The US military is in despair, as the People's Liberation Army's carrier-based fifth-generation fighter, J-35, has already entered service with over 11 aircraft. The Fujian aircraft carrier became combat-ready upon its commissioning, far surpassing the USS Ford.

Central media has publicly revealed the production number "0011" (the 11th unit of the 00 batch) of the J-35 carrier-based fighter, which means that China has at least put 11 J-35s into service.

The US military would be shocked by this production speed. The J-35 was publicly revealed at the 2024 Zhuhai Air Show, and within less than a year, the number of J-35s in service has already reached double digits.

This is just the beginning. Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has already built a new factory, with at least four pulse lines. The annual production capacity of the J-35/J-35A is expected to start at about 150 units.

This also indicates that what the Chinese PLA said, that the Fujian aircraft carrier would form combat capability upon delivery, is not false. After all, the J-35 and J-15T have already conducted formation training, and once they are deployed on the Fujian aircraft carrier, it will have combat capability. What needs to be done next is to build all-weather combat capability.

All-weather means that regardless of day or night, whether the sea is calm or rough, whether there is strong wind or rain, it can effectively carry out assigned combat tasks.

Meanwhile, the USS Ford has not yet formed complete combat capability. This is because the electromagnetic catapult system on the USS Ford cannot launch the F-35, which means that once our Fujian aircraft carrier is commissioned, its combat capability will far surpass that of the USS Ford.

According to parameters previously exposed by Hong Kong media, its maximum takeoff weight can reach 35 tons. What does this mean?

The US F-35C carrier-based fighter only weighs 32 tons, while the F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet" weighs only 29 tons, which is significantly less than the J-35. Looking at other performance metrics, the operational radius is 1,350 kilometers, and the maximum weapon load is 8 tons.

The F-35C fighter has a maximum carrying capacity of around 7.7 tons. More importantly, the F-35C is not an air superiority fighter and is not good at air superiority combat. In the US carrier-based aircraft fleet, the only one that is good at air superiority combat is the Super Hornet.

Under the current situation, the US military must feel desperate about how to compete for maritime air superiority.

Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1843143094483209/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.