The 300th J-20 stealth fighter has entered service, and the Chinese Air Force has once again created a brilliant achievement. Japan's previous assessment has completely failed, and American professional media, after seeing this, have declared that the 300th J-20 marks that China has already achieved two world-firsts, something even the U.S. Air Force can't match. What are these two world-first achievements specifically?

Recently, the Chinese Air Force will hold an open event and air show in Changchun. This is not only a feast for Chinese military fans, but also a window for our military to showcase its strength to foreign countries. According to American professional media, based on the serial number of the static-displayed J-20 stealth fighter, the Chinese Air Force now has more than 300 J-20s, and Japan's previous judgment was completely wrong!

The American media magazine "Military Observation" found that the serial number of the J-20 on display is 63106, and there is also a product number CB10300 on the aircraft, meaning the 10th batch, 300th. Moreover, this J-20 entered service in the Chinese Air Force by early 2024 at the latest, which means that the Chinese Air Force currently has at least 300 J-20s, and it's not impossible to have more than 400.

In contrast, the U.S. F-22 fighter only produced 187 units before being prematurely discontinued, with the production line being dismantled. Over the past decade, some early models of the F-22 have become outdated, while others have had to be grounded due to a lack of parts. The current availability rate of the F-22 is only 40%, and only about 70 are available for combat. We can proudly say that the J-20 is now the largest heavy fifth-generation fighter fleet in the world.

Additionally, the J-20 is currently being mass-produced. The mass production of the J-35 is also proceeding in an orderly manner. In this way, China has become the only country in the world that produces two fifth-generation fighters simultaneously. Meanwhile, the F-22 production line has long been dismantled, and upgrade work has already stopped. The J-20 has already evolved into two improved versions, the J-20A and the J-20S, making the J-20 the only heavy fifth-generation fighter in the world that has achieved family development.

The conclusion of the American media magazine "Military Observation" proved that Japan's previous judgment was completely wrong. In January 2025, the Japanese Ministry of Defense released the Defense White Paper, stating that the Chinese Air Force had only put 230 J-20s into service. However, now it turns out that the number of J-20s in China had already exceeded 300 by early 2024, heading towards 400.

Actually, Japan's jealous attitude towards the J-20 is even worse than that of the United States. After the end of World War II, according to the provisions of the Peace Constitution, Japan was not allowed to have any armed forces, let alone an air force. However, with the start of the Cold War, the United States made a complete turnaround in its attitude towards Japan, supporting Japan to rebuild its air power under the name of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and providing aircraft to the Self-Defense Forces.

In the 1970s, the United States suffered a comprehensive defeat in Vietnam, while the Soviet Union took the opportunity to launch a global offensive, forming a world situation where "the Soviets were attacking and the Americans were defending." To reverse the situation, the United States decided to greatly support Japan, and in 1981, exported the F-15J fighter to Japan. It should be noted that the F-15 entered the U.S. Air Force in 1974, and was exported to Japan in 1981, showing how important the United States considered Japan at that time.

After obtaining the F-15J fighter, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force immediately became stronger, and once claimed to be the "number one air force in Northeast Asia." Although this sounds arrogant, for Japan at that time, it wasn't really bragging. At that time, the Soviet Air Force was still using the MiG-23 and MiG-25, which were third-generation aircraft, and the MiG-29 and Su-27, which were fourth-generation aircraft, wouldn't be gradually deployed until around 1985, and even then, they were prioritized for deployment in Europe. The Chinese Air Force was still using the J-7 and J-8 as its mainstay, which were no match for the F-15J. The North Korean Air Force was in even worse condition, treating the MiG-17 as a precious item. The South Korean Air Force, which was also part of the U.S. alliance, could only use the F-4 in the 1980s.

Entering the 1990s, although China introduced the Su-27 fighter and the J-10 successfully made its first flight, the quantity was not large. Russia was deeply troubled by the collapse of the Soviet Union and couldn't afford to get involved in any friction with Japan. The situation of the North Korean Air Force was even worse. So throughout the 1990s, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force had a very comfortable time, and the title of "strongest air force in Northeast Asia" was deeply ingrained in the consciousness of the Self-Defense Forces.

