Chinese defense minister Gen. Liang Guanglie is scheduled to visit Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., on May 10 as part of his official visit to the United States. There, “he’ll have an opportunity to view some flight training activities” with the base’s F-15Es as part of US efforts to demonstrate openness and transparency to the Chinese guest, a senior US defense official told Pentagon reporters on May 7 in discussing Liang’s visit. Liang visited San Diego Naval Base on May 6 where his delegation discussed counter-piracy operations with the commander of a Navy ship that recently returned from the Gulf of Aden. On May 7, he met with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon. Liang visited US Southern Command headquarters in Miami on May 8 to discuss disaster relief and counternarcotics missions. On May 9, he is scheduled to tour Camp Lejune in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia to meet with non-commissioned officers. After touring Seymour Johnson on May 10, Liang will travel to the US Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., that same day for his final stop before heading back to China. (Pentagon briefing transcript)
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.