USAF in trouble! J-20 surpasses F-22: China now has more heavy stealth fighter than the US
J-20 fighter video collection,
In recent days, a photo might prove that the J-20 fighter has become the world’s largest heavy stealth fighter in terms of production volume. Its total production might have surpassed the US air force F-22. Clearly, to many analysts, the timeline for the J-20’s total production to surpass the F-22 was much earlier than expected.
The photo shows a J-20 fighter with the serial number CB10220. This means that the total production of the J-20 has exceeded 220 aircraft, making it the world’s highest-volume fifth-generation heavy stealth fighter. There are around 180 F-22 fighters in service at the moment.
The production number of the J-20 indicates the manufacturer, batch, and total serial number represented respectively. J-20 fighter with the serial numbers CB0369 and CB0370 participated in the Zhuhai Airshow and were displayed statically. The two serial numbers represent the 69th and 70th J-20 aircraft from the third batch produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Plant. In addition, the J-20s with serial numbers CB0018, CB0140, CB0256, CB07141, and CB07156 have also had their production numbers exposed on online photos.
Now the J-20 with the serial number CB10220 has appeared, proving at least 11 batches of J-20 have been produced. Considering that the production line of the J-20 is still in operation, CB10220 cannot be the latest J-20, which means that the total production of the J-20 fighter is at least 220 aircraft. And we already know the significantly J-20B variant is in testing now.
For the U.S. military, this could be quite a major news to them. The U.S. Air Force has produced a total of 195 F-22 fighter s, including eight prototypes. If only the production models are counted, the J-20 has 220 aircraft, while the F-22 has only 185 aircraft.
If both the prototypes and validation aircraft are counted, the production gap between the J-20 series and the YF-22/F-22 series has widened by nearly 40 aircraft.
With the Chinese WS-15 turbofan engine being finalized, the day when the WS-15 equipped J-20 start testing is not far away. And the WS-10 improved variant is also available to the J-20 production. With engine secured, the total production of the J-20 fighter can easily reach 500 aircraft, and it is not impossible to balance the quantity of the F-35 mid size stealth fighter produced by the US.
The US military has been seriously considering how to respond to the J-20 with the F-22 and F-35. The problem is that the F-22 is too old and even lacks advanced optical systems, so it is hard to say if the F-22 can compete with the J-20. The F-22 was designed to have not-so-long range, that is a major issue in the Asia-Pacific theater, while the J-20 can reach Taiwan from mainland air bases easily. Moreover, the F-22 fleet has been neglected for some time, repair and maintenance are far from ideal, this is another headache for the US military.
In terms of the F-35, it is not meant for fighting a fighter at the same level as the F-22. The F-35 has lower speed, significant maintenance issue, and it cannot stay fully stealthy when carrying AIM-9 dog fight missile or external bombs and missile. Its electromagnetic dominance might not be superior comparing the J-20.
Also, the Chinese air force has the mid size J-35 stealth fighter program competing with the F-35. The J-35 is in some ways similar to the F-35, once it enters batch production, the US might even lose the advantage from the production volume of the F-35 at some stage. It is not a secret the Chinese side has an upper hand when considering the production efficiency. And the Chinese will definitely be able to control the cost of building the J-20 and J-35 much lower than the US counterparts.
As for the progress of the sixth-generation fighter, both China and the United States are almost at the same level. It is a question of who will equip the sixth-generation fighter first, so it is difficult to say if the US military to rely on the coming sixth-generation fighter to turn the tide. We can only say there are a lot to learn why the US fighter advancement has slow down so much in recent years.
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Photo and video: Wiki common, Yangshijunshi weibo