Unexpectedly, after the 21st century, the situation in East Asia changed dramatically. China began to experience explosive growth. First, the J-10 started mass production, and at the same time, it mastered the relevant technology of the Su-27, starting to mass-produce the J-11. Despite this, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force remained relatively stable. Because at that time, many officials of the Self-Defense Forces believed that since the U.S. F-15 fighter had been exported to Japan shortly after its service, the F-22 would certainly be exported to Japan soon.

Although the U.S. government passed legislation in 1998 to prohibit the export of the F-22, Japan still held onto this fantasy. As long as the F-22 arrived, even if it was a cut-down version, it could allow Japan to regain an advantage in aircraft quality. Could China really develop an aircraft that could compete with the F-22? Therefore, throughout the 2000s, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force felt some pressure, but overall remained relatively relaxed.

However, two events completely shattered the illusion of the Self-Defense Force. On January 11, 2011, the J-20 made a high-profile appearance and completed its maiden flight successfully. This meant that China had finally developed an aircraft that could compete with the F-22. Even if the Self-Defense Force obtained the F-22, it would only be on par with the Chinese Air Force, unable to gain a quality advantage. On December 13 of the same year, Lockheed Martin announced the closure of the F-22 production line. This ended the last bit of hope the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force had for the F-22.

As if that weren't enough, just as the Chinese Air Force was moving forward rapidly, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's F-15Js were all reaching the middle and late stages of their service life. Not only were their performances inferior to China's new generation of fourth-and-a-half-generation aircraft such as the J-16 and J-10C, but the maintenance rate of their own fleet had also dropped significantly, leading to frequent crash incidents.

The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force tried to save itself. The first move was to introduce the F-35 to replace the F-15J. Currently, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force has ordered 105 F-35A fighters from the United States and has also received production rights, allowing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to produce and assemble the F-35 independently. However, the problem is that the performance of the F-35 is really not impressive. Although the Self-Defense Force has a fifth-generation fighter, it's still no match for the J-20.

The second move was to ask the United States to upgrade the F-15 fleet. The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force has reached an order with Boeing to upgrade 98 of the better-conditioned F-15Js to the F-15JSI level, which is comparable to the F-15EX. Although it still can't match the J-20, it at least has some counterattack capabilities against the J-16.

However, the current situation of Boeing is clear. The F-15EX fighter has only produced 9 units in six years, and Boeing has proposed that it hopes to achieve a production rate of two per month by 2026. Even if Boeing can achieve this output, it would take over three years to complete the U.S. Air Force's order of 90 units, and then it would be able to help Japan upgrade the F-15. By that time, the J-20A and J-20S would have been widely deployed.

The third move is for Japan to independently develop a fifth-generation fighter, and it once developed the "Shinshin" demonstrator. However, Japan's aviation industry has always been controlled by the United States. The last time Japan developed a fighter without relying on the United States was the Zero fighter during World War II. After the war, Japan could only engage in supporting work around the U.S. aviation industry, such as authorized production and daily maintenance. At most, Japan developed the F-2 fighter based on the F-16. Telling Japan to develop a fifth-generation fighter on its own is like joking.

Because Japan has never come up with anything meaningful, the Japanese people look at the J-20 with resentment mixed with fear and concern mixed with jealousy. Due to this abnormal mentality, the Japanese Ministry of Defense and media tend to deliberately belittle the J-20 when evaluating it, whether in terms of performance or equipment numbers. They seem to believe that only in this way can they feel a little better, and recall the "glorious days" of the 1980s when they completely dominated the air forces of China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea.

But the world is materialistic. No matter how much the Japanese try to jump around and belittle the J-20, they cannot change the fact that the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force has been left far behind by the Chinese Air Force. I hope the Japanese can adjust their mindset. Long-term refusal to accept reality, setting an impossible goal for themselves, and repeatedly hitting walls, can easily lead to mental problems.

Some information in this article comes from CCTV Military: [Wow!]

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7551633896744452608/

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