China shows off new J-20 stealth fighter 00:48
Story highlights
- China has unveiled new stealth fighter J-20, a lethal and evasive threat
- Justin Bronk: It represents threat in certain operational scenarios such as Taiwan standoff
Justin Bronk is a research fellow for combat air power and technology in the military sciences program at the Royal United Services Institute in London. The opinions in this article belong to the author.
The aircraft has been the subject of heated debate in air power circles for many years as Chinese military bloggers leaked images of the various preproduction prototypes.
The
main questions being asked now are how much of a threat does the J-20
pose to American dominance of the skies in the Asia-Pacific region, and
how much of a shift does the aircraft represent in terms of China's
military capabilities?
Should the US be worried?
In
terms of a direct comparison with the US Air Force's own stealth
fighters -- the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the J-20 is
undeniably less stealthy.
The
forward-mounted canards, poorly shielded engines and underside vertical
stabilizers all limit the amount that its radar cross section -- which
determines how visible the aircraft is to a radar -- can be reduced.
China
also has significantly less know-how in terms of radar-absorbent
coatings compared with the United States. Most importantly, it is
extremely unlikely that the J-20 is equipped with anything approaching
the F-22's and F-35's sensor suite.
J-20 stealth fighters of the Bayi Aerobatic Team of PLA's (Peoples Liberation Army) Air Force perform on Tuesday.
This
is crucial because it is not only the fact that they are hard to detect
on radar that makes the F-22 and F-35 so deadly, but also the unrivaled
situational awareness that their sensor-fusion capabilities give to
their pilots.
However, despite the
fact that the J-20 almost certainly cannot match the radar-evading
properties or situational-awareness capabilities of US-made stealth
fighters, it does have several advantages over them.
First,
due to its larger size it will carry significantly more internal fuel,
so it will have a longer range and be less dependent on vulnerable
aerial refueling tankers in the vast Asia-Pacific. It also has larger
internal weapons bays than either the F-22 or F-35, so it will be able
to carry larger, longer-range missiles or a greater load of standard
air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions than either of the US designs.
Finally,
the J-20 is almost certainly going to be produced in far larger numbers
than the F-22 and potentially even the F-35 if Chinese defense spending
continues on current trajectories in relation to the United States and
its allies.
What advantage does this give China?
Essentially,
the J-20 will give the Chinese air force a long-range, hard-to-detect
strike and interdiction fighter that can threaten the air bases,
carriers, airborne warning and control systems, and refueling aircraft
that the United States and its allies rely on to project air power over
the vast distances of the Asia-Pacific.
For the United States, it represents a
serious threat in certain operational scenarios such as a confrontation
over Taiwan or the contested Senkaku Islands.
For
less capable militaries in the region such as Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan, the J-20 represents a game-changing capability shift on the
horizon from their primary military threat -- the Chinese air force.
