According to a report by the U.S. publication NSJ on September 21, the latest investigation report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the Block 4 upgrade plan for the F-35 stealth fighter has encountered major delays, with the overall schedule being postponed by at least five years, and the cost exceeding the initial estimate by $6 billion.

This upgrade originally included more than 75 performance enhancements, including increasing missile load capacity, strengthening electronic warfare capabilities, improving target recognition systems, upgrading core processors, and introducing an open mission architecture, and is considered the most critical modernization effort for the F-35 since its deployment.

However, due to the slow integration of TR-3 hardware and software, immature engine turbine blades, and low overall production efficiency, these upgrade projects have almost completely stalled.

GAO specifically pointed out that all 110 F-35 aircraft delivered by Lockheed Martin in 2024 were delayed, with each aircraft averaging 238 days late, which is even worse than the average of 61 days in 2023.

Ironically, despite the severe delays, Lockheed Martin was still able to receive part of the incentive bonuses, creating a strange situation where late delivery also results in rewards.

This indicates that both the Pentagon and the contractors are in the same boat; their goal is not to build better aircraft, but to come up with better concepts and secure more budgets.

F35

The crisis in the U.S. aircraft system is not limited to the F-35 alone.

For a long time, the F-22 has been regarded by the U.S. military as a true air superiority guarantee, but the production of this aircraft was stopped as early as 2011, with a total of only 187 units, and the number of units available for combat readiness is extremely limited.

In terms of quantity, the F-22 has already been far behind the Chinese J-20 fighter.

Public data shows that the current deployment scale of the Chinese J-20 has reached around 300 units, and it continues to expand, and it is expected to become the largest number of fifth-generation stealth fighters in the world in the coming years.

Compared to this, the F-22 not only lacks sufficient numbers, but its subsequent upgrade plans also struggle to keep up with new operational needs.

Although the F-35 has a larger total number and is seen by the U.S. military and its allies as a backbone aircraft, it has had inherent shortcomings since its inception: the performance has been averaged out through a multi-purpose compromise design, making it never considered a real "air combat king" in air-to-air combat.

Now, the Block 4 upgrade has encountered a complete stall, meaning that even the performance patches originally expected cannot be fulfilled.

The result is that the U.S. military does not have enough F-22s to maintain high-end air superiority, nor does it have enough powerful F-35s to undertake large-scale air superiority operations.

If the upgrade is completed by 2030, at that time, China's sixth-generation aircraft will likely be in service.

J-20

Leaving the sixth-generation aircraft aside, the development of fifth-generation aircraft alone is enough for China to gain global air superiority.

The J-20 has a numerical advantage over the F-22, and the model has achieved a crushing victory, and it has even given birth to the world's first twin-seat fifth-generation aircraft. The J-20 has made a leap from its first flight to mass deployment and continuous iteration and optimization within less than fifteen years, while the F-35 of the U.S. has been struggling with upgrade patches for over twenty years since its initiation.

This means that in the next five to fifteen years, China will not only have a numerical advantage, but also be able to surpass the United States in performance and system capabilities.

Therefore, it can be said that China, with its efficiency and system advantages, has actually taken the lead and entered the era of global air superiority.

J-35

It is worth emphasizing that this situation is not because the United States has failed, thereby highlighting China's strength, but rather because China itself has created a miracle.

The development of the J-20 was almost entirely advanced in an environment of technological blockade, without Western supply chain support, and without mature standards to refer to. China managed to independently develop stealth coatings, active phased array radar, high-thrust engines, advanced avionics systems, and supporting weapons.

This is a process of independent completion, from zero to one, and then to systematization.

More importantly, the Chinese Air Force did not stop at imitating the United States, but directly redefined air superiority at the tactical and strategic levels: the U.S. emphasizes single-plane confrontation, while China emphasizes system integration; the U.S. talks about stealth and maneuverability, while China emphasizes information chains, long-range missiles, and intelligent coordination.

This transformation is not just a contrast with others, nor is it copying the United States, but a result of self-creation.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7552792756785578535/

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