J-20 is the only fifth-generation aircraft in service in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and it is also one of the few that can compete with the US Air Force, so the United States attaches special importance to J-20. In a recent assessment, the U.S. estimated that the PLA Air Force already has 300 J-20 fighters, and the deployment is accelerating, and by 2025, its annual production will reach 120 aircraft, which is 2 more than the speed at which the U.S. Air Force can accept the F-35A5 times.
The Americans are worried about the production capacity of the J-20. ）
It wasn't until 2023 that Japan had to revisit the J-20 because the production of the J-20 was too low, and it could produce up to 10-20 aircraft a year, but in 2023, as more fighters were replaced, the United States and Japan had to revisit the J-20.
According to reports on the official website of the United States, the J-20 fighter was tested in 2016, and the first batch was equipped with a brigade of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Trial Training Base, and in 2018, a brigade of the PLA Air Force Tactical Training Base was also equipped with J-20. After more than two years of hard work, the PLA Air Force has fully mastered the operation technology of the first fighter, and the equipment work of the J-20 fighter is also accelerating, and in 2019, the first J-20 stealth fighter combat brigade of the PLA Air Force was born, which is the 9th Brigade of the Eastern Theater Air Force.
The 9th Brigade was also the last combat unit to use the Russian engine J-20, and then all of them were replaced with domestic turbofan-10 C turbocharged engines, which reached complete domestic production and had the conditions for mass equipment of troops. The 1st Brigade of the Northern Regional Air Force became the second combat brigade of J-20** fighters in 2021.
J-20** fighters are moving towards 300 units).
The J-20 will begin mass production in 2022, and this year, there will be four brigades equipped with J-20** fighters, including the X Brigade, the X Brigade, and the X Brigade, forming the J-20 in four directions, southeast and northwest.
The U.S. side estimates that one combat brigade in PLA is equipped with 32 fighters, and eight brigades are fully manned, and the number of J-20** fighters will increase to 256. Considering that some of the troops are not yet full, they expect 20-220 J-230** fighters to be delivered by the end of 2022.
After entering 2023, the PLA Air Force's installation of the J-20 is still in rapid development. According to reports, there are also two brigades newly equipped, one is the 4th X Brigade in the Eastern Region, the other is the 9th X Brigade, and the other is the 1st XX Brigade of the Southern Military District. So there is speculation that by the end of 2023, the PLA Air Force will have 10 J-20 combat brigades, perhaps 32 J-20s. This also means that the number of J-20** fighters is likely to exceed 300, and even if it is not 300, it is not impossible in 2024.
J-20** fighters have all been produced domestically and have the conditions for mass production).
In 2023, the J-20 also made a historical breakthrough, and the first flight of the turbofan-15 engine it carried showed that the J-20 has complete technical conditions. Because the thrust of the turbofan-15 is greater than that of the turbofan-10 C, the J-20 A, after replacing the engine, has an increased take-off weight, an increased flight range, an increased flight speed, and can also carry out supersonic cruise, which greatly improves the combat effectiveness of the fighter. The United States expects the J-20A to be equipped with the army in 2025.
At present, there are only four first-class fighters in the world that can be mass-produced, the American F-22, F-35, Russia's Su-57, and China's J-20. The Su-57 fighter has poor performance and is difficult to compete with the other three fighters. The F-22** fighter has been developed for a long time, and it does not have the ability to fight in the center of the network, nor does it have a distributed optical aperture, nor does it have a helmet-style display and aiming function, so it is difficult to compete with the J-20 in actual combat. The F-35 does not fly at supersonic speeds, and among the four fifth-generation aircraft, it has the worst maneuverability, which is okay compared to the J-20, but in front of the J-20, it is vulnerable.
What is even more troubling for the Americans is that while the J-20 has made great strides, there have been problems with the development of the F-35. Because of the failure of the technical upgrade of the TR-3, the next upgrade plan of the F-35 was lost, and the production plan of the fourth batch of F-35 was put on hold.
Loma also admitted that if this situation is not resolved, 100 F-35** fighters will be shelved in factories in 2024 and cannot be delivered. It was originally intended to be completed in February 2024, but so far, there has been no progress.
In contrast, the PLA will accept the J-20A in 2025, thus surpassing the F-35 in quality. In addition, the U.S. Air Force replaced the engine of the F-35, so even if the engine of the F-35 was upgraded to No. 4, it could not achieve supersonic flight and could not compete with the J-20A** fighter.
The F-35 is a product in a joint plan between the three parties, with a strong sense of eclecticism in both design and positioning. Although the J-20 is not as valuable as imagined, the reason why the Americans can win is entirely because of their gap in science and technology, if the J-20 does not have much technological advantage, will they still do it?
Therefore, the United States puts all its hopes on the sixth generation fighters, among which there are the American NAGD, the American F A-XX. The two fighters will make their first flight in 2030, have initial combat effectiveness from 2030 to 2035, and strive to achieve a quality lead with J-20 and other models after 2035. Of course, the premise is that the relevant projects can be carried out smoothly, otherwise the scientific research strength of the United States has begun to decline, and no one knows how long it will take them to see the results.
The serial production and delivery of the J-20 led to a change in the balance of US military power in the Pacific region, forcing the United States to advance the development of the sixth-generation fighter).
The PLA's Air Force is also pushing ahead with its sixth-generation fighter program, and the United States estimates that China's sixth-generation fighter will also make its first flight after 2030 and have a combat effectiveness that is basically in sync with the United States after 2035. In other words, even if the Americans can develop a sixth-generation aircraft by 2030, the superiority in quality will not last long, and it is not certain who will win and who will lose, after all, in the Western Pacific, it is really difficult to say who will win and who will lose.