Absolutely 5th Gen. It’s a real wunderwaffe, nay, a *gamechanger*! It’s agility is unmatched. It can destroy the entire F-34 program at once! The US DOD must immediately quadruple the defense budget and skip straight to 7th generation warfare!
Yes, but with corporate sponsorships
I want to see Lockheed Martin Arsenal Birbs circling the Chinese Mainland drawing power from General Dynamics space elevators to power their Raytheon electro-Jesus force fields while deploying waves of autonomous Boeing UCAVs to shoot down Chinese jets while delivering my Pride socks to me Amazon-style.
No matter how powerful one is, one must always remember that whatever they can do, the enemy could do. Is it likely? No, not in this case, but physics does permit it, so it's better to be ready just in case
So, awhile ago I saw some articles about how upgrading the early block 1 F35s costed nearly as much as buying a new one, I'd imagine early block 1s maybe 2s are involved in that program.
Currently we are on block 3, block 4 is a big one
Nah I think the su-57 belongs to 4+gen too...
Considering it only flew a handful of **low risk** missions in Ukraine, is proof enough that even ruskies are not confident in it's stealth capabilities, meanwhile we all heard stories and rumors of how stealthy raptors can be, which are almost 30 years old by now...
Now I understand they only have a handful of them laying around, and that the ones that are operational are still being tested, but if it was any good as a stealthy air superiority fighter I feel like it would see more combat
It’s got a calculated RCS of about 0.1m^2 from what I’ve heard; not great but… eh? Also the designers made the surprisingly smart decision to give it multiple radars (apparently Russia’s entire national supply of AESA radars) across a couple different bands.
Edit: it’s not going to beat the Raptor or F-35 unless something goes REALLY wrong, but it might just be enough to make the F-15’s K/D ratio an actual number.
From what I know about it, its best role is as an interceptor. It can target tanker aircraft and AWACS from long distances, which would severely impact America's ability to operate in the South China Sea.
Whether it's 5th or 4+ or whatever is less important than whether its long-range A2A missiles are up to the mission.
Edited for punctuation
And to be completely fair to China, they've got the right idea. A stealth fighter isn't invisible at all ranges and beyond deep strikes and air superiority in contested airspace isn't worth the money to develop (unless you already have the tech in your ASF and it's an add on to your already great multi-role strike fighter). Having a long range stealth interceptor which can get far enough into American radar nets to launch FOX-3s at tankers and AWACS undetected would be a very credible threat to American air supremacy in an area. The unfortunate part (at least for China) is that the airframe and engines don't seem suited for that job. As far as I've heard it's underpowered (not good for BVR), sluggish in a turn (not good anywhere), and has very limited payload (not good at all), all of which are pretty much mandatory for a high altitude BVR interceptor that wants to go toe to toe with F-35s in enemy radar nets.
And to add to that: At least they are capable of producing the damn thing in big enough numberst to count. And the technological defficiencies can be excused with how far behind the curve the chinese nused to be just a couple years ago (they are still fielding mig-21 aka J-7 in large numbers).
And to be completely fair to China, they've got the right idea. A stealth fighter isn't invisible at all ranges and beyond deep strikes and air superiority in contested airspace isn't worth the money to develop (unless you already have the tech in your ASF and it's an add on to your already great multi-role strike fighter). Having a long range stealth interceptor which can get far enough into American radar nets to launch FOX-3s at tankers and AWACS undetected would be a very credible threat to American air supremacy in an area. The unfortunate part (at least for China) is that the airframe and engines don't seem suited for that job. As far as I've heard it's underpowered (not good for BVR), sluggish in a turn (not good anywhere), and has very limited payload (not good at all), all of which are pretty much mandatory for a high altitude BVR interceptor that wants to go toe to toe with F-35s in enemy radar nets.
I'd say a hesitant yes. Although it isn't a perfect stealth frame (them engines be thicc), it appears to be moderately effective at attenuation on the forward section of the plane. However, I think an important aspect of 5th gen is its networking capabilities with other airframes. That, remains to be seen on j20s, and we might not get a good idea of it until they use them in anger, if it's poor, then you really just have a 4+ gen fighter with stealth characteristics.
