"Chinese Airforce Orbat - party like it's 1965!" Topic

Reasonably accurate Order of Battle for Chinese airforce.

scramble.nl/orbats/china/airforce

Each modern regiment has about 24 combat airfcraft and a handful of trainers.

The regiments with older types had up to 42 combat aircraft.

One should note the huge numbers of regiments equipped with J-7, J-8 and Q-5. These form the cornerstone of Chinese airpower.

And they are junk heaps based on 1950s tactical doctrines and often based on 1950s designs that were obsolete by 1970.

J-7 (MiG-21 knock off)

Most are J-7II/E based on ancient MiG-21F-13. Very few of the MiG-21MF based J-7IIIs were accepted into service.

J-8
Roughly equivalent to MiG-23.

Q-5

Ground attack jet based on MiG-19.

The stocks of modern aircraft are extremely low and have been obtained in small numbers.

And this is the Air Force the world is starting to fear?

If anyone were to attack China (leaving aside the possible Nuclear War scenario) then quantity does matter. Can you keep enough missiles outbound to stop ASM/SSM/dedicated strike aircraft attacks for long enough? are your forces Golden BB proof? Unknown IMO.

If it isn't USA versus PRC then it is a potent military aerial force as long as the carrier functions as designed (Paracel Islands, Spratley Islands, Taiwan, near coast issues with Japan, either Korea, Vietnam, etc. scenarios.)

Think its only certain sections of the US that wants people to fear them possibly the same sections that make money from military equipment.

Depends on how their missile and radar systems have been upgraded. It also depends on who they are fighting. You could send in masses of older planes to swamp the enemy and hold your better stuff back, or use better quality first to partially degrade an enemy force before sending the older craft in to finish things off. Either way, better to have lots of old planes flying rather than nothing at all.

It is not the US who fears China, it is China's neighbors. China can reach Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan with conventional forces. As discussed in other threads, the US can stop China by economic means.

In a short air war, China would probably win because of numbers. Yes, the F-22 is the best fighter flying. But it carries only 8 missiles. What happens if the Chinese send whole regiments of J-7/8s against each of our F-22 and F-15s? With a 100% kill ratio, we run out of ammo before we run out of targets. Meanwhile, other Chinese regiments are going after the tankers our fighters need to get home.

To paraphrase…. What might save us, me and you, is if the Chinese love their children, too.
Bob

Sorry, Bob, but most Chinese are not allowed to have children (plural). And do you really think their government cares what the people think?

Perhaps they've seen the performance stats of the F-35, so don't feel the need to exceed those parameters.

Plenty of nations have gone to war while loving their own children (often justifying the war, correctly or not, as going to war "for the children" though not in those words…) but a bit less love for other people's children…

Don't forget the PRC is developing asymmetric methods such as cyberwar to complement traditional forms of war. Nothing says you wage war in monoscopic terms.

In a short air war, China would probably win because of numbers. Yes, the F-22 is the best fighter flying. But it carries only 8 missiles. What happens if the Chinese send whole regiments of J-7/8s against each of our F-22 and F-15s? With a 100% kill ratio, we run out of ammo before we run out of targets. Meanwhile, other Chinese regiments are going after the tankers our fighters need to get home.

Except China has 1500 fighters whilst the USA has 2500.

All US fighters are at least modern 4th generation (F-15/-16/-18) as well as 180-odd 5th generation F-22.

The Chinese air force is still 60-70% 2nd/3rd generation listed above.

And US allies in North Asia field another 1200 fighters, of which 70% are fourth generation including 264 F-15s, nearly 400 F-16/F-2, 124 F-CK-1 Ching Kuo, and 55 Mirage 2000s with a further 78 5th generation F-35s being inducted up to early 2020s.

So the Chinese are outnumbered 1:1.6 against US and 1:2.5 against US and allies.

And including only modern aircraft that's a ratio of 1:4 against US and 1 to 5.6 against US + allies.

And that doesn't include US poodle Australia who has already made statements about fighting with US in any war with China (another 100 4th generation jets) or Singapore (150 jets including 110 4th generation).

Also the J-7 is a short range point defence fighter basically designed to be launched once a bomber is approaching (the original design brief for MiG-21).

Most of the Chinese ones have never had the extra-dorsal hump included (extra fuel) and aren't air refuelling capable (in any case PLAAF might have a grand total of 20-ish tankers compared to 500+ for US).

As such it's range is pathetic. And it's combat load is a 2-4 short range missiles.

And this fighter is a third of the total fleet.

The PLAAF/PLANAF is a hollow force without any offensive capability and only limited defense capability.

By the time J-7/J-8 are out of service in mid-2020s, the US fifth generation fleet will number at least 1000 aircraft and at least 160-180 spread across key allies (South Korea, Australia, Japan).