Massive 5th-Gen Stealth Air War: Chinese J-20 & J-31 vs US F-35 & F-22

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) 

The Chinese People Liberation Army Air Force makes regular detailed comments in government-backed newspapers about the merits and promise of its emerging fleet of 5th-generation stealth aircraft.  At once point, the Chinese Global Times newspaper cited a US Air Force general’s observation about the J-20 in an effort to suggest China’s 5th-generation J-20 was in fact superior to US 5th-gen aircraft. 

The J-20 is already airborne, yet only land launched, and the PLA’s J-31 carrier-launched 5th-generation stealth attack aircraft is earlier on and does not appear to exist in large numbers. 

The US military services already operate hundreds of F-35s and has a robust fleet of combat ready F-22s, so how many J-20s does China have? How threatening is the aircraft, despite consistent Chinese reports about its new domestically-built engine and first-of-its-kind “two-seat” J-20 variant.  An interesting report in The Drive says China may already be flying an even more modern WS-15 domestically built engine.