In order to demonstrate its strength, the U.S. Air Force has compiled a comparison table of fourth-generation and fifth-generation aircraft strengths of various countries in 2024.
There is no doubt that the United States has put itself in first place, with a total of 2094 fighters for fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft.
India ranked third in the world with 557 aircraft, but Russia did not make the list.
But the most unexpected thing is that the number of Chinese fighters and the number of fighters of the United States and India show a cliff-like gap.
So what is the number of Chinese fighters? What position do warplanes occupy in war?
The place of warplanes in warfare
In fact, many people now have misunderstandings about the positioning of fighters, in many air combat movies, no matter how advanced fighters are, the only way to fight is to fight with other fighters in the sky.
But in fact, dry racking is actually only a small part of the function of fighters, because it is difficult for fighters to dry face each other in modern warfare.
It's a very simple truth, for example, our J-20 faced India's glorious fighters, and they couldn't even see our face on the other side, so they were shot down directly.
The more advanced the fighter, the less likely it is to use it for dry racking.
In fact, in modern warfare, the main role of fighter planes is actually to penetrate defenses, accurately strike at the enemy's key points, and open the way for the main forces.
For example, in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia often uses warplanes to bomb Ukrainian hydropower stations, military bases, or transport trains, airstrips, etc.
The purpose of this is to open the way for bombers, fighters, and attack planes, that is, to quickly seize air supremacy.
Then use these things to open the way for the ground troops to avoid the ground troops being attacked by the enemy while they are on the move.
In addition, fighters are also responsible for battlefield communications, reconnaissance, and use electromagnetism to destroy the enemy's communications.
This method is even more common at sea, using electromagnetic interference to directly disable the opponent's warships and fighters.
Therefore, the more advanced the fighter plane, the more decisive it plays in modern warfare.
The side with advanced fighters can casually beat the side without advanced fighters, and the Iraq war is actually a good proof of the role of fighters in modern warfare.
So how many fighters does China really have? How about the United States?
Comparison of Chinese and American warplanes
As a recognized world hegemon, the United States is not only at the forefront of the world in terms of navy, but also fighter jets.
Judging from the data, the number of fighters currently in active service in the US military is 2,094, which makes other countries tremble.
Among them, there are more than 600 fifth-generation aircraft F35 and more than 100 F-22s.
The number of F16s in the main combat aircraft is as high as 1,000.
You must know that a modern fighter costs at least tens of millions of dollars, and some even hundreds of millions of dollars can be built, for example, the cost of F22 goes to 200 million dollars!
This is also due to the fact that the United States is constantly increasing its military budget every year and its military-industrial complex with strong technology.
Technically speaking, these US fighters almost represent the highest combat power of fighters in the world.
In the case of the F35, it is the world's largest carrier-based fighter, with advanced electronic systems, supersonic cruise capabilities, and of course, superb stealth technology.
After talking about the United States, let's talk about the number of Chinese fighters.
In this comparative data table, China ranks second, with 1,582 fighters, including more than 250 J-20 fighters, more than 300 J-16s, and more than 500 J-10s.
The J-20 and J-16 are the main fighters currently manufactured by the mainland, and the number is still increasing.
Technically, the J-20 is no weaker than the F35, and even stronger than the F35 in some respects.
In terms of quantity, our high-end fighters are indeed much less than those of the US Air Force, but you don't have to feel that the firepower is insufficient.
Because in practical terms, we cannot be said to be in a weak position compared to the US Air Force, because US fighters are actually not comparable to our fighters.
Take the F35 as an example, his design concept is a product of the last century, and there have been frequent failures in research and development, and in 2022, the explosive cartridge of the F35's ejection seat failed, and the U.S. military also issued an order to ground all F35s.
Many F35 fighters also use parts from China.
However, due to the fact that the production line of F22 has been stopped, it can be said that there is one less one, and even maintenance has to cost more money.
The main fighter of the US military, the F16, has been in existence for more than 40 years.
On the other hand, because our fighters started relatively late, most of them are relatively new, and the technology that should be on them is also the most advanced, so there are still advantages over the old fighters of the United States.
The most important thing is that the mainland, as an industrial power, is certainly faster than the United States in manufacturing fighter planes compared to the hollowing out of the United States' industry.
Therefore, our backwardness is only temporary, and in two years we will definitely surpass the United States in the number of fighters.
But in this list, the most surprising thing to me is actually India, which actually compares the old power Russia to the third place, is India really stronger than Russia?
Surprising India
When it comes to the military of India, I think every Chinese will scoff at it, after all, the equipment depends on buying, buying, buying, and buying, and the weapons developed by themselves are useless.
There are also frequent news of crashed planes, which has to be strange.
But when I looked at this comparison table specifically, I realized that the third place in India came from this way.
India has 557 fighters in service, but the main fighters are the MiG-29, Su-30MKL and Mirage 2000.
There is a detail in this, that is, these fighters are all bought from other countries, and the MiG series and the Soviet series, which are the largest in number, were bought from the Soviet Union and Russia.
And although the number of these fighters is large, and most of these fighters are third-generation aircraft.
However, in modern air combat, the fifth-generation aircraft is the fighter that ultimately determines the outcome of the fighter, but India does not have one.
Although it is said that India has been developing its own fifth-generation aircraft, the Tejas fighter, it has been researching and failing, and until now it has not solved the top-heavy problem.
The most important problem here is not these, the most important thing is that India's weapons are made by all countries, and it has no ability to repair them.
In wartime, will the country opposing you still help you repair your planes? Obviously unrealistic.
And the real reason why Russia did not enter the list is deliberately on the part of the United States, after all, the two countries are now fighting in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
At this time, it is natural that you can't help the other party increase your prestige.
However, it is speculated that Russia alone inherited three or four thousand fighters from the Soviet legacy, not to mention that Russia itself developed some new fighters.
epilogue
The role of fighters in modern air combat is undoubted, but fighters are only part of the strength.
The most important thing is to see how comprehensive the strength is, and this list is just a reference.
In contrast, China is indeed a big step behind the United States in terms of the number of fighters, but I believe that with the continuous efforts of our scientific researchers, we will eventually surpass the United States in the number of fighters.
Source: "Russian Air Force / Russian Naval Aviation" - List of Modern Aircraft Military Aircraft of the World2024-01-16
"American-made F-35 series fighter accidents occur frequently, Wang Yanan: It is exposed that it has many problems in production, supply chain management, etc."
"F-15 has disintegrated in the air due to old age, and it is difficult to replace the main fighters of the US military in the short term" - Taiwan Strait Network
"F35 Fighter" - Baidu Encyclopedia
There is a malfunction in the ejection seat explosive cartridge! The US Air Force announced the suspension of flights of the F35 fleet - the website of Defense News