Comparison of the number of heavy fighter between China and the United States,

Comparison of the number of heavy fighter between China and the United States,

The past165438+1October 1 1 was the 72nd anniversary of the founding of China Air Force. In the commemorative video released by the Air Force, advanced fighters such as J-20, J-16, J-1/were displayed. Imagine that 20 years ago, in the field of advanced fighters, we could only rely on the embarrassment of outsourcing Russian-made Su -27 fighters to encourage and support, which can not help but make people feel the rapid development of the Air Force in recent years. In contrast, although the US Air Force reached an unprecedented height with the F-22 stealth fighter as early as around 2005, its development in recent years has stumbled, making the air forces of the two countries present some wonderful new changes in heavy fighter.

According to the equipment data released by the US Air Force in June, 20021,the existing heavy fighter models and quantities are 2 1 1 F- 15C, 23 F- 15D, 218F-/KLOC-respectively. Comparatively speaking, the situation of our air force may be somewhat unexpected. First of all, three heavy fighter models, Su -27, Su -30 and Su -35, were purchased from Russia, totaling 176, of which the first two batches of ***48 Su -27SK/UBK were mostly retired due to their basic service life. Therefore, the number of Russian original fighters held by China Air Force should be around 130 (including the third batch of 28 Su -27UBK).

In addition, about 105 J-1 1A fighters were assembled and produced in China, while more than 320 j-1/b fighters were completely localized, of which more than 70 were assigned to the land-based forces of HNA, and the air force equipped the remaining 240. Finally, there are J-16 with an estimated production of more than 200, and J -20 with an estimated production of more than 100. There are more than 775 heavy fighter in China. Yes, inadvertently, the number of heavy fighter in China's air force has now exceeded that of the US Air Force 100. This does not include the old J-8, which has fallen behind now. They are all three generations and four generations of fighters. I'm afraid this situation was unimaginable 20 years ago. Of course, it should be emphasized that the superiority in quantity does not mean that our army's inductive combat effectiveness in heavy fighter has now surpassed that of the US Air Force.

The production time of F- 15C, F- 15D and F- 15E in active service of the US Air Force lasted from the early 1980s to the early 20th century, during which an F- 15E was finally delivered in 2004, which was the eve of mass production of the F-22A stealth fighter. At the beginning of service, these F- 15 were basically the skill specifications of the first three generations, but after the promotion of the US Air Force, all the original Doppler radars were replaced by active phased array radars, and other flight cockpit equipment and helmet sights were also updated accordingly, reaching the skill specifications of three and a half generations of fighters. In other words, the heavy fighter unit of the US Air Force consists of 186 fourth-generation stealth fighters and 452 third-generation semi-fighters, while the composition of the China Air Force is somewhat different.

At present, only Su -35 and J-16 are considered as three generations of semi-fighters, while Su -27UBK, Su -30MKK, J-1A and J-1 1B are all pre-skills of the three generations. Therefore, the further calculation results of our troops in heavy fighter are as follows: there are more than 0/00 J-20 fourth-generation stealth fighters, more than 220 third-generation semi-fighters (there are 24 Su-35 * * *), and the remaining 450 are the first three-generation fighters. According to the recognized air combat imitation, the communication ratio of the three-and-a-half-generation and three-generation early fighters is roughly 1.5: 1. According to this ratio, combined with the differences in the composition of heavy machinery between China and the United States, it can be roughly concluded that the actual combat effectiveness of the two is evenly matched. However, the factors affecting air combat strength are obviously becoming more and more chaotic.

Although the two sides are generally suitable for heavy fighter, the US Air Force still has great advantages in the fields of large aerial tankers, electronic fighters and large early warning aircraft. At present, the US Air Force has 35 large-scale early warning aircraft, including E-3B, E-3C and E-3G. Among them, E-3B and E-3C belong to the second-generation early warning aircraft with China Air Police -2000, but 23 upgraded E-3G have now entered the threshold of the third-generation early warning aircraft. In contrast, China's large airborne early warning aircraft force has only four Airborne Police -2000. Although there is also the potential to upgrade to the third generation in theory, the quantitative interval is still quite significant. Many of the air police -500 equipped now are third-generation early warning aircraft in terms of skills, with more than 20 aircraft, but at most they are equal to E-3G. In addition to E-3 series, the US Air Force also has E-8, EC- 130 and RC- 135 series electronic fighters, with a total number exceeding 150. On the surface, these fighters belong to auxiliary models, but in fact they have become the central electronic fighters of modern information warfare, which has a great influence on the air combat power of both sides.

However, the category with the largest distance between the two sides is the aerial tanker. Recently, the scene that Yun -20, a large aerial tanker based on Yun -20, refuels two J-16 at the same time has been widely concerned. After all, the category of aerial tankers is a long-standing shortcoming of China's military aircraft. Even about 20 H -6 tankers and 3 Il -78 tankers obtained from Ukraine are difficult to support the situation. However, as the absolute leader of the global aerial tanker fleet, the US Air Force has only 393 KC- 135 large aerial tankers, and the latest KC-46A large aerial tanker has also been in service for 46, and it is still in high-speed production. The total number of all kinds of aerial tankers has exceeded 520, which is very different in quantity and quality.

