So, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a Senate hearing today that while China's J-20 stealth fighter may have flown " six months to a year" before our intelligence suggested, he's still not worried that the airplane poses a serious threat to the U.S.
This is because we'll have nearly 500 fifth generation fighters by 2016 [more than 300 F-35s and almost 200 F-22s] while China will have a handful of J-20s, said Gates. He went on to say that by 2020 the PLAAF "might have 50" and a couple of hundred by 2025 while the U.S. will have thousands of JSFs and Raptors.
Oh, and don't forget the host of stealth drones we'll likely have in service by then.
He added that China's "got a long road ahead" in terms of mastering fifth generation technology before the J-20 becomes a serious threat.