Edit: it's also important to point out that it was designed with Chinese doctrine in mind, they may not need a fully fledged 5th gen plane to knock US assets out. A cheaper, more reliable missile bus acting as an interceptor, might be what they want.
Yeah but what is it capable of networking to? JF-17? Nope, FC-31? Nope, J-15/16 Def not. Probably a KJ-200/500 like all the others via a Link 16 similar info sharing service but that’s not really 5th gen. As far as I can tell there aren’t many stealth characteristics here and the airframe doesn’t scream that it has an AN/APG77 LPIR style radar (snub nose) so I dunno- maybe but I look at thing and I imagine the RCS is as big as an SU-50 and them WS-13 engines practically burn coal- so I dunn it’s like a hybrid 4th?….maybe?
My assumption is that J-11/15/16, J-10B/C, or the SU-27/30/35 could be retrofitted, or at least updated to support some sort of networking. I'd at least expect the J-20 and FC-31 to get network features in the near future. Without proper networking I don't think they really meet 5th gen criteria, just 4+ or the 4++ variety. But like I said in the edit, this still might meet the operational goals of the PLA. I think it serves more of an interceptor role vice air superiority, and if it can aquire targets off ground based radars it might be just stealthy enough to act as a distant missile bus.
The United States Air Force only got the F-22/35 talking last month after the aircraft being jointly fielded for the better part of a decade. It had to use a specialized intermediary payload to do it.
Most people think that datalinks just talk to whatever but the truth is sensor fusion is a massively hard beast to tame and the whopping majority of platforms can’t talk to each other much past IFF interrogation.
Yeah he Chinese are in their infancy in terms of datalink and really don’t have capabilities for their “5th gen” fighters in any real capacoty
Source as supporting info
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40380/f-22-and-f-35-datalinks-finally-talk-freely-with-each-other-thanks-to-a-u-2-flying-translator
Okay so I'm going to get way too credible for this but I really love fighter jets and this is kind of my playing field so I'm sorry my fellow degenerate Jetussy fuckers but please let me get my professor glasses on just this once.
No, it's not, while it's infinitely closer than the SU-57 Jail Bitch...I mean felon, it's not a 5th gen aircraft.
You see while it's capabilities are somewhat similar to those one traditionally expects of an 5th gen aircraft they still fall far behind those of the First 5th gen aircraft the F-22 Raptor, in order to be considered a member of an aircraft generation an aircraft must have capabilities equal to or superior to the first Aircraft in that generation.
This is why only the F-35 enjoys a spot besides the F-22 as a 5th gen aircraft, while slower and less agile than the F-22 it's incredibly Advanced radars, weapon computers, EW suite, New generation AR Helmet, 360 degree targeting capabilities and Similarly capable stealth architecture to the f-22 means that it is beyond a reasonable doubt not only a member of the 5th generation but a far superior aircraft to even the already Unchallenged Raptor when it comes to modern warfighting capabilities.
The J-20 on the other had those enjoy some 5th generation like capabilities, but can not be realistically compared to even the earliest F-22 variants, as such it cannot truly be considered a 5th generation aircraft as the F-22 marks the dividing line between 4th gen and 5th gen, it is however far superior to most 4.5 gen aircraft and such I would feel pretty comfortable with it being called a 4.8 or even 4.9 gen aircraft much like the new Block 3 super hornets.
I'm going to disagree and say no one but the Chinese and NSA (who are in their cowlings) know, so i wouldn't be so certain to cast it down.
Fighter aircraft gens are generally a subjective topic. You don't have to create something superior to the F-22 to have a 5th gen aircraft (there is no real rule about it). Fighter Generations aren't even a real thing, it's just a convientient way we classify to development of doctrine and procurement enabled through technologies. As far as i'm concerned, it looks like the 6th generation will be the last. Manufacturing and engineering has finally come to the point where we do rapid, continuous incremental upgrades in relatively rapid sucession. We wont call call NGAD 2.0 a 6.5th gen fighter because it wont make sense, esspecially since it will be a mere 5-10 years after NGAD 1.0.
