Recently, said at the press conference of the 14th China Air Show that Chinese Air Force spokesman Shen Jinke said that J-20 has been spread across the southeast, west, north and middle, and has been installed more and more and more and more and more. From the "East, West, South, North and Central" mentioned by Shenjin University of Science and Technology, we can naturally think of the PLA's eastern, western, southern, northern and central theater . The J-20 has been spread throughout the five major theaters in my country, and the scale of the installation has reached a new height.
However, all the five major war zones in my country are equipped with J-20 fighter jets, which does not mean that the J-20 has only five aviation brigades. According to public reports, there are currently multiple war zones that have equipped multiple J-20 aviation brigades. Previously, according to the report of the US Military Observation website, at least 8 air brigades of the PLA Air Force have equipped the J-20 fighter jets, and the number of J-20 fighter jets has exceeded 150.
According to public reports, my country's first J-20 Aviation Brigade is the 176th Aviation Brigade of 's Dingxin Flight Test Training Base in the Gobi Desert in Gansu Province. The base received the first J-20 fighter jet in December 2016, undertakes many important confrontation exercises of the Chinese Air Force. It is the most famous gold helmet and Golden Dart competition. The second aviation brigade equipped with the J-20 fighter jet is the 172nd aviation brigade located at the Cangzhou Flying Training Base in the Central Theater Command. The brigade received the first J-20 fighter jet in February 2018. The third aviation brigade equipped with the J-20 fighter jet is the 9th Air Brigade of the Eastern Theater Command located in Wuhu . The brigade began to receive the stealth fighter in January 2019. Before the J-20 fighter jet was installed, the main combat aircraft of the brigade was the Su-30MKK fighter bomber introduced from Russia. The fourth aviation brigade of to receive the J-20 fighter jet is the 1st aviation brigade located in Anshan . The brigade received the J-20A stealth fighter jet in January 2021 and is the first aviation brigade of the entire army to receive the J-20A.
J-20 fighter
J-20A stealth fighter equipped with WS-10C engine
The fifth aviation brigade equipped with J-20 fighter is the 5th aviation brigade located in Guilin. The brigade began to receive J-20 fighter jets in January 2022 to replace the old J-10B and the two-seater J-10S light fighter jets. The sixth aviation brigade equipped with the J-20 fighter jet is the 56th aviation brigade located in Zhengzhou. The brigade began to receive new stealth fighters in March 2022 to replace the old J-10B and J-10A fighter jets. The seventh aviation brigade equipped with the J-20 fighter jet is an unknown aviation brigade of Western Theater Command . After the Sino-Indian border conflict, the J-20 fighter jet began to enter the front-line airports of the Sino-Indian border to suppress India's " Rafale " and the Su-30MKI fighter jet . The eighth air brigade of the J-20 fighter aircraft is an air brigade belonging to the Eastern Theater Command. The brigade was previously equipped with the old J-10A fighter. After the J-20 is installed, the brigade can easily deal with East China Sea and US air forces stationed in Japan and South Korea, and prevent US air forces from intervening in the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Since the PLA has 8 aviation brigades installed with the J-20 fighter jets, what is the current scale of the J-20 fighter jet? Before the military reform, the PLA Air Force Aviation Division was composed of three aviation regiments, each aviation regiment had three flight brigades, and each flight brigade had eight fighter jets. After the military reform, the aviation division was split into 3 aviation brigades, and each aviation brigade added a flight brigade based on the previous aviation regiment, so that each aviation brigade has 4 flight brigades, totaling 32 fighter jets. If all eight aviation brigades are fully equipped with J-20 fighter jets, then the number of J-20 fighters currently has reached 256, which is significantly higher than the number of US F-22 fighters.
However, from the actual situation, the PLA Air Brigade replaces the J-20 fighter jets as a whole based on the brigade. In addition to the J-20, the eight aviation brigades are also equipped with other fighters. From this perspective, the US Military Observation website analyzed that the scale of 150 aircraft was relatively reliable, and this number is very close to the scale of 180 US F-22 fighter jets.
At present, the production of J-20 fighter jets is completed by Chengdu Factory 132. In recent years, the 132 Factory has carried out large-scale expansion, upgraded the fighter production line, and handed over the production tasks of the J-10C fighter jets to other brother units, and most of the production capacity can be used above the J-20. According to the forecast of US media, the current annual production capacity of the J-20 fighter can meet the replacement needs of the two aviation brigades, which means that the scale of the J-20 will surpass the US F-22 Raptor fighter by the end of next year and become the largest twin-engine stealth fighter in the world.
In the future, the final number of J-20 fighter jets will not be less than 500. This is because my country has a considerable number of J-11 fighters to replace. In addition, the number of F-35 stealth fighter around my country is also rising rapidly, which determines that the final scale of the J-20 fighter will surpass any heavy fighter in my country.
All the latest J-20 fighters that have been shipped out of the factory use domestic turbofan-10C engines, getting rid of their dependence on Russian-made AL-31FM2 engines. Compared with Russian-made engines, the turbofan 10C has obvious advantages in indicators such as intermediate thrust, afterburner thrust and overhaul period. The maximum thrust reaches 14.5 tons. Without overburner, the J-20 fighter can obtain supersonic cruise capabilities, filling the last shortcoming of the J-20 fighter. In the future, the J-20 fighter will continue to be equipped with the more advanced turbofan-15 engine . It is reported that the maximum thrust of this engine exceeds 18 tons and is equipped with a vector nozzle, which can provide more powerful power for the J-20 fighter. The supersonic cruise capability and maneuverability will be further improved. The comprehensive performance will surpass the US F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, and firmly sit firmly on the throne of the world's number one stealth fighter.
