Chinese stealth fighter jet may use US technology

[pandamonkey]

this is another article that talks about Chinese efforts at stealing U.S. weapons secrets, which they then copy and then claim to say that is home made.

WASHINGTON — China is running aggressive and wide-ranging espionage operations aimed at stealing U.S. weapons technology that could be useful against U.S. forces, according to the nation's top spy-catchers.
U.S. counterintelligence officials have also detected an expansion of spy networks run by Russia, Cuba and Iran targeting the U.S. government and, in the case of Iran, U.S. military technology, according to Timothy Bereznay, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division.

China, however, has emerged as the leading espionage threat, Bereznay and Stephen Bogni, a senior investigator for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in separate interviews.

China has "put out a shopping list" of weapons and components it is seeking to arms dealers and middlemen,[/U] Bogni said. These middlemen, often ethnic Chinese, operate out of shell companies in the USA, he said. The list includes night-vision gear, radar-evading and radar- and communications-jamming equipment, missile-guidance systems and torpedoes.

On Wednesday, one accused Chinese spy, Taiwanese businessman Ko-Suen "Bill" Moo, pleaded guilty to charges he tried to buy military parts and weapons, including an F-16 fighter jet engine and cruise missiles.

ESPIONAGE: A growing business

ICE officials said Moo attempted to buy from undercover agents an AGM-129 cruise missile, which can carry nuclear warheads 2,300 miles.

The possibility of a U.S.-Chinese military confrontation over Taiwan looms in the background of the espionage, said Ronald Guerin, the FBI's East Asia section chief.

In a nightmare scenario, China could use U.S. technology to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier positioned to block a Chinese move against Taiwan, Guerin said. "We have to really worry about our technology being used against our (own) warfighter. That's a losing proposition," Guerin said. "This is a threat to the national security of the United States."

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy did not return a call seeking comment.

Counterintelligence is a highly secret sector of intelligence and law enforcement, involving criminal investigations and classified or sensitive information. Bereznay and other officials said they were willing to discuss it on the record to draw attention to what they regard as an emerging national security threat.

The FBI has arrested 25 Chinese nationals or Chinese Americans in cases involving the targeting of U.S. technology in the past two years, an unprecedented level of espionage compared to prior years, Guerin said. Most of the cases involve alleged theft of sensitive technology. ICE has initiated more than 400 investigations since 2000 involving illicit export of U.S. arms and strategic technology to China, according to agency statistics.

The emerging espionage threat involves business people, trade representatives and academics in the USA ostensibly for legitimate purposes, Bereznay said. Sometimes the technology they target is highly sensitive but not yet classified, requiring the government to prosecute export violations rather than espionage

"Foreign collectors don't wait until something is classified," Bereznay said. "They're targeting it at the R&D (research and development) phase."

USATODAY.com - China broadens espionage operations

 

[pandamonkey]

Chinese men held in Hungary for stealing US defence secrets
27 October 2010

Press Trust of India
BEIJING, 27 OCT: Two Chinese nationals have been arrested in Hungary for “stealing” US defence secrets and are awaiting extradition to America where they will face trial, official media here reported.
Xian Hongwei and Li Li were arrested by Hungarian police upon arrival at an airport near Budapest.
US law enforcement authorities had issued international arrest warrants for the two Chinese citizens in June and put forward a confidential request to the Hungarian government to arrest and extradite Xian and Li to the USA on the grounds that they broke defence-related US laws.
Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Hungary said they are doing their best diplomatic efforts to protect the rights of the detained men. It remains unclear as to whether the men would be sent to the USA.
But “the case is still ongoing, and we are doing our best”, Chinese Embassy spokesman in Budapest Mr Yang Daliang told China Daily.
“They are now in a prison, but we have visited them. We are providing consular assistance to them,” Mr Yang said, adding their families have also been in touch with them.
The two men were reportedly being charged with a violation of international weapons sales, as the high-tech product, they sought is listed on the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ~ a US government statute that seeks to curb arms proliferation worldwide.

Chinese men held in Hungary for stealing US defence secrets

 

[pandamonkey]

YouTube - Espionage: Stealing America's Secrets

 

[Gabbar]

China's stealth technology may have come from downed U.S. fighter​

..BRUSSELS - Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority — and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself.

Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.
Nighthawks were the world's first stealth fighters, planes that were very hard for radar to detect. But on March 27, 1999, during NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo War, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot one of the Nighthawks down. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet.

The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts — some the size of small cars — as souvenirs.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Admiral Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the war.
"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview.
A senior Serbian military official confirmed that pieces of the wreckage were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches."

In Washington, an air force official said the service was unaware of any connection between the downed F-117 plane and development of Chinese stealth technology for the J-20. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the subject involves classified information.

Efforts to get comment from China's Defence Ministry and the Pentagon were unsuccessful.

China's multi-role stealth fighter — known as the Chengdu J-20 — made its inaugural flight Jan. 11, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies.

Although the twin-engine J-20 is at least eight or nine years from entering air force inventory, it could become a rival to America's top-of-the-line F-22 Raptor, the successor to the Nighthawk and the only stealth fighter currently in service.

