J- 20 shows high combat readiness in New Year combat training

J- 20 stealth fighter jets affiliated with multiple Chinese People’s Liberation Army ( PLA) Air Force units started the year with intensive mock combat training sessions against other types of warplanes including the J- 11B and the J- 16, with many details revealed by official media reports displaying that China’s most advanced aircraft has a high level of combat readiness, experts said on Sunday.

A brigade with the PLA Northern Theater Command Air Force organized an aerial confrontation exercise on the first training day of 2022, with the two sides involved in the mock combat both having ace pilots that have won the Golden Helmet – the most realistic combat- oriented air battle contest, China Central Television ( CCTV) reported over the weekend.

Two J- 20 stealth fighter jets were pitted against an unknown number of non- J- 20 warplanes, including a J- 11B fighter jet, the CCTV report shows, which also gives an indication that a J- 20 carried a Luneburg lens, a radar reflector that makes stealth aircraft visible to other fighter jets in training.

The J- 20 side eventually emerged victorious thanks to the pilots’ smart use of the aircraft’s advantages, the report said.

The Northern Theater Command brigade is not the only unit to hold mock battles with the J- 20, as another Air Force training base also held similar drills recently.

Marking the start of 2022, multiple types of aircraft including J- 20 and J- 16 fighter jets took off in the drills and conducted drills including aerial mock combat and live- fire attacks against ground targets, CCTV said in a separate report on Thursday.

Two J- 20s faced two J- 16s in a mock combat, the report revealed, without disclosing the result of the match. The report also shows that a J- 20 had a Luneburg lens on it.

“We aimed at demands in real combat and trained at the highest level of the training program,” Wang Zhen, a regimental commander at the training base, was quoted by the report as saying.

Liu Jinrui, commander of the training base, said in the report that the training explored and verified new approaches to generate combat capabilities.

The intensive mock combat sessions across different PLA units display the J- 20s’ high level of combat readiness, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.