January 09, 2025 Military Aviation News

F-35 For India: Ex-IAF Boss Says “Desperate” India Needs US Stealth Fighters To Counter China’s J-20, J-35 & 6th-Gen Aircraft

01/09/2025

The developments of the last two months of 2024 have set alarm bells ringing in New Delhi as China debuted a second fifth-generation aircraft and flew two sixth-generation fighter jet prototypes. In contrast, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is currently staring at a massive lacuna in its capability with no fifth-generation stealth aircraft and a rapidly dwindling squadron strength.

China’s big new combat aircraft: a technical assessment

01/09/2025

The most spectacular debutant, making its maiden flight on December 26 was from Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group: a stealth combat aircraft that various anonymous commenters on the Chinese internet identify as the J-36. It is the largest combat aircraft designed and developed in China, and the second-largest to fly anywhere in 35 years.

Kendall: CCA Increment 2 Shouldn’t Be ‘Exquisite,’ But Better than Increment 1

01/09/2025

Analyses and wargames indicate the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program should not be an “exquisite” aircraft—meaning very stealthy and equipped with many sensors and weapons—but it should have more capability than Increment 1, and an additional cost of 20-30 percent would be acceptable, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Air & Space Forces Magazine this week.

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