China’s J-20 jet fighters are no longer being kept away from the glare of the media since they entered service in March. Quite the opposite – party mouthpieces have been creating a buzz around the nation’s indigenous fifth-generation fighters, hailed as the cachet of the Chinese military’s air defense technology and manufacturing.
State broadcaster China Central Television aired an interview of a J-20 test pilot last week, who revealed that the brand-new air-superiority fighters, developed by Chengdu Aerospace Corporation, will be primarily deployed for precise and decapitation strikes, taking advantage of their all-aspect stealth even when armed, as well as low probability of radar interception.
The hangar in the background of the above photo has also piqued intense interest: It appears that J-20s can be parked in an ordinary hangar rather than one with constant temperature and humidity, while the US Air Force’s multirole F-35 Lightning II fighters are very expensive to maintain as they must be kept in a highly regulated environment to protect their ultra-delicate stealth coatings.
This means J-20s are more economical and easier to manage and can respond to emergencies more quickly than F-35s, noted an observer.
It has been reported that the US and British militaries have decided to reduce the F-35’s airborne time, rather than splurging money on an aircraft that is mocked by Chinese media as “eye candy.”
Beijing-based military magazine Ordnance Industry Science and Technology has also revealed that J-20 appear to be 20.77 meters in length, featuring a long and slim fuselage, with a wingspan of 12.99 meters and merely 15 tons in empty operating weight, after analyzing photos of the fighters. Judging from these specs, the fighter will be more nimble in real combat than foreign estimates.
With its compact dimensions and airframe, the J-20 may have no limits on takeoff from or landing on the next generation of aircraft carriers, Chinese news portal Sina reports, citing a source with the Dalian Shipyard, where the construction of China’s first nuclear-powered carrier is said to have commenced.
No fewer than 20 J-20s have been delivered to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, at a time when the Pentagon has stationed 12 F-35As at its Kadena Air Force Base in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture.
What a miracle of miracles if the people who can’t build a reliable jet engine right much less a supercruise capable jet engine suddenly leap ahead 40 years in tech.
But, if Iran can build a miracle 5th generation stealth fighter, China certainly can.
cool…now put it in a real fight!
You got nothing to worry about then. Relax
Cutting flying time means less experienced pilots for the F-35. Americans are living in a fantasyland of virtual reality; and the hubris of the virtual reality will be deadly for the time a real war starts.
Damn that is one UGLY plane!
F-35 is and will be the most expensive crap on the shoulders of NATO alleys. To minimize the maintenance cost, it will fly as less as possible. That is its being stealth.
Really….. so our roughly 200-1 shoot down advantage vs all nations, planes and pilots over the last 30 years worldwide is just hubris huh? Sounds like you are just a silly negative troll, who can’t accept the fact that we are 10x better than the Chinese and I would bet my life that the j20 could not compete with a f15 or f16, avionics, electronics, radar, training ect, we’re just plain better and you can say what you want, the numbers PROVES it!
YOU CAN BLAME SNODEN FOR THE SUDDEN LEAP IN HIGH TECH!
Ralph Apmann
So you better ask your dad or grandfather to fly future missions as they are so good.
Try fighting real nations not defenceless nation’s planes with export models.
Anyway, US is behind China in almost any area except in numbers
Damn… I hope it could last a day against F-22
Waiting for provocation so that can be tested in any real fight..
Useless to talk only..
Yeah, lets see how long can these J20 fly.
Ralph Apmann the J20 is. #5G, while F15, F16 are 4 G,.so no way to compare unless with F22 , F35. … so sad that India got no stealth fighter jet., so again no where to compare…. never n. ever talk big, maybe need a war to. prove and it is too bad.
your ignorance to the real fact makes you look like living in virtual reality my friend…yeah right the 11 air craft cariers are inferior to your liao ning.. and your copied planes from russia
Eddie Chinn in war, there is no clear cut rules, with no clear cut rules only the shrewd will win.
It’s the avionics and weapons systems that set them apart. The only way to test them in peace time is if they held war games together. Personally I’d stick with the typhoon. A much better weapons platform.
Ralph Apmann True, true. But they are catching up fast. The Russians also are catching up fast too.These are facts. They are slowly but surely catching up soon. So what is America going to do ? They should have proxy wars to prove this point.
Ali Clelland-ball yes, in the avionics Americans are strong. Russians are catching up. But they’re closing the distance, and in missile technology they’re better than the Americans
Ralph Apmann Ad Hominem attacks are logical falacies and denote a losing argument.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443612/f-35-donald-trump-should-cancel-failed-f-35-fighter-jet-program
F-22 Raptor is another serious game changer against the J-20.
u fool the 100 to 1 ratio is and average of all the fights usa had been in not just vietnam or korea .and there had been fights in with usa has not even lost a single plane in combat so put a little stress on ur brain and think
I’m sure the pilot and the plane haven’t seen combat yet. Interesting how they would fare against the South Koreans or Japanese.
Ralph Apmann if memory serves in several excersizes the US had their butts kicked quite swiftly when dealing with capable adversaries. Engaging with Afghanistan or similar in aerial combat is not indictive of US capability.
No enemy can hope for a more effective weapon than his opponents arrogance – US excells at arrogance.
Oh, and go read about the F35 combat history, you will find it is not as impressive as you might think.
Alan Foo Ho Kok you nailed it bro
Correct—-Peace—–No War
Edmund Lee F-35 has no combat history.
400 Billion USD Flying Junk, F-35
Now China can controllthe the world
Dmitry Vasilenko love from Pakistan
American era is ending it seems
Yes.. no nation is superior to other.. evry human is equal evry nation is.. if we spread love to person who is nxt to u… u dnt need these machines to show ur hate… peace n love is what these world needs not these.. Any way for the americans ull always wanted to show that ul r best in killing or hurting other human being… i u americans thought a bit how ul cn b the best in spreading peace and love.. if it so, this world would hav been different than this for sure..
Americans should now watch what they say about superior machines because other countries are seriously coming up and I believe if a major war happens, America may lose its position as a world power.
Not yet tested in a real battle. It remains to be seen.
With that length of that aircraft, I thought it’s a Commerical plane!!!
Strong indication that China has issues with propulsion design.
I don’t think it’s even comparable to the second generation of the PW F100-220 engine
Its all about money….
can we do something better for the humanity?
nice one
Mujtaba Leghari lol
It doesn’t have to be pretty to be effective and deadly!
Ali Clelland-ball and where do you think the computer goodies are manufactured? You know, of course, that Apple, for instance, is manufactured off shore-in China! So where are the computer components, in the F-whatever, manufactured?
Jerome Messier, your comment makes the most sense at a human level! Do we never learn from our mistakes? Why do people have to kill each other to prove a point?
Musthaq Mackeen No way you type like a fourth grader who prefers to text their homework AND happens to be a banker. Peace though.
This article is PURE NONSENSE! PLA Admirals have already dismissed the idea of deploying these FAKE stealth fighters on carriers since they are not designed for carrier operations.
Stationing these jets in normal hangars means the claim onf stealth coatings are FALSE!
This IS NOT a 5th generation fighter. Chinese engineers cannot develope reliable engines for thisnjet so they use old Russian SU27 engines instead. So the claims that this is a stealth fighter are FALSE!
even a strong American ally – India has declined in favour of French Raffaele.
It is stupid to send the young people to test the strength of the Chinese J- 20 in a real fight.