Reacting to recent credible reports that China has leapfrogged from the production rate of about 40-50 J-20 ‘Mighty Dragon’ fifth-generation fighters a year to about 120 now, a top official in India’s military establishment told THE WEEK that the development is a big concern for New Delhi.
“Without doubt, it is a very big concern, particularly when we suffer from a scarcity of fighter aircraft. But at the same time, we have certain advantages. We will operate fighters that would be carrying full payloads taking off from Punjab whereas the Chinese fighters will have to operate from the oxygen-depleted Tibetan plateau,” the official said on condition of not being identified.
Aircraft cannot utilize their full capacity and efficiency when operating from oxygen-depleted terrain like the 4,000 metre high Tibetan plateau.
On September 22, 2022, China’s air force spokesperson Senior Colonel Shen Jinke had stated that the J-20 has been deployed across all five theater commands including the western one which faces India.
Already constrained by the significant asymmetry in air power with China, the new development will further widen the air power gulf between India and its northern neighbour.
While the J-20 is a fifth-generation fighter with stealth capabilities, India’s most advanced air fighter is the 4.5-generation Rafale which is a French origin platform from the Dassault stable.
Two factors may have mainly contributed to the scaling up of J-20 production.
First is the use of the locally-developed Shenyang WS-10 Taihang aero engine in the J-20 which has replaced the Russian Saturn AL-31 engine. In effect, China has been able to produce the entire aircraft on its own eliminating reliance on foreign technology. Notably, a much more powerful aero-engine WS-15 is also undergoing development.
Second is the use of the ‘pulsating production line’ which is a far more mechanized and automatised method of assembling an aircraft with adjustable platforms precisely setting up and placing different components of the airframe line cockpits, landing gear, tails etc.
The J-20 is the world’s third stealth fighter aircraft to be deployed after the F-22A Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter both of which are with the US military.
The J-20 was first flight-tested in 2011. After its maiden appearance at a 2016 aerospace exhibition, it entered PLAAF service in 2017.
China usually does not announce the number of fighters in its fleet but it is believed that in addition to the existing 200 J-20s, five brigades—55th Air Brigade based at Jining, 131st Air Brigade based at Nanning, 98th Air Brigade at Chongqing, 95th Air Brigade at Lianyungang and the 97th Air Brigade at Dazu have received the aircraft in the first half of 2023 alone.
Another fifth-generation stealth fighter is being developed in China that has been codenamed “J-35” or “J-XY”.
The military official also added that the work has just begun on the Nyoma advanced landing ground (ALG) located at an altitude of 13,700 feet in eastern Ladakh after a ‘bhumi-pujan’ ceremony was conducted earlier this week.
“Upgrading and enhancing the present mud runway to a longer concrete runway will allow the entire range of fighters and transport aircraft in the Indian Air Force fleet to operate from the Nyoma base thereby fulfilling a critical gap for air operations in the area,” the official said.
“Many new fitments are being made to the fighter aircraft to enable them to operate from this high altitude air base without any problems.”
Nyoma will add to the Leh and Thoise airfields in Ladakh from where all air power operations can be undertaken.
On the infrastructure build up across the border, the official said: “It is continuing at a very very hectic pace and we have to ‘mirror’ it. But it is a mystery as to what the real intentions for such a border buildup are.”
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# Production line is a far more mechanized and automatised method of assembling an aircraft with adjustable platforms precisely setting up and placing different components of the airframe line cockpits, landing gear, tails etc.