Russia And India Speed Up Work On PAK-FA After Getting Competetion From Chinese J-20

Russia and India should speed up work on their joint fifth-generation

fighter plane to meet the challenge from the Chinese rival unveiled
earlier this week, said a leading military expert.

“The Chinese prototype of a fifth-generation aircraft, J-20, appears to
be a long-range strike aircraft and as such it will pose a potential
threat to India,” said analyst Konstantin Makienko of the Moscow-based
Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST).

China's stealth fighter made its first 15-minute flight on Tuesday over
an airfield in the south-western city of Chengdu. Mr. Makienko called
the test flight an “unquestionable success” for the Chinese defence
industry.

“China has emerged as the third nation developing the fifth-generation
fighter plane after the U.S. and Russia,” he told The Hindu.

The Russian expert said India and Russia should intensify efforts to
build their advanced fighter plane if they are not to lose the race to
China.

“The J-20 fighter will be a direct rival of the Russian-Indian
fifth-generation aircraft. The Chinese plane will be ready by 2020, so
time will be a crucial factor.”

The Russian prototype, T-50, made its first flight a year ago. India
joined the project only last month when the two sides signed a contract
for the preliminary design of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft to
be called Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF).

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