Comparison Between Rafale and J 20 Fighter Jets

After four years of signing the deal with Dassault, the first batch that included the five Rafale fighter planes arrived at the Indian territory on 29th July 2020. Analysts believe the Rafale aircraft has adequate capability to challenge China’s flagship aircraft, even though it is a 4.5 version aircraft while China says that its Chengdu J-20 is a 5th version or generation aircraft.

Therefore, in this article let us have a comparison between both the fighter jets. The Dassault Rafale and the Chengdu J-20 jet which is China’s most advanced fighter aircraft. We are going to have a look from different perspectives, from its aerodynamic characteristics to its avionics.

Sizing

Whereas, J-20 has a length of 20.4 m, a width of 13.5 m and a height of 4.45 m. Which determines J-20 is quite large in the length of breadth and has a little less height than rafale.

Coming to its weight, J-20 has an empty weight of 19.4 tons and a maximum weight to fly as 36 tons. Whereas, Rafale has an empty weight of 10.3 tons and a maximum weight of 24.5 tons.

Well, we can see here that the weight and sizing of the J-20 dominates the region. But we should see other perspectives also before coming to any conclusion.

Aerodynamic Abilities

In aerodynamic abilities, the maximum speed of the Rafale is 2,130 km/h with a service ceiling of 15,235 m and a range of 3,700 km. Whereas, the max speed of J-20 is 2,223 km/h with a service ceiling of 20,000 m where the range of J-20 is unknown.

Avionics

In the avionics, China has not yet revealed the avionics datasheet of the J-20 fighter. It is believed by the experts that J-20 is using an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system. The same is being used in Rafale and is considered one of the most advanced radar systems.

Speaking about Rafale, it is made up of an electronic warfare suite called SPECTRA which protects the jet from both air and ground threat. As well as it is equipped with threat detection, jamming, decoying and threat analysis. Because of this, it becomes very tough to shoot it down in mid-air. It is also announced that to make SPECTRA 30% of rafale’s money has been spent.

Whereas, the J-20 is equipped with Chin Mounted Optic Infrared search and track sensor, which allows the pilot to have a 360-degree view of the aircraft’s surroundings. Moreover, China claims that the pilot can extract the data and information using the Chinese satellites in the aircraft as needed.

So, it seems that in avionics both aircraft have quite similar abilities, whereas we cannot compare them totally because China has disclosed very limited information on its Chengdu J-20.

Role and Firepower

Both aircraft can take on missions that include Air-to-Air Combat, Air-to-Ground combat, In-Depth Strike combat, ant ship combat mission and nuclear missions. And for this purpose, they have a sufficient amount of weapons with them.

In rafale in India, the two major issues are SCALP and Meteor, where the scalp is an air to ground missile, the rafale and meteor is a beyond visual range missile. Similarly in J-20 a beyond visual range missile is used whose name is PL-15 as per the experts say. Speaking about the beyond visual range missiles. PL-15 has a range of more than 200 km and can travel with a speed of 4939 km/h whereas, the range of a meteor is greater than 150 km that can travel with a speed of 4248 km/h.

We can see here that the Chinese aircraft dominates. But the plus point that a meteor has is that it is designed to hit smaller targets like UAVs or cruise missiles. Whereas, the PL-15 can only hit larger targets. This becomes an advantage of a meteor over PL-15.

Stealth Technology

Coming to this section Chinese say that their P-15 is a 5^th generation stealth aircraft that cannot be tracked down or located. Now, the aerodynamics professionals say that the design of P-15 is referenced from the F-22 Raptor aircraft. Now, India has a report that during a 2009 exercise one f-22 was tracked down using a rafale. Moreover, India says that during an exercise Su-20 was able to track a J-20 aircraft.

Speaking in favour of rafale. It does not have any stealth characteristics and it is a 4.5 generation aircraft. That does not mean that it is less than J-20. Rafale has an excellent combination of radio and avionics that combined makes its radar cross-section difficult to catch by any other aircraft.

Experience

In the field of experience, Rafale has many advantages as it has proven its capabilities in the regions of the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. However, the Chinese aircraft J-20 has not yet engaged in any kind of warfare activities that might showcase its ability to fight or conduct any mission.

Conclusion

To sum up, we can see over many technical specifications the J-20 shows that it dominates the region over Dassault Rafale and claims that J-20 is a 5^th generation aircraft and Rafale is a 4.5 generation aircraft. However, many specifications are yet not revealed by the Chinese people. Thus, we cannot say which is the best fighter jet. Moreover, after looking at the specifications and experience of rafale specifically its avionics combination with its radar. We can say that it can give a tough competition to the Chinese fighter jet. As it has proven its abilities in many regions and J-20 has not. And it is difficult to track down a Rafale whereas the reports say that a J-20 has been spotted by Su-30 and F-22 which is seen as an inspiration for the design of J-20 is also spotted by a Rafale aircraft.