From Stars and Stripes:
H/T: Terry
Gates: Intelligence underestimated Chinese stealth progress
By Kevin Baron
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 8, 2011
In this Oct. 12, 2010, file photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers Meeting Plus in Hanoi, Vietnam. Gates said Sunday that U.S. intelligence underestimated how fast China was developing a stealth-capable fighter, but gave reassurance he has been monitoring its progress.
Kham/AP/Pool
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. intelligence underestimated how fast China was developing a stealth-capable fighter, but gave reassurance he has been monitoring its progress.
Grainy images and video of what appears to be a prototype Chinese stealth fighter appeared online in recent weeks. Additionally, the top military commander in the Pacific said last month China’s widely anticipated anti-ship ballistic missile system had reached “initial operational capability,” an important last milestone before being ready for deployment. Last week, the top U.S. naval intelligence officer said intelligence underestimated that system’s progress, as well.
Critics have questioned whether the United States was caught flat-footed by either development.
“We’ve been watching these developments all along,” Gates told reporters aboard his plane, which arrived in Beijing on Sunday. “I’ve been concerned about the development of the anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job. We knew they were working on a stealth aircraft.
“I think that what we’ve seen is that they may be somewhat further ahead in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had earlier predicted.”
Some military experts have questioned whether the plane in the images has stealth capability. Its angled tail fins resemble U.S. stealth aircraft, but the plane appears much larger than advanced, or fifth-generation, fighters.
The aircraft has rekindled debate about Gates’ controversial 2009 decision to end production of the most advanced U.S. fighter ever built, the stealthy F-22 Raptor, and slow purchases of the F-35. Critics point to China’s long-known race for stealth aircraft as a threat to U.S. air superiority. But Gates, at the time, said China would not have advanced-generation fighters for another decade and the realistic chances of an air-to-air war with other nations did not trump the hardware needs for fighting in Afghanistan in Iraq.
“I never said that — as somebody quoted me — that their stealth aircraft didn’t matter,” Gates said Saturday. “What I said was that in 2020 or 2025 that there would still be a vast disparity in the number of deployed fifth-generation aircraft that the United States had compared to anybody else in the world. And I continue to stand by that statement.”
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H/T: Terry
Gates: Intelligence underestimated Chinese stealth progress
By Kevin Baron
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 8, 2011
In this Oct. 12, 2010, file photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers Meeting Plus in Hanoi, Vietnam. Gates said Sunday that U.S. intelligence underestimated how fast China was developing a stealth-capable fighter, but gave reassurance he has been monitoring its progress.
Kham/AP/Pool
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. intelligence underestimated how fast China was developing a stealth-capable fighter, but gave reassurance he has been monitoring its progress.
Grainy images and video of what appears to be a prototype Chinese stealth fighter appeared online in recent weeks. Additionally, the top military commander in the Pacific said last month China’s widely anticipated anti-ship ballistic missile system had reached “initial operational capability,” an important last milestone before being ready for deployment. Last week, the top U.S. naval intelligence officer said intelligence underestimated that system’s progress, as well.
Critics have questioned whether the United States was caught flat-footed by either development.
“We’ve been watching these developments all along,” Gates told reporters aboard his plane, which arrived in Beijing on Sunday. “I’ve been concerned about the development of the anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job. We knew they were working on a stealth aircraft.
“I think that what we’ve seen is that they may be somewhat further ahead in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had earlier predicted.”
Some military experts have questioned whether the plane in the images has stealth capability. Its angled tail fins resemble U.S. stealth aircraft, but the plane appears much larger than advanced, or fifth-generation, fighters.
The aircraft has rekindled debate about Gates’ controversial 2009 decision to end production of the most advanced U.S. fighter ever built, the stealthy F-22 Raptor, and slow purchases of the F-35. Critics point to China’s long-known race for stealth aircraft as a threat to U.S. air superiority. But Gates, at the time, said China would not have advanced-generation fighters for another decade and the realistic chances of an air-to-air war with other nations did not trump the hardware needs for fighting in Afghanistan in Iraq.
“I never said that — as somebody quoted me — that their stealth aircraft didn’t matter,” Gates said Saturday. “What I said was that in 2020 or 2025 that there would still be a vast disparity in the number of deployed fifth-generation aircraft that the United States had compared to anybody else in the world. And I continue to stand by that statement.”
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