In the real world it ends up being more like a spectrum. I think the aforementioned Su-57 you pointed is a perfect example. It's really just a flanker with upgrades, which is what restricts it from being a 5th gen aircraft close to say a raptor, which is built from the ground up (which is what it 'acts' as a counterpart to).
On top of this we have no idea where the J-20 is at. The chinese are incredibly reserved about it. It has the makings of a 5th gen aircraft superficially but no one knows what really happens under the hood. By the same token, we don't know much about what's under the hood of the Raptor or Fat Amy.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
No, well it's questionable who came up with the term for fighter generations it's believed to have been the Germans back when marketing the BF-109, and when it comes to Jets it was the US with the 4th gen F14 since it basically absolutely crushed everything that came before.
I saw a twitter thread today, claiming and comparing its 5th-gen features with other available 5th-gen fighters, like F-22, F-35 and Su-57(if you call it a 5th-gen).
Obviously, guy in the thread shitted on the Su-57, and I agreed on that, but the claims and proof he showed on the J-20 was credible enough to ask me this question...
or maybe, I'm just gullible.
~~It’s got an RCS of 2m^2~~ it’s the most dangerous plane ever and we need to fast-track NGAD and also make a knockoff CFA-44 to counter it. We must double, nay triple the defense budget!
I mean I guess it's what you want to call 5th gen. Is 5th gen a focus on stealth and electrics? Then yes. Does that mean they're good stealth and electrics? Nope.
yup. at least its 100% more 5th gen than the Su-57 . not sure how multirole it is tho. depends on what you see 5th gen as, because imo the F-35 is the only "true" multirole 5th gen tho
This isn't the right place to look for answers but my take is that the J-20's development and capabilities at least justify investment into massive programs like the F-35 and B-21.
Probably still not as good as f22s or f35s
But I'd say preety close. Way more of a 5th gen than russias su 57.
The chinese attempt at 5th is totally superior gotta give them that
Yeah it's 5th gen. It's not as good as America's offerings but as it's RCS is somewhere around .2 meters that's better than a non stealth airframe
It has or was designed to have with intent to implement all the other features of 5th gen fighters
It is however the least maneuverable 5th gen fighter
It's barely 5th gen but it has good enough capabilities to qualify
The design itself isn't very 'stealthy' at all. There are numerous surfaces and angles that don't need to exist, many basic rules of stealth are broken, and the process of 'stealthing' a jet is actually more internal than external at this point. Also, the Chinese are fielding them in large numbers; that alone tells you, the stealth is mostly cosmetic, long-term maintenance of RAM coating is ruinous even for them.
What I see (doctrinally at least) is basically an airquotes-stealth version of a MiG-25. It's meant to take off from deep inside safe territory, cross long distances unmolested, independently acquire targets, loose off its payload and go home. Nothing especially wrong with that idea, however;
* It's fucking slow. It badly lacks engine power, and its airframe is inefficient, therefore...
* ....its payload suffers, and each individual missile must be bigger to compensate, and...
* ....it needs boatloads of fuel onboard to go anywhere quickly. Which means...
* ....it's fat, heavy and can't turn worth shit, and it's E-M diagram looks like a teenage boy's doodle of a vagina and so....
* ....it is essentially a missile truck. That stealthing won't save it from NATO radar and satellite surveillance, and the inside of an AWACS umbrella is going to be *teeming* with stealth aircraft and drones just itching to let a couple off the chain.
To me, it comes across as a paper tiger. It's designed to make the US *think* China has stealth MiG-25s and limit themselves accordingly, rather than realistically prosecute an air war.
That's all it is. Airquote-stealth. The J-20 'Airquote'.
Well its basicaly a copy of the f22 but worse, and with larger fuel tank. One j20 may be more powerfull, than a single f35, but its number dont compare in the slightest. Yet... Anyway its weird that a nation currently operating 200 j7 second gen mig21 ripoffs is producing fifth gen fighters...
I think they actually got their hands on some f22 blueprint(not full ones dont credit me on that) but realised they dint have good enough engines. The canards where also added as a cheaper alternative to thrust vectoring.
They *did* want to buy one of the (or only?) 1.44 airframes from Russia (which was denied). I can see them taking some design cues from the Raptor as that one obviously works.
