【 以下文字转载自 MilitaryTech 讨论区 】
发信人: harepus (KE), 信区: MilitaryTech
标  题: F-35s have encountered J-20s over East China Sea
发信站: 水木社区 (Wed Mar 16 18:25:18 2022), 站内

A top US Air Force (USAF) general says that Lockheed Martin F-35s have had
at least one encounter with Chengdu J-20s, and that the Shaanxi KJ-500
airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft has a key role in
long-range air-to-air kill chains.USAF General Kenneth Wilsbach, Commander,
Pacific Air Forces did not, however, divulge when the F-35/J-20 encounter took
place, or if there have been more than one. He also touched on the role of the
new Chinese fighter.


“It’s a bit early to say what they intend to do with the J-20, so really
all we’ve seen it do is air superiority,” he says.

“But we notice that they are flying it pretty well. We recently had – I
wouldn’t call it an engagement – where we got relatively close to the J-20s
along with our F-35s in the East China Sea, and we’re relatively impressed
with the command and control associated with the J-20.”

Wilsbach made the remarks during a discussion posted on the YouTube channel
of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“We’re seeing relatively professional flying and it’s still too early to
tell exactly what they intend to do with [the J-20] – whether it’s going
to be more like an F-35 that’s capable of doing many, many missions or more
like an F-22 that is primarily an air superiority fighter that has an air-to
-ground capability.”


Wilsbach also touched on the KJ-500, which in recent years has emerged as
China’s key AEW&C platform.

Powered by four turboprops, the KJ-500 is based on the Y-9 tactical
transport. The aircraft carries a three-panel active electronically scanned
array radar in a fixed radome above the fuselage. This is understood to provide 360° radar coverage.

“The KJ-500 plays a significant role in some of their capability for long
range fires,” says Wilsbach.

“Some of their very long range air-to-air missiles are aided by that KJ-500
. Being able to interrupt that kill chain is something that interests me
greatly.”

China’s PL-15 long range air-to-air missile is understood to have a range
in excess of 107nm (200km). The radar-guided weapon is carried by types such
as the Chengdu J-10C, Shenyang J-11B, J-15 and J-16, Islamabad’s Pakistan
Aeronautical Complex JF-17 Block 3, and the J-20.

Wilsbach’s remarks hint that the KJ-500 may identify and assign targets for
Chinese fighters, which can then launch the active radar homing PL-15 from
great stand-off distances.
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