The US Air Force has always been a sharp weapon of the US military, and it attaches great importance to training, and has long established a special squadron of "imaginary enemies," that is, intruders, to conduct air combat confrontation training in a professional way. However, now the emergence of the J-20 has disrupted the monopoly of the US Air Force in the field of fifth-generation aircraft, and the emergence of the J-20 has given China an advantage in air combat forces, and the US military has to strengthen its defense against the J-20.
The U.S. military has produced a model of the J-20, showing interest in the research of the J-20, and now it has conducted special training for the combat capability of the J-20. According to an article in India's Eurasian Times, "The US Air Force is ready for an "ultimate conflict" with J-20 fighters;The U.S. Air Force Acquires First Fifth-Generation Intruder Pilot" reported that in response to a possible conflict with China, the U.S. military reactivated the 65th Squadron and equipped it with F-35A fighters to professionally simulate the opponents of fifth-generation aircraft, and at present, in addition to the J-20, there are no other large-scale fifth-generation aircraft in service that can be used as simulation objects, so the J-20 has become the main target of the U.S. military.
This is a big change, in the past, the US military only changed the livery of the imaginary enemy's fighters, which caused a lot of controversy, and now it has directly replaced the 65th squadron with F-35A fighters. This means that the US military has established a professional unit to simulate the opponent from a professional point of view, reaching a new height.
In the past, the imaginary enemy units of the U.S. military did not use any stealth fighters, and some units were using F-5N fighters, but now the imaginary enemy squadron of the U.S. military has modified F-35 stealth fighters to train its own pilots. In June 2022, the 65th Squadron was rebuilt and began training and preparation, according to the Indian media "Eurasian Times", now the F-35 fighter modification work of the 65th Squadron of the US Army has been completed, and it will be stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in the future, responsible for simulating the opponent of the fifth generation aircraft, and providing training opportunities for US pilots.
Brigadier General Rawls, commander of the U.S. Air Force's Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, has become the first general to be certified as an F-35A Intruder pilot and is qualified to simulate fifth-generation adversaries. Brigadier General Rawls said the purpose of reactivating the 65th Squadron was to prepare for the "ultimate clashes" with China's J-20. In the main content of the announcement, he said: The US military is focused on the problems that need to be solved, and relentlessly seeks solutions that will enable the US military to continue to enjoy an unfair advantage. Brigadier General Rawls admitted that the appearance of the J-20 broke the superiority of the US military, and the countermeasure was that "in terms of training, preparation and talent, we are still the king of the mountain." "Enhanced confrontational simulation training" plays an important role in ensuring that the United States remains the world's leading provider of air power. ”
Judging from the report of the Indian media "Eurasian Times", the intention of the US military is to use the F-35 to "copy" the J-20, believing that the F-35 as a so-called "intruder platform" will enable US Air Force pilots to train against the J-20.
When the J-20 first appeared, the U.S. military did not regard it as a real opponent, but only questioned whether it met the standards of the fifth-generation aircraft, until the J-20 began to enter service in large quantities, the U.S. military began to change the degree, and now the U.S. military realizes that the situation is grim, and the appearance of the J-20 has too much impact. In the past, the U.S. military enjoyed the advantage of the fifth-generation aircraft, in various confrontation exercises, the fifth-generation aircraft showed very strong combat capabilities, almost invincible, non-fifth-generation aircraft and F-22 played a dozen to 1 battle damage ratio is a successful performance, it is not an accident to be brushed to zero, if you can shoot down the F-22 in a simulated air battle, then it will really be blown into the sky, a bit like creating a miracle. Now that the situation has changed significantly, Brigadier General Rawls said in his speech: "We are no longer the only big kids in the field of technology", and the fear of the J-20 has emerged.
In March 2022, when talking about the first "encounter" between the J-20 and the U.S. F-35, General Kenneth Wells**, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said clearly in his speech, although he did not disclose details or mention the time and place. The US commander also said: "We are relatively impressed by the command and control flow related to the J-20", which makes the outside world have a lot of conjectures, no matter how they are guessed, the US military's evaluation of the J-20 is only high.