American media recently released articles about poor engine of J-20 Stealth Fighter and worse air battle capacity than T-50 from Russia. But Chinese expert Chen Hu thinks air domination doesn’t totally rely on air battle.
Air battle isn’t the only way to gain air domination, nor the best way, said the expert. Apart from air combat by J-20 stealth fighter, long-range cruise missiles and long-range ballistic missiles can both attack land targets, including airports, radars and command centers, to weaken enemy’s air battle system.
USA and other countries has had a clear view of this, so as F-15 and F-16 fighters have excellent capacity of air battle, while F-35 stealth fighter emphasizes long-range stealth, defense penetration and attack capacity, instead of air combat capability. So land attack capability and air combat capability should both be considered when evaluating performance of a fighter jet.
Besides, air combat advantage doesn’t solely depend on flying performance of fighters. Good flight performance doesn’t always bring air combat advantage. For example, Russian MiG-29 fighter with excellent flight performance was destroyed by American F-15 and F-16 fighters in air combats, this reflected the gap in systems. Complete and advanced air combat systems bring advantages in air combat.
And airborne weapons of fighter jets should also be taken into account. In Falklands War, twice-sound-speed fighters of Argentina were defeated by subsonic speed fighters of Great Britain. That’s because airborne missiles of Britain were much better than Argentinean weapons.
So, American media’s judgment on J-20 stealth fighter is unfair. We should have a comprehensive consideration of various elements, and then compare advantages and disadvantages of air forces and fighters.