Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1410838-20141028132600/@comment-25467429-20141207194704

The issue with Chinese planes has little to do with Japanese/Chinese relations. It has mostly to do with the lack of definitive Chinese planes, and the lack of information on others. China is still a relativley closed society. I would note that much of the information on the J-20 is speculation and unconfirmed rumor. Much the same can be said of the J-31. China is itself not likely to be willing to share much on the planes either, given their secrecy on them, so they may not be willing to license them. It's not like in the US where there is a big campaign to get public support of some military project, so they show off the outer design and give glimpses into what it can do. China on the other hand is looking to flex its muscle, so it gives wide platitudes by claiming their newest projects to be blanketly the same or better than a foreign competitor (usually the F-22 and F-35). Given that, PA's only option would therefore become to create some facsimile of them, change the name and a little of the design to get away with it, while making it clear that was their point. Of course, that would likely create a backlask too, so unless they can do so legally they probably won't attempt anything relating to the J-20 or J-31. I'd say they'd need a few more years, once the two get closer to real production, before enough real information is out there for them to be willingly licensed. And, as I said, previous military planes from China have not been very good, hence they've often used Russian planes.