Whether it is a large electronic fighter or an aerial tanker, the only really useful large platform in China is Yun -20. No matter how sophisticated the technology is, it is difficult for domestic large civil airliners to be used for military purposes in a short time for various reasons. Therefore, improving the turbofan -20 engine carried by Yun -20 as soon as possible and launching as many improved Yun -20 models as soon as possible is the best way for us to narrow this gap. Of course, in addition to these advantages, the US Air Force is not without its own disadvantages. The most typical problem is the age of heavy fighter and its auxiliary types.

The production time of American F- 15C/D series fighters is relatively early, which is roughly concentrated between 1980 and 1987. The average age of 234 F- 15C/D fighters currently in service is over 35 years. Although the service life of 15C/D fighter is about 40 years in theory (8,000 flight hours, 200 hours per year), there are still several years to go, but the aging fighter faces high maintenance costs, and the possible aging risks cannot be ignored. In fact, in June 650~7 10 km/h 65438+1October, an F-15c (made in1982) of the US Air Force was flying at a speed of 650 ~ 710 km/h.

The final conclusion of this incident is that the life span of the body has reached its limit. Even the F- 15J equipped by Japan Air Self-Defense Force has many problems in recent years, such as parts falling off, auxiliary fuel tank falling off and landing gear not being put down. The poor situation of the old soldiers can be seen. However, the production time of F- 15E is a little later and the conditions are a little better, but the average machine age is over 28 years, which is also not optimistic. These problems are the important reasons for the United States to restart the production line and buy 144 F- 15EX.

In addition, in a large number of aerial tankers of the US military, the situation of aircraft age overload is becoming more and more serious. Especially for the 394 KC- 135 large aerial tanker, the average service life of both models has exceeded 59 years. Even though the US Air Force has extended its service period many times, it is still difficult to support high-frequency combat operations, which is the direct reason why the United States has produced KC-46A at a high speed in recent years. The fundamental reason why many important models of the U.S. Air Force have been put into service for an extended period is that F- 15C/D and KC- 135 were both produced during the high-intensity confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, the US Air Force felt that its strength was enough to limit all its opponents, which greatly slowed down the updating speed of equipment and even greatly reduced the functional requirements for the next generation of equipment. In the meantime, the F-35 medium stealth fighter became the main force of the three armed forces of the United States, and the F-22 only produced more than 180. After 20 10, China's air force achieved super-high-speed development with lightning speed, which exposed the problems of low functional requirements and slow development of the US military, and finally led to the evolution of the air power between the two countries into the current power comparison.

At present, Su -27UBK and Su -30MKK purchased from Russia, and J-1 1A produced by Russian Avionics are all Russian specifications, which are not compatible with China. Therefore, although these types of homogenizers are not too old, they are all around 18 to 20 years, but they are difficult to upgrade and have limited benefits, and they are in a state of continuous exertion of waste heat. The Air Force is equipped with more than 240 J-1 1B, with an average age of less than 10 years, all of which are made in China, and there is great potential for improvement. In the last article, we also analyzed that J-1 1B can be transformed into "quasi-J-16" at a higher cost, or it can be transformed into a land-based type similar to J-15 at a lower cost. But in any case, it can obviously enhance J-1 1B's ability to attack the sea and the ground, and make it change from an air-superiority fighter to a multi-role fighter, so as to give full play to its advantages of long-range and large bomb load as heavy fighter in the next 20 years.

Generally speaking, China's heavy fighter troops have taken the lead in planning, but there are still some shortcomings in quality, and their respective combat effectiveness is generally suitable in practice; However, because the US Air Force has a large number of "returning blood and adding blue" models, including large tankers and electronic fighters, its combat effectiveness is still much stronger. If we further consider the advantages of American medium-sized fighters and bombers such as F- 16 and F-35, their overall combat effectiveness will be even greater. Therefore, for China Air Force, it is a beneficial way to further enhance the combat effectiveness and make up the strength gap by continuing to adhere to the production speed of J -20 and J-16 heavy fighter, and at the same time speeding up the research and development of more than 20 variants of J-35 and Yun-20, and improving the existing J-1B fighters.

Of course, in addition to the air force, the United States also has navy and marine corps, especially the carrier-based wing carried by its navy 1 1 aircraft carrier, and its combat effectiveness is appropriate and considerable. Even so, compared with when the F-22 stealth fighter of the United States just came into service 16 years ago, it still brought great pressure to our air power, and now the power formats of both sides have been greatly improved. In fact, from 2000 to 20 10, it took us about 10 years to absorb, digest and accumulate skills. From 20 10 to 2020, it took us 10 years to complete independent innovation and exploration, and gradually narrowed the gap to the present level. According to this development trend, it is predicted that during the period of 10 from 2020 to 2030, the rate will really reach the level of parity, and some categories will even surpass it. The worries that once kept me awake at night and the heights that once could not be reached are now close at hand, which makes people look forward to what a magnificent picture will be when our future air force successfully reaches the peak of global air power.