Two American AWACs planes cruise two hundred miles off the Chinese coast,
blasting a significant portion of the hostile coastline with radar and feeding that information
to American combat assets in the air all across the South China Sea. For the Chinese,
they are a critical target that must be eliminated ASAP. For the Americans, who have no ground-based
installations to fall back on, they are vital resources to be protected at all costs.
Whether the two big birds live or die in the coming moments might just determine
who reigns supreme in the skies over China's coastline.
A flight of Chinese J-15s scream towards the American planes, armed with long-range missiles
they only need to get to within 150 or so miles to down their targets. The Chinese fighters have
taken off from military airfields on Hainan island, hastily repaired after the initial
American strike against military bases all across Southern China's coast by US Navy submarines
utilizing tomahawk cruise missiles. While not fully operational, the air fields are
able to launch several sorties a day- enough to threaten the all-important American AWACs planes.
Now the Eight J-15s scream at full afterburner towards their targets. US strikes weren't able
to disable all of China's ground-based radar capabilities, and the systems the People's
Liberation Air Force still has operational tell the J-15 pilots that the big birds are currently
alone. None of the veteran pilots are fooled though, the AWACS won't be alone for long.
The US Air Force has been operating from airfields in the Philippines, which China has been hesitant
to strike at out of fear of driving the Philippines from a passive ally of the US,
to a fully combat-committed one. Somewhere near the AWACS, Chinese long range radar now
picks up a small flight of US Air Force F-15s, likely there to provide cover
for the vulnerable planes. The Chinese jets aren't looking for a dogfight, they hope to
get to within long-range striking distance and down the AWACs before the F-15s can respond.
To accomplish this the planes first fly east, away from their targets, then loop around to the south
before turning north on the AWAC’S six o’clocks- an unexpected attack vector. The F-15s which
have been expecting an attack from the east are completely out of position to defend the AWACs,
despite being vectored in on the approaching J-15s. The big, slow,
and extremely vulnerable American Airborne Warning and Control planes
are easy pickings as the Chinese jets cruise towards firing range.
Suddenly, four of the J-15s receive missile lock warnings. The pilots scan the horizon wildly as
their onboard alerting systems work out range and heading. There- 3'oclock, thirty five miles
out and closing extremely rapidly- American AIM 120 Amraams. The J-15s dump flares and chaff,
breaking off their attack to outmaneuver the incoming missiles. This however means
turning away from the incoming missiles and from their current direction of travel,
which bleeds large amounts of airspeed which must be very quickly made up.
The other Chinese pilots panic briefly- they know of only one plane that could
have remained undetected on radar long enough to ambush them- the American F-22.
A hundred miles away, four American F-22 Raptors supercruise at over twice the speed of sound.
Had the J-15's been pointed in their direction, their front-facing radar may have briefly detected
the presence of the F-22s by the opening of their weapon bays. Even so, the brief contact
may not even have been enough to alert the Chinese pilots they were being targeted and under fire.
Given the AIM 120's kill rate of around 30% against actively defending aircraft,
each F-22 has launched three missiles at each bird,
with a second volley targeting the remaining 4 J-15s just seconds later.
The Chinese formation is in chaos, as the second group of J-15s realize they've been
targeted as well. The planes dive to put on airspeed as they dump flares and chaff-
most of the American missiles explode harmlessly into the decoys- but many don't, and six J-15
pilots are forced to eject. The other two break off the attack and decide to cut their losses.
The American F-22s have accomplished their mission, but suddenly their
powerful long-range radars detect the unmistakable ping of a stealth aircraft
opening its weapons bay doors to fire. The F-22 computers immediately recognize the few
seconds of the return signal as a Chinese J-20 stealth fighter- and the Raptors with
their 6 medium-range missile capacity per plane are completely spent on AIM 120s.
China has its own answer to the F-22, largely due to its espionage of American military
secrets. Head-on as they are currently approaching the F-22s,
the J-20's stealth is less effective than the Americans, but more than good enough to make
long-range targeting impossible if not incredibly difficult. Picking up on the F-22's own firing,
and thus breach of their stealth capabilities, the J-20s have fired their own long-range
missiles in the direction of the last radar contact with the American planes.
The missiles cannot hope to lock on to the F-22s at such long range, but once they come within
thirty to twenty miles, their on-board radar could pose serious risks to the American F-22s.
The American pilots face a tough choice. They only have two short-range AIM 9X missiles each,
only usable when within a few dozen miles of their target. Meanwhile, the Chinese missiles are
screaming across the sky towards them. Turning and running would mean the loss of a lot of airspeed,
and potentially allow the missiles to catch up. Plus, while far better than the J-20's, the
F-22's rear radar cross section is far worse than its front, and would make them easier targets.