China rolled out the J-20 just days before a visit to Beijing by U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, leading some analysts to speculate that the timing was intended to demonstrate the growing might of China's armed forces.

Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao's high-profile visit to the United States this week, many in Washington see China as an economic threat to the U.S. and worry as well about Beijing's military might.

Parts of the downed F-117 wreckage — such as the left wing with U.S. Air Force insignia, the cockpit canopy, ejection seat, pilot's helmet and radio — are exhibited at Belgrade's aviation museum.

"I don't know what happened to the rest of the plane," said Zoran Milicevic, deputy director of the museum. "A lot of delegations visited us in the past, including the Chinese, Russians and Americans ... but no one showed any interest in taking any part of the jet."
Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, said the regime of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies.
"The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Kusovac said.
Russia's Sukhoi T-50 prototype stealth fighter made its maiden flight last year and is due to enter service in about four years. It is likely that the Russians also gleaned knowledge of stealth technology from the downed Nighthawk.
The F-117, developed in great secrecy in the 1970s, began service in 1983.

While not completely invisible to radar, its shape and radar-absorbent coating made detection extremely difficult. The radar cross-section was further reduced because the wings' leading and trailing edges were composed of nonmetallic honeycomb structures that do not reflect radar rays.

Kusovac said insight into this critical technology, and particularly the plane's secret radiation-absorbent exterior coating, would have significantly enhanced China's stealth know-how.

Alexander Huang of Taipei's Tamkang University said the J-20 represented a major step forward for China. He described Domazet-Loso's claim as "a logical assessment."

"There is no other stronger source for the origin of the J-20's stealthy technology," said Huang, an expert on China's air force. "The argument the Croatian chief-of-staff makes is legitimate and cannot be ruled out."

The Chinese are well-known perpetrators of industrial espionage in Western Europe and the United States, where the administration has also been increasingly aggressive in prosecuting cases of Chinese espionage.

Western diplomats have said China maintained an intelligence post in its Belgrade embassy during the Kosovo War. The building was mistakenly struck by U.S. bombers that May, killing three people inside.

"What that means is that the Serbs and Chinese would have been sharing their intelligence," said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia security program at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence think-tank in London. "It's very likely that they shared the technology they recovered from the F-117, and it's very plausible that elements of the F-117 got to China."

China's stealth technology may have come from downed U.S. fighter - Yahoo! News
...

 

[below_freezing]

Did the downed F-117 enhance our stealth knowledge? Yes.

Is that technology actually used on the J-20? No.

F-117 uses ferrite paint that must be reapplied often and is extremely fragile. J-20 maintainance crews stand on the plane wearing shoes.

F-117 ferrite paint is extremely heavy and along with its aerodynamic characteristics, give it a hard time even flying.

the J-20 can lift off without even using afterburners, within 300 m.

F-117's shape and J-20 shape are totally different.

I think it is safe to say the F-117 technology may have been a "reference" but in no way is it actually used.

 

[Nomenclature]

Western diplomats have said China maintained an intelligence post in its Belgrade embassy during the Kosovo war. The building was mistakenly struck by U.S. bombers that May, killing three people inside.

I can't help but laugh every time I see a Western media outlet blindly asserts the embassy bombing was a 'mistake'. It's a mistake because U.S. government said so?

 

[Akasa]

So, they first say that the J-20 is not capable, and now they say the J-20 uses US technology.

So it's either that the J-20 is capable, or that the US technology used is not capable.

Pick one.

 

[somebozo]

China also downed 4 or 5 U2 spy planes which must have contributed to composite materials for stealth

 

[below_freezing]

China also downed 4 or 5 U2 spy planes which must have contributed to composite materials for stealth

... from the 60's?

 

[gambit]

I can't help but laugh every time I see a Western media outlet blindly asserts the embassy bombing was a 'mistake'. It's a mistake because U.S. government said so?

Aaahhh...So we should first exercise doubt whenever governments are involved.

 

[ZhengHe]

this is a dog eat dog world.

when there are people out there who is determined to destroy your country and take over you will do whatever to get the upper-hand.

and this is another BS article from the US.

1st they say China doesn't have the tech to build it

then they say China must have copied the tech from Russia

and then they say China uses US tech.

Obviously these are all attempts to discredit Chinese achievement. I mean, what if China starts selling these? It would become a threat the US arms market.

I hope China sells these to all US enemies who are actually victims of US imperialism.

There's group in Hawaii that want's independence from the US, China should give them the J-20 and some nukes because everyone has a right to fight for their freedom.

 

[AerospaceEngineer]

China may copy the technology instead of borrowing! They are good at copying things and bad at innovation.

But still MUCH better than india. india is good at nothing except world class B.S.

 

[no_name]

There's group in Hawaii that want's independence from the US, China should give them the J-20 and some nukes because everyone has a right to fight for their freedom.

Dude you're joking right?

 

[Numba9hockey]

There's group in Hawaii that want's independence from the US, China should give them the J-20 and some nukes because everyone has a right to fight for their freedom.

I lol'd.

 

[siegecrossbow]

I think it is safe to say that aside from the fact that both the J-20 and F-117 are both black and "stealth planes" there is no other similarity.

What I am confused about is why people are taking Yahoo news so seriously.