In 2020, the news of the first flight of the sixth-generation aircraft NGAD verification aircraft in the United States spread on the Internet, and it was difficult to distinguish between true and false.
[Sixth-generation aircraft NGAD concept map]
And in 2023, the American "sixth-generation aircraft" B21 successfully made its first flight (their self-styled sixth-generation aircraft), and the news is still very clear, reported by major authoritative media, and pictures are also leaked on the Internet.
[The first flight of the American "sixth-generation aircraft" B21]
Now that the mass production of the J-20 is being carried out in an orderly manner, after the first flight of the American "sixth-generation aircraft", does it mean that the J-20 is lagging behind?
Don't rush to conclusions, let's see what Chief Designer Yang Wei has to say!
Determine the technology of the future fighter
For the questions that everyone is concerned about, Yang Wei, the chief designer of the J-20, also answered positively in an interview.
He believes that the key technology that will determine the future of fighters is artificial intelligence, and China maintains a leading position in this field.
The current fifth-generation fighters and fourth-generation fighters have been equipped with intelligent control and avionics systems with high computing power, especially the fifth-generation fighters, which are known as having "super information advantages", which means that its avionics level is almost a unique level.
However, even in the avionics intelligent computing system of fifth-generation fighters, there is still a huge gap in the face of truly advanced artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is a kind of human-like mechanical product that uses the human brain as a simulated object to try to create, which can think like a human being, or even surpass it!
This means that in the future, AI will be able to make more complex decisions and process more complex information, which is unmatched by any electronic computing system.
Especially in the future of unmanned warfare, the highly intelligent and highly autonomous decision-making function of artificial intelligence is very important.
At present, many countries have proposed a loyal wingman combat model, and there is a possibility of realizing it on fifth-generation fighters.
The so-called loyal wingman simply means that a manned fighter controls multiple drones to fight.
[China's loyal wingman combat system reported by CCTV 7]
In this way, a single fighter can also form an air formation with a drone, further expanding its own advantage in the air battlefield.
If this combat mode can be verified in actual combat, then future sixth-generation fighters will further amplify this advantage.
Chinese artificial intelligence is very advanced
The concept of artificial intelligence was put forward as early as the 50s of the last century, when China was still carrying out socialist construction.
The United States is undoubtedly leading the world in the field of artificial intelligence, the most representative of which is the hot chat GPT in recent years, of which the model of the fourth model has been very perfect.
But in fact, China has many advantages in the field of artificial intelligence, including a huge population and massive information resources, which provides a good environment for training artificial intelligence.
For example, in the field of intelligent computing power, China's supercomputers have always been at the world's leading level, and in the "China's New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Technology Industry Development Report 2022", it is pointed out that China has a total of 188 supercomputing centers ranked among the world's top 500.
In a similar report in the same year, it was pointed out that the market size of China's core AI industry will reach 400 billion yuan by 2025.
Not only that, the research of papers in the field of Chinese artificial intelligence is also growing continuously, accounting for more than 10% of all artificial intelligence papers in the world.
Finally, China ranks first in the world in the number of AI patent applications, accounting for 389,000 of the world's 729,000 invention patent applications related to AI.
In the field of artificial intelligence, more than a dozen universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Harbin Institute of Technology, have set up special authoritative research institutions to further promote China's development in related technology fields.
[Tsinghua University and other universities have specialized artificial intelligence research institutions]
Just ask, with such an advanced and dynamic artificial intelligence technology, will China's sixth-generation war chances be poor?
For the J-20 that is currently in mass production, it will be upgraded and keep up with the pace of the times.
J-20 is very useful
In fact, in today's era of rapid development, there is no equipment that cannot be behind the times in the future.
As China's first fifth-generation fighter, the J-20 uses many new concept technologies, and due to its thick foundation, there is still a large space for development in the later stage.
With the assistance of artificial intelligence technology, it is not impossible to directly upgrade to a sixth-generation fighter.
Today's mass-produced models are in line with the needs of the times, and they are rigid needs for China.
So far, the number of F35 fighters mass-produced in the United States may have exceeded 1,000, and there are about 180 F22 fighters.
Among them, the F35 fighter is widely equipped by the allies of the United States, including Japan and South Korea, and other countries are equipped with this model.
This means that the security of China's national defense will be guaranteed in an era.
The so-called backwardness of mass production is an unwarranted statement, which is completely inconsistent with China's development needs in this era.
Moreover, Academician Yang Wei also said that China's fighters have always maintained the habit of "mass production, development, and pre-research".
In other words, after the J-20 entered mass production, China has launched the research and development of sixth-generation fighters.
With China's current level of technology, it even surpasses the United States in many core technology fields.
It's just that China is more low-key and doesn't show much of these technologies.
The birth of China's sixth-generation fighter does not mean that the J-20 is backward, just like the relationship between fifth-generation fighters and fourth-generation fighters.
In the future air battlefield, it is completely possible to form a situation of high and low matching.
It is worth mentioning that the sixth-generation fighter is not a "universal hexagonal warrior", and there may be certain trade-offs in technology.
Referring to the fourth-generation fighters and fifth-generation fighters, it can be found that although the fifth-generation fighters are crushed in terms of performance, the bomb load is less than the fourth-generation fighters, and the ability to do so in large-scale air battles is lacking, and the fourth-generation fighters are still needed to supplement their firepower.
[China's sixth-generation fighter may look like this]
Therefore, the sixth-generation fighter will make trade-offs in what aspects, let us witness in the future.
Resources:
[1] Beijing Daily: "China's AI, what level is it in the world?"
[2] Sichuan Online: "The Father of J-20" Yang Wei Acceptance Speech: "I have witnessed the aviation industry from scratch, from weak to strong"