In the long-term study of the fight against F22, China has put forward the strategy of "new three strikes and three defenses", in which the focus is on countering ** aircraft. Although it has gone through a variety of schemes such as passive radar, bistatic radar, meter-wave radar, and anti-radiation air-to-air missiles, it was not until the advent of the J-20 that China had the opportunity to verify the feasibility of these schemes.
After practice, only electronic fighters and meter-wave radars have proven to be relatively reliable, but the former needs to rely on cooperative signals released by fifth-generation aircraft, and the latter has low detection accuracy and is only suitable for early warning. However, one of the most direct and simple means of countering ** aircraft has long been neglected, that is, to expand the detection range of the radar. So, to what extent does the detection range of the radar need to be effective against the most advanced aircraft?
Initially, the United States announced that the F22 radar had a cross-section of 0065 square meters, although later there were rumors that its cross-sectional area was even 00001 square meters, but after comprehensive consideration, it is still considered 0065 square meters is more credible. Taking into account the adversary and being sufficient, we assume that the F22 has a radar cross-sectional area of 005 square meters, that is, only 1% of the cross-sectional area of the radar of a typical fighter. Next, let's take a look at the detection range of the fire control radar equipped by the Chinese heavy fighter at different stages against the F22.
The first stage is pulse-Doppler radar. The J-11B, which entered service in 2008, adopted the most advanced Type 1493 pulse Doppler radar in China at that time, with a planar array slot antenna diameter of nearly 1 meter. For targets with a radar cross-section of 5 square meters, the 1493 radar has a detection range of 150 kilometers and can simultaneously track 20 targets, 6 of which can strike. According to the radar detection range formula, the detection range is proportional to the fourth root of the target radar cross-section. Therefore, if the target radar cross-sectional area is reduced to 10%, the radar detection range is about 50% of the original range. When the radar cross-sectional area is reduced to 1% of the original range, the radar detection range is reduced to 1 3 of the original distance. In other words, the detection range of the 1493 radar for the F22 is only 50 kilometers, which is almost within the attack range of the F22 air-to-air missile.
The second stage is an active phased array radar. After the J-16 is equipped with an active phased array radar**, after analysis by netizens, the number of T R units is as high as 2680, which can be called the largest number of active phased array T R units in the world. The AN APG77 radar of the F-22 and F-35 has only 1956 T R units, which is largely due to the huge nose diameter of the J-16 and the results achieved by our country in the miniaturization of T R units. Thanks to this, the maximum detection range of the J-16 for a typical air target with a radar cross-section of 5 square meters exceeds 250 kilometers, but the detection range of the F22 has dropped sharply to 80 kilometers, which is still within the limited range of the F22 missile.
The third stage is the gallium nitride radar. Compared with the previous generation of GaAs T R units, the biggest advantage of the T R unit using gallium nitride devices is the significant increase in power. As early as 2008, the unit power of the gallium nitride T R unit developed in China reached 119 watts, while the power of each T R unit of the Japanese JPG-1A active phased array radar was only 8 watts, and the power of the T R unit of APG77 was only 10 watts. With the power of the GaN T R unit, the detection range of GaN radar can be increased by up to 77%. Therefore, equipped with a gallium nitride fire control radar, the J-16 has a detection range of about 440 kilometers for a typical fighter target with a radar cross-section of 5 square meters, and a detection range of up to 146 kilometers for F22, which is close to the detection range of the 1493 radar for air targets of 5 square meters.
But even if the J-16 is equipped with a gallium nitride radar, can it break through the stealth cloak of the F22?Not yet necessarily. Here's why:
1. The detection range of 146 km of GaN radar for F22 is only realized in narrow beam mode, and its practical combat significance is limited. The maximum detection range of a fighter against an air target is usually obtained by a narrow beam in the single-target tracking mode. For example, the Russian "Snow Leopard E" radar can detect targets with a radar cross-section of 3 square meters at a head-on detection range of 350 to 400 kilometers, but when the detection angle is expanded to about 300 square degrees, the distance quickly decreases to 200 kilometers. This means that even if the J-16 is equipped with a gallium nitride radar, it needs to be under the command and guidance of the AWACS aircraft to intercept the F22, but the AWACS aircraft also faces the problem of insufficient detection range of the F22 at large angles.
Second, 146 km is only the distance at which the J-16 gallium nitride radar found F22, and the stable tracking distance is shorter. Normally, the stable tracking distance of the fighter fire control radar on the air target is only half of the search range, while for the ** target such as F22, the stable tracking distance will be reduced to 30% or even 20% of the search range.
Third, even if stable tracking is possible, it is difficult for the active radar seeker of air-to-air missiles to lock onto the F22. Even if the J-16 uses gallium nitride radar to stably track the F22 and launch the PL15 air-to-air missile, the PL15's active radar seeker will have difficulty locking onto the F22. So why doesn't the PL15 seeker use a gallium nitride radar?Although Japan has equipped its AAM-4B air-to-air missiles with an active phased array radar as a seeker, its detection range is limited because air-to-air missiles are small in size and advanced radar seeker alone is not enough.
To sum up, even if the J-16 is equipped with a gallium nitride radar, it is still not enough to break through the stealth cloak of the F22. Conversely, if the F22 is equipped with a gallium nitride radar, it can attack AWACS aircraft and fighters at a longer range, reducing the likelihood of being involved in close-range combat. Therefore, the J-16 has not changed its disadvantages with the F22 due to the advancement of radar technology, at least for now.