The statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are repeated at the end of this article
I don't know if you guys in front of the screen know about it? On October 26, 2023, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command released a video in the media with the caption: "Chinese J-11 fighters conducted an unsafe interception of a U.S. B52 bomber over Nannanhai on April 24, 2023." [Innocent]
What makes people wonder why it happened in April was released after 6 months? What happened in the meantime? We don't know about this, but American netizens found in detail that it seems that in similar news about intercepting fighters, China basically uses J-11, is J-11 their main force?
In fact, with the rapid development of the mainland's military strength, it is no surprise that such a thing as intercepting a US plane is no longer a surprise, but why can this incident arouse so much attention from the US and the United States?
This is because the J-11 on the mainland at that time was only 10 feet away from the American B52 bomber, a distance that had never been seen before. Recall that in 2001, the mainland J-8II intercepted the American fighter, but the distance was too close, coupled with the "unintentional" operation of the opposing pilot, which led to the sacrifice of the mainland pilot Wang Wei.
If Wang Wei was piloting the J-11 at that time, such a tragedy might not have happened, and this time the mainland pilots staged the same scene again, on the one hand, to warn the United States, and on the other hand, to show the strength of the mainland fighters! Perhaps, during the period when Lao Mei released the news, there were more interceptions, but we don't know.
It's just that we can find through Lao Mei's tone that it seems that our J-11 has caused them big trouble, and even made them feel puzzled. Obviously, there are such powerful fighters as J-16 and J-20, but it is really not okay to take the Su-35, why do you have to use the J-11 to humiliate us?
In this regard, some professionals in the mainland said, who said that the most advanced models must be used to clean up the old beauty? What's up? No money for maintenance? It's obvious that the little brother can solve the matter, why should you alarm the big brother?
We all know that the United States often sneaks around near the South China Sea, and the planes sent over are basically decent, so we often use the J-11 to carry out interception missions, and over time it gives the United States such an illusion, making them think that the main force of our air force is the J-11.
It's just that the J-11 is not an advanced fighter, it can't even squeeze into the Three Musketeers formation, so how can it be the main force of the mainland air force? However, it is definitely an excellent interceptor fighter!
Why is the J-11 an excellent interceptor? Because its predecessor was the Su-27 fighter, when the mainland's air power was still relatively weak in the last century, the mainland introduced the Soviet Union's production line and technology, and produced the J-11A fighter with the Su-27 as the benchmark. Later, with the continuous progress of mainland science and technology, the J-11B fighter was upgraded on its basis, which was later the main J-11.
Because it is a reference to the Su-27, the J-11 perfectly inherits many of the advantages of the Soviet-style flanker, with hypersonic cruise and the ability to fight in complex electromagnetic environments. Moreover, the J-11 can carry a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and its escort combat capabilities and confrontation capabilities are very good.
It is more than enough to use such excellent fighters to intercept those reconnaissance planes and bombers of the United States. Moreover, the most important thing is that using the J-11 to carry out interception missions can reduce the life loss of those advanced fighters on the mainland. As we all know, as long as the mission is carried out, there will be wear and tear on the aircraft, let alone intercepting such a mission, in case of a bump, it will be a large expense to repair.
The J-11 is not only powerful, but also relatively affordable, and it is definitely the best choice for missions before the other side dispatches more advanced aircraft.
Moreover, the United States is not stupid, they generally do not send too advanced aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions, in addition to the loss of fighter planes is on the one hand, they are also afraid that the data parameters of their own advanced aircraft will be exposed to the mainland. Therefore, in the vicinity of the South China Sea on the mainland, they will at most send some reconnaissance planes, electronic warfare planes, bombers, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
To deal with these types of fighters, the J-11 is enough, if it really doesn't work, we will also dispatch the J-16 interceptor, in front of the J-16, unless the United States sends their most advanced aircraft, otherwise they can only flee in disgrace.
Once, the United States sent F35 carrier-based aircraft, wanting to test the mainland's military level, in this regard, we decisively sent J-20, with the cooperation of ground radar, F35 was easily suppressed by the mainland's J-20, the end is needless to say. And when discussing this matter at that time, many netizens wondered, why didn't we use the Su-35 to try it at that time?
There are also many netizens who said that they have not seen the shadow of the Su-35 in many public places, is this hidden by the Continental Army? Isn't it just delivered less than 10 years ago?
At that time, when we had not yet developed a fifth-generation aircraft, in order to fill the continental air force, we purchased 24 Su-35 fighters from Russia. In that era when fifth-generation aircraft were not yet flying all over the sky, the status of the Su-35 should not be underestimated. The maneuverability can be on par with some fifth-generation aircraft, and it is also a heavy twin-engine fighter, with fast speed and large bomb load, which was the existence of a hegemon at that time, and it was definitely the top level of the fourth-generation aircraft.
It is estimated that no one expected that the mainland's fifth-generation aircraft was developed so smoothly, from the confirmation of the project to the test flight of the test aircraft, it took only a few years, and it could be mass-produced on a large scale, so we focused on the research and development of fifth-generation aircraft technology, and the performance of the J-16 fighter was upgraded to be extremely powerful.
It is no exaggeration to say that the mainland's J-16 is the "final answer to the Soviet-style flanker", showing the characteristics that the former Soviet Union wanted to play to the extreme. Therefore, as a more inferior performance of the Su-35, naturally there are fewer opportunities to appear, for the mainland, the Su-35 is more like a feeling, witnessing the development of our fifth-generation aircraft.
Now that the Su-35 is no longer introduced, it can be said that one less is used, and it is better to use the two brothers J-11 and J-16. Moreover, the Su-35 cannot be integrated into the fighter system of the continental air force to cooperate, which is one of the reasons why it gradually disappeared from the public eye.
If the J-11 cannot serve as the main force of the continental air force, then who can be qualified for this position? The three mainstream models in service in the mainland are J-10C, J-16 and J-20, J-20 as the mainland's artifact, needless to say, it will not play unless there are special circumstances, and it can be used as the main fighter in the future, only it may be the good big brother J-16 of J-11.
As the big brother of the J-11, the J-16 has a great interception advantage, and the twin-engine heavy fighter allows its combat radius to cover the entire air defense area of the mainland, and no enemy aircraft can escape its sight. Moreover, the J-16 has a fast reaction speed and can enter the combat state in time. Whether it is melee or long-range bombardment, the J-16 is not false at all.
Looking back at the development and growth of the mainland air force step by step, the United States is now very jealous of us, and I believe that in the future, there will be more advanced interceptor planes on the mainland to extinguish the arrogance of the United States!
Resources
[1] China Military Network "Su-35 Fighter Can Compete with American-made F-35 Aerobatic Beauty Exposed"
[2] Global Network "Military Network: Su-35 has arrived, I hope it will be the last time to purchase military aircraft"
[3] China Military Network "Military News Reporter Takes You to See the Fighting Eagle of the Chinese and Russian Air Forces"
[4] China Military Network "J-16: Grow into an "all-round hexagonal" air warrior! 》