The Indian army found that if their domestic stealth fighter project drags on further, not only is the number of China's J-20s likely to reach as many as 500, but even Pakistan, which is its sworn enemy, may also be equipped with hundreds of J-35 stealth aircraft in the future, and the sixth-generation fleet of 600 aircraft will form an all-round crushing for India.
The first flight of the Turkish Khan fighter].
Recently, with the completion of the first flight of Turkey's "Khan" fighter prototype, the long-dormant fifth-generation aircraft club once again ushered in new members.
The occurrence of this incident caused quite a lot of fluctuations around the world, and everyone did not expect that this new member would be Turkey, a "newcomer in the aviation field" that had no record of self-developed military aircraft before this. Second, Turkey's success has broken many people's filter of "fifth-generation aircraft = industrial pearl", so much so that many countries have begun to think that if Turkey can succeed, then they are capable of doing the same.
India already has a sense of urgency that it is lagging behind in the field of stealth fighters
India is the most typical of these "gearing up" countries, and the success of the "Khan" is like a shot in the arm, allowing the Indian Air Force to further accelerate the development of the project.
After all, back in 2006, the country planned to develop a fifth-generation fighter on the basis of the LCA Tejas fighter. In 2009, the Indian Air Force put forward relevant design indicators, established the main body of the entire Advanced Medium Fighter (ACMA) project, and promoted the project to enter the demonstration stage.
A model of an ACMA fighter on display in India
The only problem is that, just as India has encountered the problem of "sharpening a sword in 30 years" with the LCA fighter program, the ACMA project has so far only achieved the results of showing a few models or a few concept drawings at the air show, and there has been no clear practical progress.
Before the first flight of the prototype of the Turkish "Khan", the Indian side was not very anxious about this matter. Because its rival, the Pakistan Air Force, does not have fifth-generation aircraft, and although the Pakistan Air Force purchases the J-10CE from China, the size of the Air Force makes it difficult for it to pose a strategic-level threat to the Indian Air Force.
On the other hand, although the Chinese Air Force has the ability to rely on the J-20 fighter to form a clear strategic and tactical advantage over the Indian Air Force, the Indian side has always believed that the plateau environment in the Sino-Indian border area will limit the actual combat deployment of the J-20 fighter to a large extent. In addition, the PLA needs to invest resources to deal with far more strategic directions than India, and the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea and the peninsula must have the J-20 in charge.
J-20 fighters deployed in the plateau direction].
Many Indian Air Force top brass will swear in public that the Rafale can suppress the J-20, because in the eyes of these people, the PLA does not have the ability to deploy enough J-20s in the border areas to deal with the Indian threat, and even if it is deployed, the harsh deployment environment on the plateau will make the overall performance of the J-20 drop to a level comparable to that of the Rafale fighter. At this time, the Indian army can use the advantage of troops to offset the performance advantage of the J-20.
However, with the first flight of the "Khan" prototype, the Indian side suddenly realized that the situation was changing. On the one hand, Pakistan is also one of the participants in the "Khan" fighter project, and the first flight of the aircraft has given the Pakistani Air Force another fifth-generation aircraft acquisition channel after China's J-35 fighter.
On the other hand, the news of Turkey's entry into the fifth-generation aircraft club has led some overseas research agencies to conduct a new round of statistics and estimates on the production and service of stealth fighters around the world.
Although the purpose of this statistic was originally to calculate the foreign trade prospects of the "Khan" fighter, it was found that China's annual production of J-20 fighters has reached three digits, and there is still room for further growth.
The PLA's J-20 fighter fleet].
This has led to widespread speculation that China's J-20 fighter jets will reach as many as 500 in service within 3 years, and considering that the research and development progress has entered the end, it is possible to enter service at any time the J-35 fighter in mass production. There are plenty of indications that the strategic pressure on the Indian Air Force will increase dramatically in the foreseeable future, so much so that by 2026, the Indian Air Force will be overwhelmingly disadvantaged on the Sino-Indian border by 2026 in the face of 500 J-20s.
What's more, as a model with a high probability of being used for both self-use and foreign trade, the J-35's service behavior itself also represents a foreign trade license. This means that the Pakistan Air Force is expected to buy China's J-35 foreign trade stealth fighter earlier before buying the "Khan" fighter, and build a generational advantage over the Indian Air Force.
J-35 fighter image].
In this case, it is completely justified that the Indian Air Force will accelerate the development of the ACMA project after the first flight of the "Khan" prototype. After all, if the domestic stealth fighter is not secured, the Pakistan Air Force alone will be able to put huge strategic pressure on India in the near future. Coupled with the deployment of the Chinese Air Force on the border, the Indian side will be in strategic passivity with no ability to turn over in the entire northern region.
But then again, while India has the heart to accelerate the ACMA project, it is uncertain whether it will work out. Because the success of Turkey's "Khan" fighter has a lot to do with the help of the British BAE company. Coupled with the fact that the aircraft also uses a large number of components from other Western countries, a series of factors make the "Khan" essentially an international cooperation project similar to the F-35 fighter, which greatly reduces the pressure on Turkey's own research and development.
Parameters of the ACMA fighter].
On the other hand, the ACMA, because the Indian Air Force wants to get rid of the reputation of "made in all countries" in this project, requires a large number of Indian-made parts. As a result, the progress of ACMA's project is directly related to the technological development of India's own aviation industry, which is very unstable.
This makes it difficult for India to move forward with subjective intentions, and this will lead to the possibility that the ACMA project is still in the development stage with no end in sight when Pakistan has the ability to equip stealth fighters in the future.