USAF in trouble! J-20 surpasses F-22: China now has more heavy stealth fighter than the US

J-20 fighter video collection, In recent days, a photo might prove that the J-20 fighter has become the world’s largest heavy stealth fighter in terms of production volume. Its total production might have surpassed the US air force F-22. Clearly, to many analysts, the timeline for the J-20’s total production to surpass the F-22 was much earlier than expected. The photo shows a J-20 fighter with the serial number CB10220. This means that the total production of the J-20 has exceeded 220 aircraft, making it the world’s highest-volume fifth-generation heavy stealth fighter. There are around 180 F-22 fighters in service at the moment. The production number of the J-20 indicates the manufacturer, batch, and total serial number represented respectively. J-20 fighter with the serial numbers CB0369 and CB0370 participated in the Zhuhai Airshow and were displayed statically. The two serial numbers represent the 69th and 70th J-20 aircraft from the third batch produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Plant. In addition, the J-20s with serial numbers CB0018, CB0140, CB0256, CB07141, and CB07156 have also had their production numbers exposed on online photos. Now the J-20 with the serial number CB10220 has appeared, proving at least 11 batches of J-20 have been produced. Considering that the production line of the J-20 is still in operation, CB10220 cannot be the latest J-20, which means that the total production of the J-20 fighter is at least 220 aircraft. And we already know the significantly J-20B variant is in testing now. For the U.S. military, this could be quite a major news to them. The U.S. Air Force has produced a total of 195 F-22 fighter s, including eight prototypes. If only the production models are counted, the J-20 has 220 aircraft, while the F-22 has only 185 aircraft. If both the prototypes and validation aircraft are counted, the production gap between the J-20 series and the YF-22/F-22 series has widened by nearly 40 aircraft. With the Chinese WS-15 turbofan engine being finalized, the day when the WS-15 equipped J-20 start testing is not far away. And the WS-10 improved variant is also available to the J-20 production. With engine secured, the total production of the J-20 fighter can easily reach 500 aircraft, and it is not impossible to balance the quantity of the F-35 mid size stealth fighter produced by the US. The US military has been seriously considering how to respond to the J-20 with the F-22 and F-35. The problem is that the F-22 is too old and even lacks advanced optical systems, so it is hard to say if the F-22 can compete with the J-20. The F-22 was designed to have not-so-long range, that is a major issue in the Asia-Pacific theater, while the J-20 can reach Taiwan from mainland air bases easily. Moreover, the F-22 fleet has been neglected for some time, repair and maintenance are far from ideal, this is another headache for the US military. In terms of the F-35, it is not meant for fighting a fighter at the same level as the F-22. The F-35 has lower speed, significant maintenance issue, and it cannot stay fully stealthy when carrying AIM-9 dog fight missile or external bombs and missile. Its electromagnetic dominance might not be superior comparing the J-20. Also, the Chinese air force has the mid size J-35 stealth fighter program competing with the F-35. The J-35 is in some ways similar to the F-35, once it enters batch production, the US might even lose the advantage from the production volume of the F-35 at some stage. It is not a secret the Chinese side has an upper hand when considering the production efficiency. And the Chinese will definitely be able to control the cost of building the J-20 and J-35 much lower than the US counterparts. As for the progress of the sixth-generation fighter, both China and the United States are almost at the same level. It is a question of who will equip the sixth-generation fighter first, so it is difficult to say if the US military to rely on the coming sixth-generation fighter to turn the tide. We can only say there are a lot to learn why the US fighter advancement has slow down so much in recent years. Thank you for watching, please click Like, subscribe, share and comment. Thank you. China Air Force: Chinese space exploration: Photo and video: Wiki common, Yangshijunshi weibo
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