Pacific wrote:Just because I wonder if you realised the kind of change that has happened in China, and that it's not really fair to judge them with the same yardstick as parts of the West. I spent some time there in the late 90's, and again a few years ago. The way the country is moving forward (from what was really a 3rd world country, I think not that long ago) has to be seen to be believed - Beijing in particular (a friend described it most adroitly I think, as an architect's playground) has just changed so much, that at times it almost seemed like I was in a different country. They do still have some way to go however (in some regards, with countries that move forward quickly with technology and industry social norms lag a bit behind) - I guess now they are just about to enter the cheesy 80's action movie phase!
I'm sure that China as a whole is moving forward. I was speaking specifically to their military aircraft production, which is in many ways still quite a bit behind the times. Specifically in terms of avionics and engines, two categories for which they either just buy Russian or use Russian derivatives, which leaves them lacking. And, for carrier aviation in particular, it takes decades to build up a decent program. I have no doubt they'll get there eventually. They're just not there yet.
Would love to see the F-35 though if it does fly - apparently it stole the show when it flew at Fairford 3 years ago, I was abroad at the time but no excuse to miss it this time!
I think that was probably the F-22. I don't believe the F-35's flown publicly outside the US yet. And in all honesty, it probably won't be that intriguing a show - it'll almost certainly be the B version, and that just takes off, does a few turns, hovers a while, and lands. If it's somehow an A, then I expect it'll look a lot like a Super Hornet demo...a lot of low speed, high alpha maneuvering stuff.
The F-22 used to have a killer routine, though.