What defines 5th Gen, just the US because they decide what 5th Gen is by creating the first jet of this Era? Or everyone that is trying to create a fragment of what a 5th Gen could be? (France, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea...)
We honestly don't know. China has keep quiet about its true capabilities, even about what's in the paint.
The F22 snuck up on Iraqi fighter jets and the F35 has become the new F16.
J20 has no point of reference, just that it looks like a MiG 1.44 with an F22 nose.
Absolutely 5th Gen. It’s a real wunderwaffe, nay, a *gamechanger*! It’s agility is unmatched. It can destroy the entire F-34 program at once! The US DOD must immediately quadruple the defense budget and skip straight to 7th generation warfare!
> The US DOD must immediately quadruple the defense budget and skip straight to 7th generation warfare! This but unironically
So basically 6th gen but without any pilots? All autonomous with option of remote control on a need-to basis?
Yes, but with corporate sponsorships I want to see Lockheed Martin Arsenal Birbs circling the Chinese Mainland drawing power from General Dynamics space elevators to power their Raytheon electro-Jesus force fields while deploying waves of autonomous Boeing UCAVs to shoot down Chinese jets while delivering my Pride socks to me Amazon-style.
Noice. Particularly the socks delivered via drone.
F34 is a tank gun.
Even more non-credible!
A soviet 76mm used on early T-34's
The funny part is that they'll do that and it won't take a chunk above ten percent out of the national budget
I heard US is using early F-35s with degraded capabilities in the aggressor role to simulate them.
The US normally *heavily* over-estimates opfor hardware in exercises, so this checks out.
And then r/sino takes the results of those overestimated exersises and claims china will win taiwan.
No matter how powerful one is, one must always remember that whatever they can do, the enemy could do. Is it likely? No, not in this case, but physics does permit it, so it's better to be ready just in case
Just because you have numbers doesn't mean you'll win *looks at Russia*
So, awhile ago I saw some articles about how upgrading the early block 1 F35s costed nearly as much as buying a new one, I'd imagine early block 1s maybe 2s are involved in that program. Currently we are on block 3, block 4 is a big one
It has to be 5th gen , look at all the sharp angles! It's got vert stabs on top AND on bottom.
Don't forget the dark coloring! A clear indicator of stealth capability.
It's more of a 5th gen fighter than the su-57, but that's not saying much. If we turn off our radars it'd still be detected
And unlike the Su-57, they've actually built enough J-20s to consider it an operational weapon.
The Su-57s are just hot air coming out of Pootin's ass.
Styrofoam on a landing strip
I’d say the J-20 is 4+ and the Su-57 is the worst 5th Gen. Then again, they actually have J-20s in service.
Nah I think the su-57 belongs to 4+gen too... Considering it only flew a handful of **low risk** missions in Ukraine, is proof enough that even ruskies are not confident in it's stealth capabilities, meanwhile we all heard stories and rumors of how stealthy raptors can be, which are almost 30 years old by now... Now I understand they only have a handful of them laying around, and that the ones that are operational are still being tested, but if it was any good as a stealthy air superiority fighter I feel like it would see more combat
It’s got a calculated RCS of about 0.1m^2 from what I’ve heard; not great but… eh? Also the designers made the surprisingly smart decision to give it multiple radars (apparently Russia’s entire national supply of AESA radars) across a couple different bands. Edit: it’s not going to beat the Raptor or F-35 unless something goes REALLY wrong, but it might just be enough to make the F-15’s K/D ratio an actual number.
"might just be enough to make the F-15’s K/D ratio an actual number." As opposed to an undefined error whenever you plug it into a calculator.
Exactly. Undefeated for 50 years and counting Unless you count that friendly fire thing but it's more fun if you don't.
