Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffman
Ehhh,to be fair the f35 can’t supercruise either, but supercruise isn’t completely necessary for stealth, since infrared sensors are much shorter range than radar
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When they were designed the F-22 and the J-20 were designed with a primary role of Air Superiority. They used the Supercruise to sprint into and close distance on enemy fighters to achieve air superiority.
They were also both extremely expensive at the time.
The F-35 is more of the traditional multi-role where its strength is based around sensing and exploiting weak spots in coverage and basically sneaking, its mission isn't quite as aggressive. While the F-35 will achieve control of the air using its sensor fusion and inter-operability and it didn't really require the Super cruise ability and its budget approach made it cheaper for other nations.
The J-20 isn't a strong air to ground platform, its not designed for that. while it can carry LS-6 Precision bombs, its less multi-role. Its designed to find enemy fighters, spring into missile range, and then use its stealth capabilities.
The F-22 was originally designed with the same mission in mind, it was a pure combination of stealth and dog fight, while denying the enemy the ability to see it.
For the F-35 a completely different mission and profile and Supercruise really doesn't help it.
With a platform like the American AWACs which has updated their IRT systems its likely that they would be able to track and vector on a afterburning J-20 aircract long before it gets into the over the horizon 100 km PL-21 missile range if the J-20 is trying to close with after burner.
The other mission for the J-20 like the F-22 is the removal of airborne radar aircraft from the battle. If the J-20 has thermal issues then that becomes a really difficult mission to achieve.