J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread V
- Thread starter Deino
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Which prototype is this?
The added thrust will increase it gross weight, climb rate, and sustained turn rate, the J-20 is NOT grossly underpowered in its present configuration! In fact the performance appears very good, it will also likely supercruise once the WS-15s are installed
I would argue that the current non-supercruise capable J-20 probably would not be able to outperform the F-22 (which would probably be the best fighter plane up until the late 2020's, when the WS-15 version of J-20 and upgraded Sukhoi T-50 become available). However, the J-20 should be able to at least match the performance of the F-35A and have superior combat radius. The F-35A isn't designed to supercruise.
More important than the aerodynamic performance of J-20 at this stage, I think is the capability of its avionics, software, and datalinking and integration/maturity of its weapons suite.
Those factors are potentially much more significant factors than whether an aircraft can supercruise or not for fifth generation fighters, as not only do a true 5th generation avionics/software/datalinking capability allow the aircraft to field its weapons suite in a much more situationally aware manner, but it also has the potential to act as a significant force multiplier for older aircraft.
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