacturing sources management, ancillary mission equipment, including Pilot Flight Equipment, and concurrency changes to LRIP Lot 7 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy, and for non-U.S. DoD Participants in the F-35 Program. Concurrency changes are changes to the LRIP Lot 7 configuration baseline resulting from the F-35 development effort. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (55 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (15 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (10 percent); Orlando, Fla. (5 percent); Nashua, N.H. (5 percent); Baltimore, Md. (5 percent), and Cameri, Italy (5 percent). Aircraft deliveries are expected to be completed in October 2016. Fiscal 2013 Aircraft Procurement, Air Force; Fiscal 2013 Aircraft Procurement Navy; and International Partner funding in the amount of $3,405,427,661 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force ($1,823,737,540; 53.55 percent), U.S. Marine Corps ($567,802,742; 16.67 percent), the U.S. Navy ($401,457,402; 11.79 percent); and the Governments of Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada, and Denmark ($612,429,977; 34.46 percent) The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $742,657,068 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive (firm target) modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lightning II Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI advance acquisition contract (N00019-11-C-0083). This modification provides for the manufacture and delivery of two F-35 Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft for the Government of Australia and three F-35 CTOL aircraft for the Government of Italy. In addition, this modification provides for LRIP Lot VI production requirements, including manufacturing support equipment, diminishing manufacturing sources management, ancillary mission equipment including pilot flight equipment, and concurrency changes to LRIP Lot VI aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy, and the non-U.S. DoD Participants in the F-35 Program. Concurrency changes are changes to the LRIP Lot VI configuration baseline resulting from the F-35 development effort. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (55 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (15 percent); Warton, United Kingdom (10 percent); Orlando, Fla. (5 percent); Nashua, N.H. (5 percent); Baltimore, Md. (5 percent); and Cameri, Italy (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2016. Fiscal 2012 and 2013 Aircraft Procurement, Air Force; Fiscal 2012 Aircraft Procurement, Navy; and International Partner funding in the amount of $742,657,068 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force ($130,677,491; 17.60 percent); the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps ($66,199,572; 8.92 percent); and the Governments of Italy, Australia, United Kingdom, Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway and Denmark ($545,780,005; 73.49 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN News from reliable sources U.S. DoD #691-13 Dated September 27, 2013 + Baynet.com
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DTN News - U.K. DEFENSE NEWS: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - Simply A Penomenal Flying Machine

Asian Defense News: DTN News - U.K. DEFENSE NEWS: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - Simply A Penomenal Flying Machine

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor, at Patuxent River Naval Base, Maryland 8:0AM BST 04 May 2013
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 4, 2013: The smile on the face of the test pilot as he completed a successful vertical landing of Britain’s newest generation of fighter jets said it all. “This is simply a phenomenal flying machine.”

After all the bitter controversy over the Government’s decision to scrap the iconic Harrier jump jet in 2010 as part of the defence cuts, a team of Britain’s top gun fighter pilots has now arrived in the U.S. to begin testing its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Under the Government’s plans to build two new aircraft carriers equipped with state-of-the-art fighters, the role of the F-35 is crucial to the programme’s success. Like the Harrier before it, the F-35 has the ability to conduct vertical landings.

And last week at the American military’s Patuxent River naval air base in Maryland, I became the first British journalist to see one of the British pilots conducting a perfect test landing of an aircraft that is set to become one of Britain’s leading strike fighters for the next generation.

One of the most impressive aspects of Britain’s first stealth warplane is its Rolls Royce vertical landing system, which will enable the aircraft to land on the deck of the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers that are currently under construction in Scotland.
During last week’s test flight I watched as one of Britain’s prototype F-35 fighters approached the landing area at around 150mph, before the aircraft slowly came to a complete halt. It then hung perfectly motionless in the sky for a full minute at around 100 feet before making a gentle landing on the tarmac.

