Here's how the US' F-22 Raptor compares to China's J-20 stealth fighter by Liu Zhen on Jul 30, 2018, 2:39 PM 
China’s new J-20, officially named Weilong or powerful dragon, is one of the world’s most advanced fighter jets and the country’s answer to the American F-22 Raptor. In mid July the PLA Airforce released a video of a nighttime training exercise involving the stealth fighter as a demonstration of its combat readiness. The Chinese warplane was developed by the Chengdu Aerospace corporation, which began testing them in 2011 before the first planes entered service in March 2017. So far a few dozen J-20s have been produced for the PLA although the manufacturer is continuing to build more. The F-22 Raptor was developed by Lockheed Martin for the exclusive use of the US Air Force. Exports even to America’s closest allies are banned to protect its stealth technology. Its maiden flight was in September 1997 and it entered service in December 2005. In 2011 production was terminated because of the high costs involved and lack – at the time – of any aircraft that could challenge its dominance. America is planning to upgrade the fighter in future but for now it remains, along with the Weilong, one of the most advanced fifth generation fighters in the world. Both single-seat fighters have stealth capabilities, which means they are designed to avoid detection by radar. Here is how the two compare. SEE ALSO: We asked a military analyst how the F-22, Su-57, and J-20 stealth planes match up SEE ALSO: We asked an F-22 Raptor fighter-wing commander if he's worried about Russia's Su-57 stealth fighter SEE ALSO: China's J-20 stealth fighters will likely patrol Taiwan's airspace soon — and the island nation is ready to counter Design characteristics  The J-20 and F-22 are a similar size. The J-20 is 20.3 metres (66.6ft) long and has a 12.9 metre wingspan compared with the F-22’s 19m length and 13.6m wingspan. Made of advance alloy materials, they also have similar empty weight of around 19,000kg. The J-20’s loaded weight is slightly heavier, of around 32,000kg compared with the F-22’s 29,000kg, however the American fighter can take off with a maximum weight of 38,000kg, 2,000kg more than the J-20.
Performance  Both planes have a ceiling of 20km and a maximum speed of over Mach 2 (2,470km per hour) – faster than the speed of sound. The F-22 has a comparatively shorter range – with a combat radius of 800km, while the J-20’s large internal fuel tank can sustain a longer combat radius of 1,100km.
Engine  The F-22 is powered by afterburning turbofan F119-PW-100 engines, which enable it to super cruise at a speed of Mach 1.82. The engines have vectoring nozzles which enable it to perform agile manoeuvres event at supersonic speeds. However, the engine is the J-20’s weakest link. Plans for China to develop its own advanced turbofan engines fell behind schedule. This meant the manufacturers had to rely on inferior engines – either the Chinese WS-10B or Russian-made AL-31FM2/3 – which severely affects its manoeuvrability and stealth capacity at supersonic speeds. However, the new WS-15 engine, which is expected to be available next year, will go a long way to addressing this problem.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
| 
0 comments:
Post a Comment