This time, CCTV has publicly revealed the news of a dogfight between our J-16 and the F-35 in the air. However, the maneuverability of the F-35 is extremely poor. In order to lock onto our J-16, the F-35 failed, and our J-16 performed a large defensive corkscrew roll. It should be noted that the J-16's side-wing configuration roll performance is not particularly good, but even so, the F-35 tried to keep up but failed, resulting in both aircraft facing each other for ten seconds (as shown in the figure below). This shows that the thrust-to-weight ratio of the F-35 and the J-16 is not on the same level. The maneuverability of the F-35 is really shocking.

In order to maintain stealth performance, the F-35 had to make many compromises in its aerodynamic design, with relatively small wing area and a more plump fuselage, leading to a higher wing load. However, it is not that bad in terms of maneuverability. It can be said that in this confrontation, the F-35 fully exposed the engine fraud.

Previously, Elon Musk released a U.S. Pentagon document showing that the thrust-to-weight ratio of the F135 engine was extremely absurd, only 6.7, while in public promotions, the F135 was claimed to have a thrust-to-weight ratio of 11.

What is the thrust-to-weight ratio? The thrust-to-weight ratio refers to the ratio of the engine's maximum static thrust at sea level to its own weight. The "thrust" is the thrust measured on the ground under stationary conditions, and the "weight" is the physical weight of the engine itself. The thrust-to-weight ratio is a comprehensive indicator to measure the performance level and working capability of an aircraft engine. In the pre-research plans of European and American countries, achieving high thrust-to-weight ratio technology has been an important goal. The industry used to consider the thrust-to-weight ratio as an important marker for classifying fighter engines.

What does a thrust-to-weight ratio of 6.7 mean? In other words, their performance is comparable to China's early version of the WS-10 engine. Along with the F135, the F119 engine of the F-22 was also exposed for fraud. The fraud performance includes:

Overstated thrust-to-weight ratio: The thrust-to-weight ratio of the F-119 and F-135 engines were overstated by 30%-40%, actually dropping to 7 and 6.7 respectively.

Weight fraud: The actual weight of the F-135-PW600 is 3293 kg, which is 15% higher than the advertised data.

Exaggerated lifespan: The lifespan of the F-119 engine did not reach 8000 hours, while the Chinese WS-15 has exceeded 10,000 hours.

Reduced thrust efficiency: After installation, the thrust of the F-119 decreases by 20% due to weight and thermal efficiency losses.

Transonic defects: The F-35 engine has insufficient thrust, making its maneuverability worse than the F-16.

Excessively high maintenance costs: The maintenance cost of the F-135 engine is $36,000 per hour, three times the budget.

Therefore, the single-engine F135 can be described as a small horse pulling a big cart, with low thrust-to-weight ratio causing insufficient thrust reserves. The F-35 can only briefly accelerate to 1.2 Mach, completely unable to achieve the 1.5 Mach supersonic cruise of the F-22; in terms of maneuverability, combined with the heavier body of the F-35 and the aerodynamic layout compromised for multi-mission needs, its instantaneous turn rate, climb rate, and other key indicators are not only behind twin-engine stealth aircraft but also worse than some fourth-generation aircraft.

This is why the F-35 thought it could bypass the J-16 with its stealth performance, but due to its slow cruising speed, it was caught from behind by the J-16.

Why does the United States habitually fabricate weapons? One very important reason is to maintain its global hegemon status.

The United States calls this behavior "strategic exaggeration" or "strategic ambiguity," which is a carefully designed strategic communication and psychological deterrence tool. Its core purpose is to maintain its unchallenged "technological hegemony" image globally at the lowest cost, thus consolidating its global leadership position.

After the fraud of the engine's thrust-to-weight ratio, the general public might think that the United States has "alien technology," but professionals, especially those from competing countries, would feel a heavy blow psychologically.

Experts see the details, while outsiders just watch the spectacle. In the eyes of experts, even a slight change in a number after the decimal point may require a lifetime of effort to overcome.

Think about it, in the 1990s, the United States came up with an engine with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 10. At that time, the F119-PW-100 engine on the F-22 was hailed as "the peak of human aviation industry." With a single engine thrust of 15.6 tons, the thrust-to-weight ratio exceeded 10, combined with vector nozzles to achieve super-maneuverability. That was truly alien technology. At that time, countries around the world could not even produce engines with a thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 8.

This directly crushed the psychological defenses of many countries. Once the decision-makers believe that the gap is generational and insurmountable, they may give up the long-term strategy of independent research and development, turning instead to purchasing from the United States. This not only brings huge economic benefits to the United States but also fundamentally cuts off the self-research capabilities of competitors, putting them into a "technology dependency" trap, thereby permanently losing the qualification to challenge.

However, China refused to accept this. Since the United States could develop an engine with a thrust-to-weight ratio over 10, China must be able to do so too. Therefore, after China independently mastered the technology of small bypass ratio large thrust engine with the WS-10 engine, China began to develop the WS-15, setting the thrust-to-weight ratio at 10, aiming to match the F119 of the United States, and targeting the F135 in some data.

In a way, the WS-15 is a result of the U.S. deception. But when we overcame the technical challenges of the WS-15, our chief engineer realized something was wrong. Because according to the technology used in the WS-15, when we reverse-engineered the F119, regardless of how the computer simulated, the thrust-to-weight ratio was only 7.95. There are only two possibilities: either the United States has technologies beyond our understanding, allowing the F119 engine's thrust-to-weight ratio to exceed 10, or the engine was falsified.

At that time, we had a clear idea. The WS-15 with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 10 is undoubtedly the strongest small bypass ratio fighter engine in the world.

But we didn't expect that the performance of the F135 engine would be even worse. First, due to design problems, the bypass ratio is too large, neither a large bypass ratio large thrust engine nor a small bypass ratio large thrust engine, it's just a monster.

The key issue is that there are many defects in this engine, such as fuel line design flaws, a service life of only 8000 hours, less than the 10000 hours of the WS-15, etc.

So the only advantage of the F-22 and F-35 is the stealth coating. However, the onboard radar of the J-10C and J-16 already have the ability to counter stealth. This means that the F-22 and F-35 of the U.S. military are not even visible to the J-10C. In close combat, the J-10C is known worldwide as a "dogfight king," even defeating the J-16. In beyond-visual-range air combat, sorry, a single PL-15 missile at 200 kilometers away.

So, what do you think, is the current U.S. military's mindset desperate?

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7557024423405011494/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [upvote/downvote] buttons below.