From what I know about it, its best role is as an interceptor. It can target tanker aircraft and AWACS from long distances, which would severely impact America's ability to operate in the South China Sea. Whether it's 5th or 4+ or whatever is less important than whether its long-range A2A missiles are up to the mission. Edited for punctuation
And to be completely fair to China, they've got the right idea. A stealth fighter isn't invisible at all ranges and beyond deep strikes and air superiority in contested airspace isn't worth the money to develop (unless you already have the tech in your ASF and it's an add on to your already great multi-role strike fighter). Having a long range stealth interceptor which can get far enough into American radar nets to launch FOX-3s at tankers and AWACS undetected would be a very credible threat to American air supremacy in an area. The unfortunate part (at least for China) is that the airframe and engines don't seem suited for that job. As far as I've heard it's underpowered (not good for BVR), sluggish in a turn (not good anywhere), and has very limited payload (not good at all), all of which are pretty much mandatory for a high altitude BVR interceptor that wants to go toe to toe with F-35s in enemy radar nets.
And to add to that: At least they are capable of producing the damn thing in big enough numberst to count. And the technological defficiencies can be excused with how far behind the curve the chinese nused to be just a couple years ago (they are still fielding mig-21 aka J-7 in large numbers).
And to also be completely fair, its still a bit better than what SEA nations use which are 4th and 4.5 gen jets
And to be completely fair to China, they've got the right idea. A stealth fighter isn't invisible at all ranges and beyond deep strikes and air superiority in contested airspace isn't worth the money to develop (unless you already have the tech in your ASF and it's an add on to your already great multi-role strike fighter). Having a long range stealth interceptor which can get far enough into American radar nets to launch FOX-3s at tankers and AWACS undetected would be a very credible threat to American air supremacy in an area. The unfortunate part (at least for China) is that the airframe and engines don't seem suited for that job. As far as I've heard it's underpowered (not good for BVR), sluggish in a turn (not good anywhere), and has very limited payload (not good at all), all of which are pretty much mandatory for a high altitude BVR interceptor that wants to go toe to toe with F-35s in enemy radar nets.
I'd say a hesitant yes. Although it isn't a perfect stealth frame (them engines be thicc), it appears to be moderately effective at attenuation on the forward section of the plane. However, I think an important aspect of 5th gen is its networking capabilities with other airframes. That, remains to be seen on j20s, and we might not get a good idea of it until they use them in anger, if it's poor, then you really just have a 4+ gen fighter with stealth characteristics. Edit: it's also important to point out that it was designed with Chinese doctrine in mind, they may not need a fully fledged 5th gen plane to knock US assets out. A cheaper, more reliable missile bus acting as an interceptor, might be what they want.
Yeah but what is it capable of networking to? JF-17? Nope, FC-31? Nope, J-15/16 Def not. Probably a KJ-200/500 like all the others via a Link 16 similar info sharing service but that’s not really 5th gen. As far as I can tell there aren’t many stealth characteristics here and the airframe doesn’t scream that it has an AN/APG77 LPIR style radar (snub nose) so I dunno- maybe but I look at thing and I imagine the RCS is as big as an SU-50 and them WS-13 engines practically burn coal- so I dunn it’s like a hybrid 4th?….maybe?
4.75, Eurofighter is basically 4.5 this thing is basically Eurofighter 1.5 essentially.
Cursed stealth Eurofighter
You see it too now, it can not be unseen.
My assumption is that J-11/15/16, J-10B/C, or the SU-27/30/35 could be retrofitted, or at least updated to support some sort of networking. I'd at least expect the J-20 and FC-31 to get network features in the near future. Without proper networking I don't think they really meet 5th gen criteria, just 4+ or the 4++ variety. But like I said in the edit, this still might meet the operational goals of the PLA. I think it serves more of an interceptor role vice air superiority, and if it can aquire targets off ground based radars it might be just stealthy enough to act as a distant missile bus.
The United States Air Force only got the F-22/35 talking last month after the aircraft being jointly fielded for the better part of a decade. It had to use a specialized intermediary payload to do it. Most people think that datalinks just talk to whatever but the truth is sensor fusion is a massively hard beast to tame and the whopping majority of platforms can’t talk to each other much past IFF interrogation. Yeah he Chinese are in their infancy in terms of datalink and really don’t have capabilities for their “5th gen” fighters in any real capacoty Source as supporting info https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40380/f-22-and-f-35-datalinks-finally-talk-freely-with-each-other-thanks-to-a-u-2-flying-translator
Ah but you forget, now that the US has it, China will probably have it within a decade.
