In 2022, J-20 fighter planes will appear frequently in CCTV programs. The program "Blade and Sharp Knife" mainly tells about the leap change after the J-20 fighter planes are installed in the sharp knife force of an air force unit, which also shows the superiority and progressiveness of J-20 fighter planes. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's Air Force has commissioned a large number of advanced fighter jets, among which the J-20 fighter jet, along with the J-10C and J-16 fighter jets, form the "Three Musketeers" of the People's Air Force in the new era. The overall strength of our air force is also rapidly increasing.

The United States Air Force has an advantage in the number of fifth generation and fourth and a half generation fighter jets, specifically the "Four Musketeers",The gap in the scale of fighter jets with countries such as the United States Air Force is constantly narrowing,As is well known, the United States was the first to equip fifth generation aircraft and has always maintained a large number of fighter jets. To be precise, the US Air Force is indeed the "Four Musketeers", but the US side admits that the F-35A lacks air-to-air combat missile pods, and is inferior to the J-20 in terms of flight speed and maximum radar detection range. US military experts even provide data that the combat damage ratio between the F-35A and J-20 during air combat can reach 1:4 or even 1:6. Let's exclude the F-35A and start comparing it with fighter jets that are more inclined to compete for air superiority in design.

At present, the US Air Force is mainly equipped with two fifth generation aircraft, F-22A and F-35A, with 182 F-22A aircraft (out of a total production of 187, 5 crashed) and 283 F-35A aircraft. In addition, it is also equipped with two fourth and a half generation fighter jets, F-15E and F-16C/D, with 218 F-15E and 937 F-16C/D. So, the total number of fifth generation and fourth and a half generation fighter jets of the US Air Force has reached 1620. This article mainly compares three similar fighter jets, and subtracting the F-35A, which has a total of 283 aircraft, the equipment quantity is 1337.The Chinese Air Force's fifth generation fighter jets and fourth and a half generation fighter jets currently have 550 advanced fighter jets, and the number is still growing rapidly,On the other hand, the Chinese Air Force is equipped with 150 J-20 stealth fighter jets, over 200 J-16 and J-10C, totaling 550 aircraft. Due to being designed later than the US F-22A, F-35A, F-15E, F-16C/D, etc., the Chinese Air Force's J-20, J-16, and J-10C are still rapidly increasing in number while maintaining a considerable performance advantage. And the J-20 dual seat version has also flown, and we are still somewhat ahead in this regard.

The Chinese Air Force's "Three Musketeers" have their own pulse production lines at Chengdu Aircraft Corporation and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. According to public information, the J-16 entered service in 2016, and the J-10C and J-20 also entered service in 2017. Based on this time point, it is estimated that the J-16 will maintain a production rate of around 40 aircraft per year for five years, while the J-20 and J-10C will also maintain a production rate of around 25 and 50 aircraft per year, respectively. Although this data is a rough estimate, overall it reflects the rapidly growing number of advanced fighter jets in the Chinese Air Force, known as the "Three Musketeers".

Comparison of the "Three Musketeers" of the Chinese and American Air Forces: American F-22A, F-15E, F-16C/D vs Chinese J-20, J-16, J-10C,Overall, it is not difficult to see the disadvantages of the US Air Force's current "three Musketeers" - F-22A, F-15E, and F-16C/D: they have long been discontinued and are not considered new aircraft in terms of age. The F-22A was discontinued in 2011, while the F-15E had already been discontinued as early as 2004; The production line of F-16C/D was shut down in 2019, but was recently rebuilt in 2021. So far, although the F-16C/D is still in production, it is only an export version. The last F-16C/D received by the US military was delivered in 2005.

So far, the latest among these "Three Musketeers" is the F-22A, which has been shut down for almost 11 years, and the oldest is the F-15E, which has been shut down for almost 18 years. Although the design lifespan of American fighter jets is quite long, Lockheed Martin and Boeing in the United States also have the ability to extend and upgrade them. Although they are "old bottles of new wine", they still have the power to fight in World War I.Taking the F-16C/D as an example, these fighter jets will upgrade their existing radar to the AN/APG-83 (V) active phased array radar version in the "M7.2+" upgrade plan, which has a maximum detection range of 300km and a maximum detection range of 100km for typical fighter targets with an RCS of 1 square meter. So far, these F-16C/Ds still have the power to fight in World War I.