“This aircraft is light years ahead of the Harrier in terms of what it can do,” said Peter Wilson, 47, the British test pilot who conducted the landing. A veteran Harrier pilot who has flown combat missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Sierra Leone, Mr Wilson, who is now one of Britain’s leading test pilots, said the Harrier was a difficult plane to fly, and required immense skill on the part of the pilot to conduct vertical landings. “We have learnt our lessons and the F-35 has all the Harriers faults designed out of it,” said Mr Wilson, from Whalley, Lancs.

A key element in the versatility of the Harriers, which played a vital role in the campaign to liberate the Falkland Islands and more recently saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan, was their ability to make vertical landings in the most challenging conditions, whether on the deck of an aircraft carrier in a driving gale or at a remote desert airstrip.

Now the team of British pilots and technicians working on the F-35 are making sure the new aircraft has the same capability. If all goes according to plan, and the new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers are built on time, then the F-35s will available to fly off the decks on combat operations by 2020.

Apart from its flying capability, the F-35 is also fitted with the latest intelligence-gathering and stealth technology. Named Lightning II in honour of Britain’s supersonic jet fighter during the early Cold War era, the F-35 can fly at nearly twice the speed of sound and its stealth capability means it can penetrate deep into enemy territory without being tracked by radar. “The stealth factor means you can detect enemy aircraft but they cannot detect you,” explained Mr Wilson.

“It is a joy to fly,” said Lt. Commander Ian Tidball, 43, a former Royal Navy Harrier pilot who arrived in the U.S. four weeks ago to begin test flights. “It is very responsive compared to the Harrier, and has a far wider range of capabilities.”

These include a specially designed helmet that gives the pilot a 350 degree view around the aircraft simply by tilting his head, while the cockpit is filled with a multi-screen display consol that enables the pilot to collect and assess intelligence collected by the aircraft’s advanced sensors will assessing which targets to attack. In all the most advanced combat aircraft ever flown by the British military contains around eight million lines of software code.

“The helmet is like wearing a laptop on your head, while the cockpit has been designed with its own in-built i-Pad before the i-Pad had even been invented,” explained Group Captain Harv Smyth (correct spell), 41, another veteran RAF Harrier pilot who won the Distinguished Flying Cross during the Iraq War in 2003 and is overseeing the project. “The main problem we face is that the technology is now so advanced that we have to make sure it fits in with our air worthiness requirements.”

At $110 million (around £71 million) a piece, the Lightning does not come cheap and, like the previous Eurofighter project that produced the RAF’s Typhoon interceptor, the development programme has been beset by spiralling costs and serious equipment setbacks. During early trials pilots found that the helmets – which cost around £300,000 each – did not function when the plane hit turbulence, a potentially fatal failing in a combat environment, while more recently the entire test fleet was grounded earlier this year when cracks were found in the engine turbine blade.

Critics of the ambitious plan to provide a new generation of aircraft carriers with top-range fighters also say that at a time when the Government is trying to cut the deficit Britain simply cannot afford to continue with the most ambitious military project undertaken in recent British history.

But Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, who visited the American test site last week, said he remained committed to maintaining the £10 billion programme. He said Britain’s participation in the American-led F-35 venture will create 25,000 jobs and has the potential to earn an estimated £35 billion in exports during the life of the programme. In addition it will help to strengthen the transatlantic alliance.

“It’s great to be back in the business of vertical landing aircraft again,” said Mr Hammond. “This aircraft will enable Britain to have one of the world’s leading war-fighting capabilities for many years to come.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor, at Patuxent River Naval Base, Maryland 8:0AM BST 04 May 2013
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: F-35 Is Cleared To Resume Flight

Asian Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: F-35 Is Cleared To Resume Flight
*Contractors push back on 3-star’s JSF criticism

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Aaron Mehta and Nigel Pittaway - Staff writers Army Times
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 2, 2013: WASHINGTON and MELBOURNE, Australia — The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been cleared to resume flight operations, six days after a crack discovered in the engine caused the fleet to be grounded.

Flights will resume Friday afternoon weather permitting, according to program officials.

