China's J-20 a derivative of Russia's withdrawn 1.44 fighter
- Staff Reporter
- 2014-05-04
- 09:00 (GMT+8)
Russia's 1.44 fighter (Internet photo)
The Chengdu J-20, China's first fifth-generation stealth fighter has weak aerodynamic design according to Andrei Chang also known as Pinkov, the chief editor of Kanwa Defense Review based in Canada, as it is based on the Russian-built Mikoyan Project 1.44 fighter.
Although Russia denies it has ever provided China with the blueprint of the 1.44, Pinkov said that the engineers at Chengdu Aerospace Corporation did study the design of the Russian fighter. Originally, Andrei Chang believed that the J-20 was purely a Chinese design, however, sources from Russia told him that there remains the possibility that Mikoyan sold China the blueprint of the fighter.
With the birth of the more advanced Sukhoi PAK FA fighter, the status of the 1.44 remains unknown while most experts believe that it has already been withdrawn. Russian experts told Pinkov that the 1.44 has not been withdrawn because it was a bad design, but rather because it does not fit with the needs of the Russian Air Force. Since it has a huge fuselage, the 1.44 is not as maneuverable as the US Air Force's F-22.
Mikoyan was also out of budget to complete the design of its first stealth fighter, according to rumors. Still, the design of the 1.44 seems to have been valuable for China which has no experience in developing its own stealth fighter. There are still some differences between the 1.44 and the J-20, however. The 1.44 has a large box-like intake that blends into the rear fuselage, for example, while the J-20 has a low jet engine intakes design similar to the F-22.
China has a tradition of using the designs from withdrawn fighter programs of other nations according to Chang. The Chengdu J-10 was designed based on the Israeli Kfir, for example. However, most of the 1.44's weaknesses would have been inherited by the J-20 if the latter was designed according to the blueprint of the former. It may be too large and too heavy for aerial combat, for example, as well as sharing its weak aerodynamic design.