China stole F-22 secrets to build its own J-20 stealth fighter, former officials claim

A former Defense Department official in the Trump administration has warned that China is relying heavily on stolen US technology to build its J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter and is calling for greater safeguards for secret weapons systems.

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense James Anderson said China stole US secrets for many years and built the J-20 on technology from the F-22 Raptor and Joint Strike fighter programs.

“What we do know is that the J-20 is more advanced than it otherwise would be because of the spying efforts, and that’s the important point here,” Anderson told Fox News Digital in an interview published Thursday.

China’s extensive espionage efforts against the F-22, which first entered service in 2005, are well documented. In 2016, a confessed Chinese spy was sentenced to 46 months in US prison for stealing designs for the Lockheed Martin fighter jet.

“They have benefited greatly from their theft over the years… They have put it to good use and developed an advanced fifth-generation fighter,” said Anderson of China’s J-20.

The US F-22 and Chinese J-20 are compared above. China is accused of stealing US technology to build its fifth-generation stealth fighter jet

A J-20 stealth fighter jet performs during the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2018, in Zhuhai city

Former Deputy Secretary of Defense James Anderson (seen in 2020) said the Chinese stole US secrets for many years to build the J-20 fighter

The J-20, which first entered service in 2017, is widely considered a direct copy of the F-22.

Aside from the J-20’s front canard wings, the two fighters are visually very similar and are believed to have similar flight capabilities and weaponry.

Experts have said the J-20 represents a huge leap forward in China’s ability to project power in Asia and warn it could compete on an equal footing with US military technology.

However, Anderson noted that “just before actual combat, it’s hard to tell” how the J-20 would stack up against the F-22 in a real-life confrontation.

The US built a total of 187 F-22s before ending the program in 2011 in favor of the F-35 Lightning II, a fifth generation fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin as part of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

JSF was also a known target of Chinese espionage, and in 2009 The Wall Street Journal reported that suspected Chinese hackers had penetrated the program and stolen “several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems.”

Anderson said China spent “well over a decade” targeting the Joint Strike Fighter and used stolen elements in the design and construction of the J-20.

Pentagon and Joint Strike Fighter program spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Thursday.

J-20 stealth fighter jets perform in the sky during the 14th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition November 9, 2022 in Zhuhai, east China’s Guangdong province

An F-22 Raptor from Joint Base Langley-Eustis is seen in a file photo. The J-20, which first entered service in 2017, is widely considered a direct copy of the F-22

Aside from the duck wings, China’s J-20 (above) is visually very similar to the F-22

Chinese national Su Bin (pictured) was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison in 2016 for hacking American defense contractors to steal trade secrets on behalf of Beijing

Anderson noted that China’s espionage program has ranged from advanced cyberattacks to “old-fashioned” methods such as honey traps and bribes to recruit US contractors, academic researchers and officials.

“Unfortunately, they’ve had some success there,” Anderson said in a recent interview.

“It saves the Chinese time and money. In fact, we end up subsidizing part of their research and development budget because they successfully steal some of our secrets,” he said. “Ultimately, this puts our men and women at greater risk on the battlefield.”

To date, China is said to have produced about 208 J-20 stealth jets, and the fighter’s capabilities have gained military and political importance as China becomes increasingly aggressive in Asia.

Last April, China launched J-20 patrols in the South China Sea, a vast contested waterway Beijing claims to deter neighboring nations with competing claims.

The J-20 has also been used in China’s repeated patrols over Taiwan, the self-governing island also claimed by Beijing.

In January, a J-20 pilot boasted to Chinese state media that he had entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) without being detected or intercepted.

China has also been accused of stealing secrets from the Joint Strike Fighter program, which spawned the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter (see above).

China’s state broadcaster revealed the J-20’s futuristic hangar for the first time in a documentary

According to footage released by China Central Television Station, the J-20 is armed with four PL-15 medium-range air-to-air missiles and one PL-10 short-range “fighter” missile on either side.

Chinese news site Sohu previously claimed PL-15 is a wingless missile and is 5.7 meters long. It is said to have an impressive range of 400 kilometers (249 miles) and could help PL-15 outperform F-22.

PL-10, on the other hand, is said to have exceptional ability to intercept other missiles.

In a post on the PLA’s English-language website, Chinese military expert Song Zongping said the J-20 will “in the future work with rivals who dare to provoke China in the air.”

Although China describes the J-20 as an air superiority fighter designed to engage other fighters in air-to-air combat, Western analysts see it as optimized for anti-access/aerial denial missions such as B. Aiming at communications and support ships.

Over the years, Beijing has firmly denied claims of incorporating stolen military technology into the J-20’s design.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk