The J-15 carrier-based fighter and the F/A-18E/F carrier-based fighter are the main carrier-based fighters of the naval aviation forces of China and the United States, respectively. The latter has been manufactured and equipped with hundreds of units, while the former has now been equipped with more than a hundred units, making them the two largest carrier-based fighter aircraft in terms of deployment scale in the world today. Naturally, people in the military community are interested in their performance and performance comparison, and who can be considered as the most powerful fourth-generation carrier-based fighter in the world. Today, let's make a comparison on this topic.
We all know that the current J-15 carrier-based fighter actually consists of two models. The first one was put into service in 2012, and it has been deployed on the Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers, as well as the land-based Navy Aviation University training group for training carrier-based fighter pilots. This model is a fourth-generation carrier-based fighter developed by improving and replicating the T10K3 carrier-based fighter obtained from Ukraine, integrating the fire control system of the J-11B fighter, and adding some ground attack functions from the fire control computer software of the JH-7A strike fighter, which was developed to be a fourth-generation carrier-based fighter.
This carrier-based fighter has received mixed reviews among military enthusiasts: On one hand, during its development process, it focused on the development schedule because it needed to be compatible with the Liaoning aircraft carrier. Therefore, it basically adopted a short-term and quick principle for the onboard subsystems, directly borrowing the original design where possible, and directly using the flight control parameters where possible, ensuring that the J-15 quickly caught up with the research and development and equipment progress of the Liaoning aircraft carrier, and achieved the first landing on schedule according to the planned schedule. However, on the other hand, in order to ensure the development schedule, the J-15 carrier-based fighter showed conservatism in many subsystem designs, and some design details and subsystems may not have been fully understood, but were directly installed based on the black box principle, leading to frequent problems and low reliability in the early stages of service.
However, over time, the J-15 carrier-based fighter has gradually matured and become the main carrier-based fighter of the two ski-jump aircraft carriers. However, in terms of tactical performance, it still lags behind the F/A-18E/F carrier-based fighter of the US Navy. For example, in the key avionics system, the F/A-18E/F uses the AN/APG79 fire control radar developed by Raytheon, which is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire control radar. It weighs 295 kg, uses second-generation gallium arsenide (GaAs) transmitter/receiver modules, and has a detection range of about 200 kilometers for typical fighter targets. It can track and map 4 to 6 targets simultaneously. It also integrates electronic countermeasures, electronic support measures, and air-to-air communications. When detecting ground and sea surface targets, it can use synthetic aperture imaging mode, with a detection range exceeding 300 kilometers.
At the same time, the F/A-18E/F is also equipped with advanced joint helmet-mounted display systems. The pilot's helmet-mounted display can show flight control data, fire control data, weapon usage data, etc., in front of the pilot's eyes. With the helmet-mounted display, the F/A-18E/F's air-to-air missiles are also advanced. The basic AIM-120D and AIM-9X are both fourth-generation air-to-air missiles, with a long-range strike range of more than 100 kilometers, and they can engage targets with a large off-boresight angle of up to 90 degrees. In addition, there are a large number of air-to-ground weapons. From AGM-154 to AGM-158, and then to JDAM, almost all of the US's air weaponry can be carried by the F/A-18E/F.
In contrast, the avionics system performance of the J-15 carrier-based fighter is relatively poor. As mentioned earlier, its fire control radar is essentially the planar slot array fire control radar of the J-11B, with some ground attack functions added to the fire control computer software, and these functions are actually transferred from the JH-7A strike fighter. Compared to the phased array fire control radar, the planar slot array radar has a shorter detection range, only over 100 kilometers, and theoretically, all planar slot array radars have limitations in multi-target tracking capabilities in actual combat. After all, it has only one beam direction. If the distance between the targets is large, multi-target tracking is easily lost.
Under the condition of general fire control system performance, the air-to-air missiles equipped on the J-15 are also average. They are only the PL-12 and PL-8B, with a range of about 80-90 kilometers for the former, and the latter's off-boresight launch capability is far worse than the AIM-9X. This makes the J-15 at a disadvantage in both long-range air combat and close-range dogfighting. Moreover, the J-15's ability to carry ground attack munitions is very limited, only capable of carrying YJ-83K anti-ship missiles and KD-88 air-to-ground missiles, etc. The variety of air-to-ground weapons is far less than that of the F/A-18E/F, making its multi-mission performance far inferior to that of the F/A-18E/F.
Therefore, the overall performance of the basic version of the J-15 is not as good as the F/A-18E/F. If the two sides were to confront each other, it is likely that we would not be able to beat the F/A-18E/F. However, the J-15T is not like that; its performance has obviously improved greatly:
For example, in terms of airframe design, the J-15T has undergone a complete redesign over the past decade, replacing the traditional flight control system with an advanced four-channel fly-by-wire flight control system. At the same time, the control laws of the aircraft were also improved to better adapt to changes in the aircraft's weight and center of gravity. It also made every effort to implement weight reduction measures, such as using a large amount of composite material skin, using integrated structural parts and 3D printed structural parts instead of previous small structural parts, and reducing the weight of the avionics system as much as possible.