“Following engineering analysis of the turbine blade which developed a crack, F-35 flight operations have been cleared to resume,” the Joint Program Office and Pratt & Whitney said in a joint statement, released late Thursday night.

“This decision concludes a cautionary flight suspension that began on Feb. 21 after a 0.6 inch crack was found on a 3rd stage turbine blade of a test aircraft at the Edwards Air Force Base F-35 Integrated Test Facility during a routine inspection. Comprehensive tests on the blade were conducted at the Pratt & Whitney facility in Middletown, Connecticut. The engine in question is part of the F-35 test aircraft fleet, and had been operated at extreme parameters in its mission to expand the F-35 flight envelope. Prolonged exposure to high levels of heat and other operational stressors on this specific engine were determined to be the cause of the crack.”

“No additional cracks or signs of similar engine stress were found during inspections of the remaining F135 inventory.”

“No engine redesign is required as a result of this event. Within the current DoD inventory, 17 F-35s are employed in test and development at Patuxent River Naval Air Station and Edwards Air Force Base; the remaining aircraft are assigned to Eglin Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, and comprise the initial F-35 training fleet.”

While DoD officials bring the fleet back online, the Pentagon announced a new deal worth $333,786,000 that will lay the path for an eventual deal on lot 8 of low rate initial production (LRIP). That money is part an advance acquisition contract designed to help Lockheed prepare for manufacturing the eighth batch of fighters.

“Lockheed Martin is pleased to be awarded long lead funding for the eighth F-35 Low Rate Initial Production contract, known as LRIP 8, by the Department of Defense,” Michael Rein, a Lockheed spokesman, wrote in an email. “This award provides our supplier base the stability needed to properly execute on our future production commitments. We will continue to drive down costs for these future aircraft as we have done on every previous LRIP contract.”

The optimistic tone was echoed 9,000 miles away, as Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith expressed confidence in the F-35 program during comments made this week at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, southwest of Melbourne.

“I’ve always been confident that in the end, the Joint Strike Fighter project would get up, that it would be successful, and that’s because the entire weight of the United States is behind it,” he said. “I remain confident that the Joint Strike Fighter will get up, but the risks continue to be schedule and cost.”

However, Smith reiterated that he would not allow an air combat capability gap to occur between the retirement of Australia’s Hornet fighters and F-35A introduction around 2020.

Australia has a requirement for up to 100 Joint Strike Fighters but faces the dilemma of either stretching out the life of its aging legacy Hornet fleet beyond its planned withdrawal date at the end of the decade or making a further interim Super Hornet purchase from Boeing.

Steve O’Bryan, Lockheed Martin vice president of F-35 program integration and business development, told reporters at the show that he was confident Australia would remain in the program.

“There is no indication from the Australian leadership of a reduction in commitment,” he said.

COMPANIES PUSH BACK AT CRITICISM
Despite a return to flight, there may be long-term consequences for the second grounding of the F-35 in a month.

Only a day after Smith reaffirmed his confidence in the F-35A, U.S. project head Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan told local press at Avalon that he thought Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney would perform better if they had more skin in the game.

“What I see Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney doing today is behaving as if they are getting ready to sell me the very last F-35 and the very last engine,” he told a media roundtable. “They are trying to squeeze every nickel out of that last F-35 and engine.”

Both Lockheed and Pratt moved quickly to push back against Bogdan’s assertions that they are not working as team players.

“Lockheed Martin is fully committed to delivering the F-35’s unprecedented 5th Generation capabilities to the men and women of our Armed Forces and those of our allies” Laura Siebert, Lockheed spokeswoman, wrote in a statement. “We are singularly focused on properly executing the F-35 development, production and sustainment tasks laid out in our various contracts. We do this in partnership with Lt. Gen. Bogdan and the entire JSF Program Office and strive daily to drive costs out of the program.

“We believe we are making significant progress in enhancing affordability of the jet as evidenced by the fact that we have reduced costs by 50 percent since the procurement of the first production aircraft; by outperforming U.S. government pricing estimates for the past contract lot buys; and by reducing labor costs by 14 percent between the 4th and 5th lot contracts. Going forward, we are confident the Low Rate Initial Production 6 and 7 contracts, currently under negotiation, will achieve even greater savings for the government and taxpayers,” according to the statement.

