F-22 Raptor is the first 5th generation fighter aircraft to be developed.
The fighter began production from 1996 and U.S has 187 F 22 Raptors.
Unlike the F 35 which has been developed much after the F 22 and is also a 5th generation
fighter, the F 22 still can't be exported under American federal law.
Even a request from Japan which is a close ally of America was rejected.
This indicates only one thing, that F 22 has many closely guarded secrets that remain classified.
But even with what is available in the public domain, we can decipher that F 22 is far ahead
of the game compared to any other modern fighter.
China's Chengdu J-20, its most advanced fighter jet is touted to be a 5th generation fighter.
It is manufactured by Chengdu Aerospace Corporation
China has 28 J-20’s in limited service.
As per reports, combat units began introducing the aircraft in February 2018.
In this video, Defense Updates analyses why Chinese Chengdu J 20 is no match to American
F 22 Raptor?
Let us get started.
F 22 Raptor is the first operational aircraft to combine super-cruise and super-maneuverability.
Supercruise is the ability to have sustained supersonic flight without having to use the
highly inefficient afterburners.
With this F 22 can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to
pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to catch.
This is possible due to very powerful dual Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 after-burning
turbofan engines.
F 22 has a speed of Mach 1.82 during super-cruise.
Chinese J 20 uses Russian AL-31F engines which is the predecessor of AL-41F1 and has struggled
to make an indigenous engine suitable for a 5th generation aircraft.
The future production version of the J-20 may be powered by the WS-15, a homegrown turbofan
engine currently under development and could enable it with supercruise ability.
A fighter jet which can’t supercruise is technically not a 5th generation fighter.
It also must be noted here that just designing an engine with supercruise ability is not
enough, the engine needs to be reliable and this requires very strong technical prowess.
J-15 which is basically an unethical copy of Russian Su-33 , has seen several crashes
due to issues that are traced back to its engine.
The aircraft uses indigenous Shenyang Liming WS-10H engines.
Radar is like an eye for an aircraft.
There was no budget limitation when the AN/APG-77 radar was developed for F 22 Raptor.
No compromises were made and this keeps it at the top even today.
The AN/APG-77 radar features a low-observable, active-aperture, electronically scanned array
that can track multiple targets under any weather conditions.
It has a range of around 400 km against 1 m2 target.
This radar can also be used for electronic-attack by focussing its signals on the enemy to overload
their sensors.
The radar changes frequencies more than 1,000 times per second to resist jamming and have
Low Probability of Intercept.
Low Probability of Intercept means the enemy radar warning receivers are not able to detect
that a radar lock has been achieved against it and hence opponents have little warning
of an impending F 22 attack.
China is still experimenting with different radars which include the KLJ-7 and more advanced
KLJ-7A's prototype, implying that the aircraft still doesn't have such an important aspect
sorted yet.
It is well known that Chinese engineering in this field is way less sophisticated than
that of U.S. and the performance of these radars won’t challenge that of the Raptor's.
F 22 Raptor is developed from grounds up to be stealthy.
F22 is the stealthiest fighter ever build & has very low RCS (Radar Cross Section) of
only 0.0001 m2.
It achieves this due to its structural design as well as the use of Radar Absorbing Materials (RAM).
It can’t be detected by most radars.
Even if some radars are able to detect it, they will find it very hard to track it and
have radar lock.
Viewers may note that to target an aircraft, quality tracking is needed so that the missiles
can be guided towards it.
Hence Raptor can strike without the enemy knowing it is there in the first place.
Stealth is still is very difficult to achieve and it seems China has a long way to go.
Reports have emerged that a Sukhoi Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force managed to detect
the Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet fighter.
The disclosure didn’t come from any independent analysts but from an official source.
Indian Air Force commander Arup Shaha said, "The Sukhoi's radar can see them.
The new Chinese jets are not so invisible after all.
No special technology is required to detect the J-20, as it can be detected by ordinary
radar stations.”
This elevates doubts about J 20 which was already regarded as a decorated 4++ generation
fighter by many experts.
Stealth is one of the key aspects of a 5th generation fighter and without it, the fighter
can't be deemed as a 5th gen jet at all.
Although the J-20 has been pushed into service and unsurprisingly hailed by state own Chinese
media, it has many flaws.
It also has to be noted that unlike the American weapons what are deployed with F 22, the Chinese
systems haven’t been so well tested.
It is fair to say that J 20 is still not battle ready and in its current capacity could be
defeat by any 4++ generation fighter.
Against F 22, it will find itself in neck deep water.