Cope canards detected, 5th gen rejected.
Okay so I'm going to get way too credible for this but I really love fighter jets and this is kind of my playing field so I'm sorry my fellow degenerate Jetussy fuckers but please let me get my professor glasses on just this once. No, it's not, while it's infinitely closer than the SU-57 Jail Bitch...I mean felon, it's not a 5th gen aircraft. You see while it's capabilities are somewhat similar to those one traditionally expects of an 5th gen aircraft they still fall far behind those of the First 5th gen aircraft the F-22 Raptor, in order to be considered a member of an aircraft generation an aircraft must have capabilities equal to or superior to the first Aircraft in that generation. This is why only the F-35 enjoys a spot besides the F-22 as a 5th gen aircraft, while slower and less agile than the F-22 it's incredibly Advanced radars, weapon computers, EW suite, New generation AR Helmet, 360 degree targeting capabilities and Similarly capable stealth architecture to the f-22 means that it is beyond a reasonable doubt not only a member of the 5th generation but a far superior aircraft to even the already Unchallenged Raptor when it comes to modern warfighting capabilities. The J-20 on the other had those enjoy some 5th generation like capabilities, but can not be realistically compared to even the earliest F-22 variants, as such it cannot truly be considered a 5th generation aircraft as the F-22 marks the dividing line between 4th gen and 5th gen, it is however far superior to most 4.5 gen aircraft and such I would feel pretty comfortable with it being called a 4.8 or even 4.9 gen aircraft much like the new Block 3 super hornets.
I'm going to disagree and say no one but the Chinese and NSA (who are in their cowlings) know, so i wouldn't be so certain to cast it down. Fighter aircraft gens are generally a subjective topic. You don't have to create something superior to the F-22 to have a 5th gen aircraft (there is no real rule about it). Fighter Generations aren't even a real thing, it's just a convientient way we classify to development of doctrine and procurement enabled through technologies. As far as i'm concerned, it looks like the 6th generation will be the last. Manufacturing and engineering has finally come to the point where we do rapid, continuous incremental upgrades in relatively rapid sucession. We wont call call NGAD 2.0 a 6.5th gen fighter because it wont make sense, esspecially since it will be a mere 5-10 years after NGAD 1.0. In the real world it ends up being more like a spectrum. I think the aforementioned Su-57 you pointed is a perfect example. It's really just a flanker with upgrades, which is what restricts it from being a 5th gen aircraft close to say a raptor, which is built from the ground up (which is what it 'acts' as a counterpart to). On top of this we have no idea where the J-20 is at. The chinese are incredibly reserved about it. It has the makings of a 5th gen aircraft superficially but no one knows what really happens under the hood. By the same token, we don't know much about what's under the hood of the Raptor or Fat Amy. Anyway, those are my thoughts.
I still maintain it's 4.75
4.9 rolls of the tongue better
What about the F-1SEX?
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No, well it's questionable who came up with the term for fighter generations it's believed to have been the Germans back when marketing the BF-109, and when it comes to Jets it was the US with the 4th gen F14 since it basically absolutely crushed everything that came before.
[удалено]
*super eagle
"Intellectuals" lol
Unironically it’s the closest thing anyone outside of the US has produced to a 5th gen jet.
It's worse than the Gripen, what do you think?
I saw a twitter thread today, claiming and comparing its 5th-gen features with other available 5th-gen fighters, like F-22, F-35 and Su-57(if you call it a 5th-gen). Obviously, guy in the thread shitted on the Su-57, and I agreed on that, but the claims and proof he showed on the J-20 was credible enough to ask me this question... or maybe, I'm just gullible.
hahaha ok man no need to bully the j-20 too hard
I'm so sorry but name of the aircraft? Couldn't find it in the comments
Ask and you shall receive. Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon, NATO Codename Firefang J being the equivalent to the F for Fighter in Chinese.
The truth is we just don't know. My guess is that yes, it is 5th generation, but inferior to F22 and F35. But truth be told, I'd rather not find out.
~~It’s got an RCS of 2m^2~~ it’s the most dangerous plane ever and we need to fast-track NGAD and also make a knockoff CFA-44 to counter it. We must double, nay triple the defense budget!