The F-22A and F-15E are the same. The AN/APG-70 pulse Doppler radar used in the early days of the F-15E was actually only comparable in performance to the 1493 pulse Doppler radar equipped in China's J-11B/BS. The upgrade to AN/APG-63 (V) 3 active phased array radar has already begun. The AN/APG-77 active phased array radar used in F-22A has a maximum detection range of 220km for targets with an RCS of 1 square meter.The maximum range of the AIM-120C5/C7 medium range air-to-air missile they are paired with is between 75 and 112 kilometers, while the maximum range of the AIM-120D air-to-air missile is around 160 kilometers, entering the ranks of long-range air-to-air missiles; The maximum range of the AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missile launched in the "dogfight" state is 18 kilometers.

On the other hand, the existing "Three Musketeers" of the Chinese Air Force were all produced after 2016, which is completely new compared to the existing "Three Musketeers" of the US military. They have great advantages in terms of service life and design level. Take the IRST electro-optical integrated detection system as an example, this equipment is not present on the aircraft bodies of the US Air Force's current F-22A, F-15E, and F-16C/D. This device can ensure the detection of stealth fighter jets within effective working range, so the Chinese Air Force's "Three Musketeers" have a slight advantage in anti stealth aerial combat. The US side can only temporarily occupy the suspension rack to install the IRST electro-optical integrated detection system pod, which will also occupy its missile launch suspension rack.

At the same time, the 550 J-20, J-16, and J-10C aircraft currently owned by the Chinese Air Force are equipped with active phased array radar and data links that can exchange information. Among them, the "same type" active phased array radar used in the J-20 and J-16 is highly likely to have a maximum detection range of over 200km for typical fighter jet detection targets, and is also equipped with a "three sided array wide-angle phased array radar", which greatly increases the radar field of view. This is a great improvement for the battlefield situational awareness ability of the J-20 and J-16. With this radar, the PL-10E air-to-air combat missile can even achieve "over the shoulder launch", which means launching a large turn from under the pylon to strike the enemy aircraft behind.

The J-10C is also equipped with an active phased array radar with a maximum detection range of over 220km, and its maximum detection range for fighter targets is obviously higher than the AN/APG-83 active phased array radar equipped on the F-16C/D. And the efficiency of processing multiple targets is also consistent with the latter: the radar of F-16C/D and J-10C can simultaneously track 12 targets and attack 6 of them.

According to public information, the main air-to-air missiles equipped by the Chinese Air Force's "Three Musketeers" are the PL-12, PL-15, and PL-10E missiles. Among them, the maximum range of PL-12 medium range air-to-air missile is over 100km, while the maximum range of PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile is at least around 150km~200km depending on the data. The maximum range of the PL-10E close range air-to-air missile has also reached 20 kilometers.At present, the Chinese Air Force's "Three Musketeers" mainly use two types of air-to-air missiles, PL-15 and PL-10E, which are respectively used for beyond visual range air combat and within visual range air combat. Their range and performance are similar to those of the US Air Force's "Three Musketeers", so it can be judged that China has no pressure on the Chinese side during the confrontation between the Chinese and American "Three Musketeers"; However, due to the widespread equipment of the IRST electro-optical integrated detection system, China still has an advantage when facing stealth fighter jets, unlike the F-15E and F-16C/D, which are completely blind without electro-optical integrated detection pods.

At the same time, the data link system of China's "Three Musketeers" can exchange information with each other, and even achieve real-time transmission of enemy aircraft's location information to rear fighter jets through data links, which can launch long-range or even ultra long range air-to-air missiles for strikes. This is the strategy where the J-20 acts as a scout and competes for air superiority in the front, while the J-16 in the rear cooperates with it. Simply put, this style of play is also known as "A shooting B guiding".

The problems with the US data link have long been well-known: due to the lack of the concept of "cyber warfare" in the design era of the F-22A fighter jet, the F-22A does not have a modern data link and can only be used in the F-22A fleet. It is obvious that such a data link for the same type of aircraft has significant limitations, and some have even said that when commanding the F-22A for combat with an early warning aircraft, orders can only be given orally by the commander on the early warning aircraft. The missing system of the F-22A allows it to only turn on radar search during combat, so when encountering effective electronic interference, the F-22A fighter can only "kneel".

Source: Military of Strong Countries