The U.S. Air Force announced plans to retire 310 military aircraft of all types, including 32 high-profile F-22** fighter jets, in its military budget report for fiscal year 2024, a surprising decision. At the same time, the highly anticipated F-35** fighter jet has been limited in its procurement due to slow progress in addressing its shortcomings, and it will need to shoulder combat missions for decades to come. At the same time, it was discovered that China's J-20** fighter production is gradually increasing, as a benchmark for the F-22 and F-35.
As an ideal partner for the J-20 and other models, the J-16 has been quietly equipped with more than 200 aircraft. What makes the US military even more anxious is that the current number of equipment of J-20 and J-16 is almost the same as that of F-22 and F-35! This huge image change is attributed to the continuous efforts of China's leading engineering researchers to gradually improve the various capabilities of the J-20.
It is said that the news of the successful test flight of the J-20 equipped with the WS-15 engine came out in the summer of 2023, which is regarded as the last piece of the puzzle for China to piece together the "complete body" of the J-20! At the same time, the production capacity of J-20 is also increasing year by year, and the new production line of Chengfei has been put into operation, and from time to time we can see the news that new troops have replaced J-20. The latest statistics show that the total number of F-22s and F-35As in active service in the US Air Force is 373, of which 177 are F-22s and 196 are F-35s.
If the 32 training F-22s that the US Air Force plans to retire are subtracted, the gap between the total number of stealth fighters between China and the United States will be narrowed to less than 150. It is said that with the gradual retirement of the F-22 every year and the reduction of the number of F-35 purchases to between 32-50 due to defects and upgrade delays, the gap between the total number of stealth fighters in China and the United States will be further narrowed.
According to a July 2023 report by Britain's Jane's**, the Chinese Air Force may have put 11 J-20s into service since January 2023, indicating that the Chinese Air Force's J-20 production is growing rapidly. China's annual production of J-20 fighters reaches at least 22 units, which is still a relatively conservative estimate.
Although this figure is less than the number of F-35 fighters purchased by the U.S. Air Force each year, the J-20 has already met operational standards by the time it is delivered to the military, unlike the F-35, which needs multiple software upgrades after delivery before it can barely be put into operation. As the production capacity of Chengfei's J-20 production line steadily increases, it is expected that the gap between the two annual delivery numbers will gradually narrow, and may even be reversed. The J-16 with the "Thunderbolt-17" long-range air-to-air missile will become a nightmare for US military aircraft.
In addition, the "bomb truck" J-16, which has appeared "in the same frame" as the J-20 many times, according to the "Jane's" analysis satellite**, the Chinese Air Force has been equipped with at least 233 aircraft. According to the "Military Channel", the J-16 is a two-seat, twin-engine heavy fighter with the characteristics of an all-rounder with both offensive and defensive capabilities. It is given the nickname of "bomb truck" because it has 12 ** external attachment points, can carry up to 12 tons of various types of ** ammunition, and can independently carry out strike missions against air, sea and land.
The J-16's large ammunition carrying capacity makes it the best partner for the J-20, capable of taking on the heavy task of carrying out supplementary strikes against enemy targets that have been "pierced" by the J-20. In addition, given the strong electronic warfare capabilities of the U.S. Air Force, China has also developed the J-16D electronic warfare aircraft based on the J-16, which was first publicly demonstrated at the 2021 Zhuhai Air Show. This specialized electronic warfare aircraft is believed to be able to effectively deal with the F-35 and other US fighters, and has the ability to integrate "reconnaissance, attack, and defense" into a comprehensive combat capability.
In terms of appearance, compared with the original J-16, the J-16D cancels the infrared search and tracking system at the front of the cockpit and the 30mm cannon inside the fuselage on the right side to increase the capacity of electronic equipment in the fuselage. In addition, there are also a number of antennas around the fuselage, the missile pylons on the wingtips have also been replaced with two electronic reconnaissance and jamming equipment, and electronic warfare pods with different functions can also be mounted under the belly, which is similar to the device on the US E-A-18G "Growler" electronic attack plane.
The J-16D is believed to have the ability to carry out "soft and hard" killing of enemy radars, communication systems, control systems, etc., and can provide "accompanying suppression" services for the combat operations of the J-20 and J-16. The current situation and future development prospects of the Chinese Air ForceAlthough the number of J-20s currently owned by the Chinese Air Force is not too far from that of the F-22 and F-35 of the US Air Force, the scale of the J-16 is more than half of the F-15 (408 aircraft of various models) of the US Air Force, which seems to have laid the foundation for a solid national defense.
However, on the modern battlefield, the electronic warfare plane's ability to "control information" and "control of electromagnetic matter" is enough to turn the tide of war in an instant. Foreign media statistics show that the squadron currently only has single-digit J-16D electronic warfare aircraft, while the United States has 152 E A-18G "Growler" electronic warfare aircraft, such a scale comparison is simply impossible to ignore. Therefore, as the Chinese Air Force continues to increase the number of J-20 and J-16 purchases, it should also increase the procurement of J-16D electronic warfare aircraft.
Although the J-16D is extremely expensive, we do not need to reach the size of the equipment of the US Air Force, but appropriate expansion according to the size of the fleet such as the J-20 and J-16 is necessary. After all, the "concomitant suppression" and "anti-radiation warfare" services provided by the J-16D are very important. It is expected that in the near future, we will be able to witness the entry into service of a large-scale J-16D electronic warfare aircraft, because this will mean that the professional electronic warfare aircraft of the Chinese Air Force already have a considerable scale!