The F-22s decide to execute a hard ninety degree turn. Unlike the J-15s,
they have the advantage of long-range detection of the hostile J-20's missile launches,
and while the maneuver bleeds off precious air speed, there's plenty of time to regain it. Plus,
the incoming missiles can't match the extremely tight turn rate of the F-22
with its thrust-vectoring engines, and must make a much wider turn, bleeding off its own airspeed.
The turn is successful, and the Chinese missiles tumble harmlessly out of the sky, their airspeed
completely exhausted. However, the turn has also presented the F-22's three and nine o'clock to the
incoming J-20s, and these are the least stealthy angles of the large American fighter. With plenty
of radar-reflective surfaces exposed to the long-range radar of the J-20s, there's little
the radar-absorbent features of the aircraft's skin can do to prevent a good lock by the Chinese.
As the J-20s move in for the kill on the helpless F-22s,
the Chinese pilots stare incredulously at a loudly squawking missile lock warning.
More American AIM 120s are incoming, tearing through the air at 2500 miles an hour.
Lurking behind the first flight of Raptors, is a second 4-bird flight,
who have just released on the Chinese planes. With the J-20s moving their forward-facing
radar off-axis, they never had a chance to detect the second flight of Raptors.
The J-20s may be cheap copies of the F-22, but they are still a very stealthy plane,
making it hard to get a good weapons lock on them from long range. That's why while the Chinese and
American fighters juked for supremacy, a US Air Force RQ-170 Sentinel drone quietly snuck
behind the Chinese formation. Now, the unmanned drone activates its radar and blasts the Chinese
stealth fighters, hitting the fighters in their least stealthy angles. With its remote data link,
the Sentinel sends targeting data back to the second flight of F-22s,
which feed that data directly to their own nine AIM 120 missiles already in flight.
The American kill network is brutally effective, and China's limited fleet of J-20s is reduced by
another four. Three J-20s remain however, and the Raptors boost towards the Chinese flight. Neither
side has any long-range weapons remaining, but each plane still carries two short-range missiles.
At these ranges, the stealth characteristics of both planes are largely ineffective,
but the F-22's far greater maneuverability and its superior engines proves dominant,
especially with its ability to vector its thrust. The J-20's canards allow it great
agility as well, but its inferior engines proves to be its downfall.
Two short-range missiles don't guarantee a kill even in a dogfight however,
which is why the American Raptors have an onboard cannon. The J-20 does not, and
within a few minutes, one American Raptor has been downed, with the total loss of all Chinese J-20s.
The clash just a few dozen miles from the Paracel islands has pulled much of
the Chinese Air Force's remaining air power in the area. So far,
the war has been extremely expensive for both sides in terms of aircraft lost, with hundreds
downed on both the Chinese and American side. With their superior technology and capabilities though,
the American planes are enjoying a far greater kill ratio- but it is not an easy victory.
Supercruising at 65,000 feet above sea level, a third flight of F-22s now closes
in on Hainan island and its remaining military infrastructure. Head-on to incoming radar waves
from the surviving Chinese radar installations, the F-22s present their stealthiest side
and won't be detectable until within a hundred or so miles. Even then, the radar resolution will be
so low that weapons lock won't be achievable until the planes close to within thirty miles.
The F-22s don't need to get that close. Armed with two 1,000 pound glide bombs each,
the F-22s open their weapons bay doors at just under 200 miles and release their payloads.
Chinese radar immediately picks up the distinct ping of stealth aircraft firing, followed briefly
by a large flash as the planes bank and turn away from their targets, but due to their stealthy rear
radar cross-sections, the island's air defenses are completely confounded and can't respond.
Eight 1,000 pound bombs deploy small fins and begin their satellite guided flight to their
targets. The four remaining air-defense radars on the island will receive two bombs each, and in
just a few minutes the giant radars are smoldering wrecks. With the loss of this last outer ring of
defenses, China has effectively lost the ability to monitor and respond to threats along a large
section of the South China sea, leaving the US and its allies with complete air superiority.
For now, the Chinese Air Force will be forced to fight a defensive war close to its own shores,
where air defenses remain dense enough to ward off even the stealthy F-22s.
At the absolute limits of their combat ranges from airfields in the Philippines, the F-22s
rendezvous with one of dozens of American airborne tankers before returning to base.
With the superior fighter, a larger AWACS and airborne refueling fleet,
and the world's most robust battle management and data link capabilities,
the US military has won the day, despite the high costs of a war between these two military giants.
For now though, the F-22 continues to reign supreme, unmatched by any other weapon in the sky.
Want to find out how the mighty Raptor compares to the Russian SU-35? Check out this video,
US F-22 Raptor vs Russian SU-35 Fighter Jet- Who Would Win? Or click this other one instead!