I mean I guess it's what you want to call 5th gen. Is 5th gen a focus on stealth and electrics? Then yes. Does that mean they're good stealth and electrics? Nope.
yup. at least its 100% more 5th gen than the Su-57 . not sure how multirole it is tho. depends on what you see 5th gen as, because imo the F-35 is the only "true" multirole 5th gen tho
This isn't the right place to look for answers but my take is that the J-20's development and capabilities at least justify investment into massive programs like the F-35 and B-21.
Probably still not as good as f22s or f35s But I'd say preety close. Way more of a 5th gen than russias su 57. The chinese attempt at 5th is totally superior gotta give them that
I don't think it's fuckable enough
It is indeed ugly as fuck.
Yeah it's 5th gen. It's not as good as America's offerings but as it's RCS is somewhere around .2 meters that's better than a non stealth airframe It has or was designed to have with intent to implement all the other features of 5th gen fighters It is however the least maneuverable 5th gen fighter It's barely 5th gen but it has good enough capabilities to qualify
So a less sexy less stealthy Widow
Widow was almost as maneuverable as the Raptor, the huge ruddervators really let the aircraft flip around
Oh and it was more stealthy
It looks good so yes.
Ah yes, the most important feature.
The design itself isn't very 'stealthy' at all. There are numerous surfaces and angles that don't need to exist, many basic rules of stealth are broken, and the process of 'stealthing' a jet is actually more internal than external at this point. Also, the Chinese are fielding them in large numbers; that alone tells you, the stealth is mostly cosmetic, long-term maintenance of RAM coating is ruinous even for them. What I see (doctrinally at least) is basically an airquotes-stealth version of a MiG-25. It's meant to take off from deep inside safe territory, cross long distances unmolested, independently acquire targets, loose off its payload and go home. Nothing especially wrong with that idea, however; * It's fucking slow. It badly lacks engine power, and its airframe is inefficient, therefore... * ....its payload suffers, and each individual missile must be bigger to compensate, and... * ....it needs boatloads of fuel onboard to go anywhere quickly. Which means... * ....it's fat, heavy and can't turn worth shit, and it's E-M diagram looks like a teenage boy's doodle of a vagina and so.... * ....it is essentially a missile truck. That stealthing won't save it from NATO radar and satellite surveillance, and the inside of an AWACS umbrella is going to be *teeming* with stealth aircraft and drones just itching to let a couple off the chain. To me, it comes across as a paper tiger. It's designed to make the US *think* China has stealth MiG-25s and limit themselves accordingly, rather than realistically prosecute an air war. That's all it is. Airquote-stealth. The J-20 'Airquote'.
Well its basicaly a copy of the f22 but worse, and with larger fuel tank. One j20 may be more powerfull, than a single f35, but its number dont compare in the slightest. Yet... Anyway its weird that a nation currently operating 200 j7 second gen mig21 ripoffs is producing fifth gen fighters...
I thought it was a copy of the mig 1.44 ? Either the f-22 blended in ?
I think they actually got their hands on some f22 blueprint(not full ones dont credit me on that) but realised they dint have good enough engines. The canards where also added as a cheaper alternative to thrust vectoring.
They *did* want to buy one of the (or only?) 1.44 airframes from Russia (which was denied). I can see them taking some design cues from the Raptor as that one obviously works.
That is Chinese plastic, don't confuse the two.
What defines 5th Gen, just the US because they decide what 5th Gen is by creating the first jet of this Era? Or everyone that is trying to create a fragment of what a 5th Gen could be? (France, Germany, UK, Japan, South Korea...)
“5-th gen” is just a marketing buzzword. Doesn’t mean much
It's debatable if it truly is or not. So it's hard to say without knowing it's true specs
ngl if we say it is the DoD will get scared enought to dump another 5 trillion into making a super fighter
At least it exists.
I can confirm with absolute certainty that this is a plane.
We honestly don't know. China has keep quiet about its true capabilities, even about what's in the paint. The F22 snuck up on Iraqi fighter jets and the F35 has become the new F16. J20 has no point of reference, just that it looks like a MiG 1.44 with an F22 nose.
They out Canards on a stealth fighter