Meanwhile, the engine thrust of the J-15T has also increased. The currently disclosed engine of the J-15T is the AL-31F cep45, which is an upgraded version of the previous cep30 engine. According to reports, the afterburner thrust has been increased from 12.5 tons to 13.5 tons, and the emergency power has been increased from 14 tons to 15 tons. The combination of weight reduction and increased thrust has undoubtedly improved the thrust-to-weight ratio, resulting in better maneuverability.
The main improvements of the J-15T are in the avionics system. Compared to the J-15 carrier-based fighter, the J-15T uses an advanced active phased array fire control radar, combined with an advanced mid-wave infrared electro-optical radar. The aperture of the fire control radar array is far larger than that of the AN/APG79 of the F/A-18E/F, and therefore the detection range is far superior to that of the F/A-18E/F. After all, even the export version of our KLJ-07A radar can detect airborne targets at a distance of 170 kilometers, and the radar of the self-use J-15T is estimated to have a detection range of over 240 kilometers for airborne targets, which is far better than the AN/APG79.
Moreover, our electro-optical radar also has excellent performance, which can detect the engine characteristics of fighter jets at a distance of more than 100 kilometers, thus ensuring that the aircraft can achieve silent attacks. This performance is completely unattainable by the F/A-18E/F, otherwise they would not be rushing to equip the "Legion" pod. Therefore, the performance of the J-15T's avionics and fire control system is better than that of the F/A-18E/F.
The air combat weapons it is equipped with are also better than those of the F/A-18E/F. We are equipped with the PL-15 and PL-10, and even the export version of the PL-15 has a range greater than 140 kilometers, while the self-use version will have an even longer range. The PL-10, like the AIM-9X, has a large off-boresight launch capability, and our range is even longer, allowing it to function as a medium-range missile. Therefore, in terms of air-to-air missiles, the J-15T is also at an advantage over the F/A-18E/F.
With advantages in both avionics/fire control systems and aviation weapons, the J-15T further expands its advantages over the F/A-18E/F in maneuverability. We all know that the F/A-18E/F has made certain trade-offs in performance to facilitate landing on an aircraft carrier. It is an aircraft that emphasizes subsonic maneuverability, which can be seen from its Gothic-style large leading edge and the selection of the wing sweep angle. The F/A-18E/F has nearly unbeatable subsonic maneuverability, known as the "subsonic circle king."
But the problem is that modern air combat is no longer just about turning circles in the subsonic speed range. Air battles between the two sides usually start from supersonic or transonic speeds to ensure that they maintain the best energy characteristics above the corner speed and have better maneuverability after turning. In this regard, the F/A-18E/F has very poor supersonic performance. Its six hardpoints have been criticized by US Navy pilots as being like six speed brakes, and the aircraft's performance at supersonic speeds is very poor.
The design trade-off of the F/A-18E/F ultimately comes down to the fact that the US Navy intended to use the F/A-18E/F as a strike fighter, with air combat being a secondary consideration. It can easily deal with some third-world countries' outdated third-generation fighters or early fourth-generation fighters. In this aspect, the F/A-18E/F can do it more than enough with its strong fire control system performance.
But when facing the J-15T fighter, it is clearly not enough. The technical design of the J-15T comes from the powerful Su-27 fighter, and its supersonic and transonic performance is also excellent. It can ensure that the engagement is restricted to the supersonic and transonic range when facing the F/A-18E/F, allowing it to play a "fly kite" game with the F/A-18E/F using its maneuverability advantage. Engaging in the supersonic and transonic range is beneficial for the J-15T to have higher energy in beyond-visual-range air combat and a larger missile intercept envelope, which are all advantages that the F/A-18E/F cannot match.
Therefore, from this perspective, the air combat capability of the J-15T is absolutely superior to the F/A-18E/F in practical combat scenarios, not just about circling in the air. If the F/A-18E/F could suppress the J-15 with its avionics system advantage, it would have no advantage at all against the J-15T, and the air combat would be extremely unfavorable for the F/A-18E/F.
So does the F/A-18E/F have no advantages at all? Not quite. For example, the multi-purpose performance of the F/A-18E/F is still quite good. For instance, the F/A-18E/F has a smaller footprint, allowing more aircraft to be carried on an aircraft carrier, and it is relatively simple to operate on the carrier. These are its advantages. In short, both types of carrier-based fighters have their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of performance, but when it comes to the most important aspect of a fighter aircraft - air combat capability, the J-15T is absolutely superior to the F/A-18E/F. This is the view of Yang叔.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522007875225420288/
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