China producing J20 fighter jets quickly to counter the US and Japanese F35s
_Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: The Beijing government developing J20 fighter jets very quickly to counter the US and Japan’s deadliest F35s, say the US media. The Chengdu J-20 also known as Mighty Dragon – which is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth, fighters aircraft developed by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The Disputes between the Beijing and the Washington Government are very transparent and clear, that both nations always remain ready to counter each other at all stages. The US media compared F35 fighter jets’ strength with Chinese J20, in which it reported that a single F-35 could be positioned to destroy an entire formation of J-20s.
On the F35 and J20 fighter jets, experts said “China would likely rely upon its land-launched J-20 fighter in any kind of regional engagement. When it comes to projecting power beyond the Pacific in the air, China will face real challenges in its competition with the US airpower.”
However, China is well known for its large industrial base, something Beijing is leveraging quickly to fast-track new aircraft carriers, destroyers, and amphibious warships to deployment, and there are now indications that China is moving Quickly to leverage this ability when it comes to aircraft production.
Since the United States is planning to field more than 2,000 F-35s stealth fighters across its three military services and Japan just made a multi-billion-dollar purchase of F-35s, Chinese air dominance in the Pacific is by no means a certainty.
China would need much larger numbers of J-20s to truly compete for air superiority both globally and also in a purely regional sense. The J-20 was recently upgraded with a Chinese-engineered WS-10 engine, so domestic production of the jet can become more streamlined and efficient with a higher operational tempo.
Moreover, When it comes to projecting regional power, the J-20 is likely to play an important role in Chinese military strategy as fighter jets can reach both Japan and Taiwan from mainland China without needing aerial refueling.
Yet considering that China reportedly only has around fifty J-20s, the PLAAF would face real attrition risks in a regional confrontation in the Pacific.
