Advanced Helmet, PL-10 Missile Ensure J-20’s Killing of F-35, F-22

J-20 pilot in helmet, a magic one compared with F-35’s.
Mil.huanqiu’s photo

 

Justin Lee in the cockpit of an F-35
image Samuel King Jr./USAF
Note: the helmet is but a common one similar to those used decades ago.

There is no official information whether J-20 has a cannon or not, but National Interest is happy at the speculation that J-20 does not have one as no bulge or opening for cannon has been found in photographs of J-20. However, its article “Problem: China’s J-20 Stealth Fighter Doesn’t Have a Gun” on January 3, 2019 does not fully reveal its happiness that US fighter jet, even the non-stealth one, can kill a J-20 in dogfight. The word “Problem” in the article must be J-20’s problem, but it reads as if it is America’s problem.

Who’s problem is it after all?

America’s problem!

The two photos at top show how backward F-35 pilot’ helmet is compared with J-20 pilot’s. The former is taken from Popular Mechanics’ article “An F-35 Pilot Explains What It’s Like to Fly the Joint Strike Fighter” dated March 5 and the latter from mil.huanqiu.com’s report “Two dragons raise heads in February! Four J-20 Mighty Dragons were showcased the same time with overbearing appearance” on March 8.

In combat between stealth fighters, J-20 can discover and attack F-35 earlier as it is heavier able to carry more powerful radar, but F-22 is able to carry a radar as powerful so that they find each other about 80 km away.

Due to their high supersonic cruise speed, they are only less than 80 seconds away when they fire long-range air-to-air missile at each other. When they find both their missiles have missed their targets, they are so close that their pilots will be able to see each other’s plane.

F-22 pilot starts to lock on J-20 to fire his short-range air-to-air missile, it takes some time but according to mil.huanqiu.com’s report, with the advanced helmet J-20 pilot can immediately fire its PL-10 dogfight missile at F-22 he looks at. As a result, J-20 can fire at the enemy early.

PL-10 is highly maneuverable and will hit the target that J-20 pilot keeps looking at through the helmet no matter how its target maneuvers. The missile is guided by photoelectric system so that electronic jamming to disturb J-20’s radar does not work. J-20 pilot will keep on looking at F-22 and ignore the decoy F-22 releases; therefore, his target will surely be hit by his PL-10 dogfight missile.

Moreover, the report says that PL-10 can be fired at target an angle away from the direction J-20 is flying. When J-20 pilot find an enemy fighter jet an angle away from his direction, he has just to turn his head to look at the enemy and fire his PL-10 dogfight missile to hit the enemy fighter jet.

As F-22 fires its missile at least a second or two late, when PL-10 come to the distance of sure hit, J-20 will have enough time for maneuver to avoid being hit by F-22’s missile. When F-22 has been destroyed by PL-10, its missile loses the guidance of its radar or photoelectric system.

National Interest’s article on the indispensable need of a cannon for a fighter jet in dogfight is based on US experience in the air combats in Vietnam War that ended in 1975. It entirely ignores the development of modern technology.

A cannon has only a range of 800 feet and is too slow to lock on and inaccurate. When the target is a stealth fighter jet with high speed maneuverability, the probability of a stealth fighter jet flying to the position within 800 feet behind an enemy stealth fighter jet is too thin to justify the space and load taken by a cannon and its ammunition.

US media Business Insider says in its article “China’s J-20 stealth fighter has no cannon — and it shows the jet can’t dogfight with the US” on January 22. 2019, “A Business Insider review found that the last time a US plane shot down an enemy aircraft with guns was most likely the Cold War-era tank buster A-10 downing an Iraqi helicopter in 1991— hardly applicable to the world of fifth-generation fighter aircraft.”

China’s invention of advanced helmet and PL-10 has greatly enhanced J-20’s dogfight capability and enable J-20 to kill whatever US fighter jet in dogfight.

As a matter of fact, as far back as in July 2014 US well-known aviation website the “Aviators” revealed in an article the capabilities of J-20 and PL-10 missile in dogfight.

According to the article, unlike the US missile carried by F-22, PL-10 has better view when carried by J-20. It does not require the F-22’s complicated move of locking on its target after launch by the pilot. The pilot’s helmet of J-20 is so advanced that when a PL-10 is launched, it will hit at the target that the pilot looks at. As it takes time for an F-22 pilot to lock on a J-20 in a fight between the two fighters, the simplicity in taking aim enables J-20 to fire its PL-10 earlier and hit an F-22 earlier.

The article revealed that some F-22 pilots’ worry that when J-20 stealth fighters have been commissioned in Chinese air force, F-22 will entirely lose its superiority.

Therefore, what I reveal here is by no means a secret about J-20. In my opinion, there is no need for a cannon on J-20.

There are lots of magic functions of the helmet. I will disclose what can be disclosed later.

Comment by Chan Kai Yee on mil.huanqiu.com’s report, full text of which in Chinese can be viewed at http://mil.huanqiu.com/gt/2019-03/2922249.html#p=11

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