“Despite numerous cuts in the F-35 acquisition plan, Pratt & Whitney has maintained a long-term view and demonstrated our commitment by investing more than $50M dollars of our own funds and taking on risk ahead of contract schedule to prevent the program from experiencing delays,” Matthew Bates, the Pratt spokesman, wrote in an email.

Bates highlighted that the engine manufacturer offered to cover cost overruns for low rate initial production Lot 5 a year ahead of what the government had requested.

“We believe it is highly unusual for a contractor to take on this level of risk at such an early stage of a program,” Bates wrote. “We have also offered to assume more risk for sustainment cost through performance-based, fixed-priced provisions well ahead of plan. In addition, our investment has contributed to more than 40% of cost reduction since the delivery of our first production representative engine.

“We look forward to our continued dialogue with the Joint Program Office to further review the details of the F135 [engine] program, and to achieve alignment and further progress as the program moves ahead.”

It’s not the first time Bogdan has criticized the companies’ JSF performance. In September, Bogdan raised eyebrows when he called the relationship between Lockheed Martin and the JPO the “worst” he had ever seen — with a delegation of Lockheed officials sitting right in front of him.

Relations between Bogdan and the contractors seemed to warm during winter, especially in December, when an agreement was finalized to purchase a fifth batch of fighters, followed quickly by a preliminary agreement on a sixth batch weeks later.

But the second major grounding of the F-35 in the last month appears to have tested Bogdan’s patience. In January, the Marine Corps’ F-35B variant was grounded following an engine problem during a test flight. The source of that problem was later identified as an improperly crimped line in the fueldralic system, manufactured by subcontractor Stratoflex.

Last Friday, nine days after the F-35B resumed tests, the entire F-35 fleet was grounded when a crack was discovered in one of the blades in the Pratt-designed engine.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Aaron Mehta and Nigel Pittaway - Staff writers Army Times
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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Shocks The World

Asian Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Shocks The World

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Page

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 5, 2013: Chinese weapons development in the last two decades has been even more spectacular when you consider that 500 years ago China began falling farther and farther behind the West in most military matters. When the civil war ended in 1948 there were no Chinese factories producing modern (Western) weapons. 

There were some workshops repairing Western weapons and assembling them from parts, but that was it. In the 1950s China began producing licensed copies of simple Russian weapons (rifles, machine-guns, some artillery and ammunition for all this stuff), but nothing sophisticated. 

By the late 1950s China was producing copies of Russian tanks and other armored vehicles as well as the two seat trainer version of the MiG-15 jet fighter and the Mig-17 jet fighter. 

Many of the components for armored vehicles and aircraft had to be imported from Russia. It took decades for China to develop the skills and industrial organizations that could build the electronics and high-tech mechanical items (like jet engines). This really didn’t start happening until after the economic reforms of the 1980s (allowing entrepreneurs to start businesses and get rich) had time to develop high-tech industries. That’s why there’s been so much progress in the last two decades. China is still playing catch-up, but is closing the gap more rapidly every year.

For example, while the U.S. introduced stealth aircraft three decades ago, China now has two of these in development and flying. While the U.S. has been operating aircraft carriers for nearly a century, China commissioned its first one this year and is operating jet aircraft from it. Nearly all the mechanical and electronic equipment on this carrier is Chinese made, and often of Chinese design. 

China is a major supplier of satellite launch services and has already developed and tested a KillSat (a satellite that can find and destroy, via collision, another satellite). China has sent men into space in the last decade and is developing a reusable vehicle similar to the American Space Shuttle. 

China has been producing more and more UAVs with capabilities (and often designs) similar to the most advanced ones in the West. China is still having problems developing state-of-the-art warships, but keeps at it and continues to make progress. Same trend with missiles (guided, ballistic and so on).

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Page
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