5th Gen Air War: F-35 vs Chinese J-20 & J-31 and Russian Su-57

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) As F-35 multi-national acquisition explodes throughout Europe and hundreds of new F-35s are slowly arriving to the military services, many are likely to wonder whether the famous fighter should be considered the world’s “best” fighter jet. Called a “flying computer” and well-known for its “sensor fusion,” targeting range and drone-like surveillance technology, the F-35 simply may not have an equivalent. Does it?

F-35 vs Chinese J-20 & J-31 and Russian Su-57

Certainly Russia’s Su-57 and Chinese J-20 and J-31 represent great power efforts to match or “out-perform” the US F-35, yet there are a handful of specific attributes which rival nation 5th-generation aircraft would need to match. Perhaps the first and most visible F-35 characteristic which likely proves difficult to replicate is simply the existence of three variants. At the moment, it does not appear that any rival nation operates an F-35B-like vertical take-off and landing 5th-generation aircraft able to operate from smaller-deck amphibious assault ships. Added to this equation, it is also not clear any rival nations operate a carrier-launched F-35C equivalent. The Chinese are of course engineering the J-31 for carrier-launch operations, yet it is not clear how far along or combat ready this aircraft is.

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Beyond mere configuration, there are a number of key technological attributes which rival 5th-generation offerings may be challenged to replicate, such as sensor range and fidelity, AI-enabled computing, threat library mission data files, flight automation, weapons envelope, manned-unmanned teaming and fleet-wide data link networking.

While an entire essay could be written about each of these particular categories, one clear and perhaps most impactful F-35 advantage shown in wargames is that the range and fidelity of its targeting and sensors are not only enabled by integrated, high-speed data integration and processing or “sensor fusion,” but also able to reach unprecedented ranges. Wargames using the F-35 as well as live fire exercises such as the Air Force’s Red Flag have shown that an F-35 can see and destroy large formations of enemy fighters from standoff distances where it cannot be “seen” or detected by an enemy. In this kind of scenario, which has been shown in several wargames, a single F-35 has proven able to see, identify and destroy larger numbers of enemy airplanes without placing itself within a line of fire. 

This means the Distributed Aperture System, a 360-degree sensor camera view around the fuselage, coupled with long-range electro-optical targeting technology are able to see enemy threats, quickly identify them by bouncing them off a computer data library of known threats called Mission Data Files, and use precision-guided long-range air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons to destroy enemies while itself operating at safe distances. 

All of this, quite significantly, is enabled by so-called “sensor fusion,” a term to describe sensor data integration wherein pertinent, time-sensitive details from otherwise disparate sensor streams are integrated onto a single, user-friendly data screen for pilots. This massively streamlines operations and, due to the rapid progress of AI-enabled computing and data processing, is only getting faster and more precise with its analysis and breadth of information. Although conceived of years ago, this ‘sensor-fusion” computing is widely regarded as early iterations of AI-data processing, technology now weaving its way into most US military weapons systems and enabling paradigm-changing levels of multi-domain networking.