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| J-20 Mighty Dragon Allegedly Intercepted Stealth Fighter, Second Encounter with F-35 |
International Military - J-20 Mighty Dragon launched its action by finding and intercepting an unidentified fighter jet during a patrol in the East China Sea. This is based on a report released on October 13, 2022. Although the class of foreign aircraft encountered is not confirmed, they are referred to as “advanced fighters like J-20 and others”. This indicated that they were likely fifth-generation fighters.
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Reported from Military Watch Magazine, it is likely the fighter jet in question is the F-35. The F-35 was the only other fighter class in the world of that generation to be produced and deployed at a squadron-level force.
As is known, the meeting between the J-20 and the F-35 has been confirmed for the first time coming in March 2022 from the Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, Air Force General Kenneth Wilsbach.
He stated at the time that the Air Force was "relatively impressed with the command and control associated with the J-20." Both fighters are considered effective in their own league in terms of performance. What's more, a combination of advanced avionics and stealth capabilities that is beyond any competition.
The F-35 is a much lighter single-engine aircraft produced on a much larger scale. Meanwhile, the J-20 benefits from greater firepower and much longer range, higher operational altitude, and greater maneuverability.
Quoted from the Eurasian Times, Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter has had at least one contact with a Chinese J-20 jet, the US Air Force General said.
Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, Commander, Pacific Air Force, USAF, did not reveal when or if the F-35/J-20 encounter took place. He did, however, briefly discuss the functions of China's new stealth fighter in rare interactions.
General Kenneth Wilsbach said “It's too early to say what they want to do with the J-20, so all we see is air superiority. But we saw that they flew it pretty well. Our recent I wouldn't call it an engagement - where we were relatively close to the J-20 along with our F-35 in the East China Sea, and we were relatively impressed with the command and control associated with the J-20."
The revelations come weeks after an aircraft carrier-carried USAF F-35 crashed in the South China Sea.