Recently, the situation in the Taiwan Strait is grim, and there is a possibility of another "war" on the island. Recently, Taiwanese media published an article about the "J-20 and F-16 showdown".
In the deduction of the air combat of the fifth-generation aircraft, the United States believes that although the F-22 is a stealth fifth-generation aircraft, in the melee dogfight, in the face of a first-class fighter like the Su-35, there is no obvious advantage at all, and even the Su-35 may be overpowered by the F-22 in terms of maneuverability and configuration.
This made Taiwanese media articles move out of the US military's F-22 to emphasize the disadvantages of the J-20** fighter in actual combat.
According to Taiwan**, the F-22 fighter had to make some compromises in terms of the number of ** carried and some equipment in order to pursue stealth capabilities. The F-22 has a limited number of built-in ** and can only carry a small amount**, while the Su-35 can expand the number of external ** hardpoints to 12.
In addition, the F-22 did not have an infrared search and tracking system and radars on both sides of the fuselage, which was the result of poor consideration in design at the time. In contrast, the Su-35 is equipped with advanced equipment such as infrared tracking, which can give it an advantage even in air combat.
Some pilots even said that the F-22 could be at a disadvantage if engaged in melee grappling. The report also mentioned that American pilot David Burke, who once flew the F-22 and Su-35, believes that the main advantage of the F-22 is stealth ability, and the melee grappling mission should be completed by a model like the F-16.
"Unexpectedly, the Chinese side has also purchased the Su-35, which has already joined the ranks of cruising Taiwan." It is worth mentioning that the United States did provide the "Taiwan army" with about 100 F-16 fighters, and all of them were upgraded to the F-16V version.
Some Taiwanese media articles seem to deliberately lead readers to believe that the F-16V can fight the J-20, because they emphasize that the F-16V is already equipped with an IRST pod, which is a passive tracking device that can avoid detection by an adversary and has an advantage over the adversary's phased array radar.
Although the Taiwanese media article did not elaborate on the performance comparison between the F-22 and the Su-35, the combat mode of the fifth-generation aircraft itself is to rely on preemptive locking to achieve victory, and the first strike will naturally not be entangled.
The J-20 has also appeared around Taiwan for cruising missions, and although there is silence on the island, it is likely that all the radar equipment of the "Taiwan military" cannot detect the existence of the J-20.
The width of the Taiwan Strait is about 200 to 400 kilometers, which makes it possible for the J-20 and F-16V to meet. Even in the dogfight, the J-20 showed great strength.
The super-maneuverable maneuverability he displayed in several public appearances laid a solid foundation for close-quarters grappling.
Taiwan media said that the Taiwanese F-16 is unlikely to defeat the J-20, and even if it is on the IRST pod in the actual environment, there is no advantage at all. The PLA has a clear advantage and has more options for possible actions.
If it is in real combat conditions, the F-16V may not even have a chance to engage the J-20.