During peacetime, the US military has never put into service an airplane that has not completed testing.
Quite honestly it violates the spirit, if not the letter of the law.
I've always been curious about the rush. Until recently I believed that the plane was protected from any real threats of cuts (emphasis on the "until recently")...but War is Boring Blog has filled in the missing info...
The Pentagon has claimed the J-20 could enter squadron service in 2018, seven years after the first prototype began flying. That’s consistent with the F-22’s development and the J-10B’s. And if so, full-scale production will need to begin soon in order for Chengdu’s workers to finish adequate numbers of J-20s to line the tarmac a little over three years from now.Yeah.
That's the kick in the teeth that the Pentagon cannot allow the uninformed to catch onto. If you're following the program office account of when the F-35 is due to finish flight testing (assuming no more delays...which is highly probable) then the J-20 will complete flight testing and enter REAL frontline service a full year before the F-35.
This also gives clues to the US Navy's strategy. They're extending EA-18G production till 2018...which means that they will get a two-fer. They'll get to keep buying Growlers and they'll also have a SOLID reason to skip the F-35 and start a crash program to develop a 6th generation fighter.
