Two American AWACs planes cruise two
hundred miles off the Chinese coast, blasting a significant portion of the hostile
coastline with radar and feeding that information to American combat assets in the air all
across the South China Sea. For the Chinese, they are a critical target that must be eliminated
ASAP. For the Americans, who have no ground-based installations to fall back on, they are
vital resources to be protected at all costs. Whether the two big birds live or die in
the coming moments might just determine who reigns supreme in the
skies over China's coastline. A flight of Chinese J-15s scream towards the
American planes, armed with long-range missiles they only need to get to within 150 or so miles
to down their targets. The Chinese fighters have taken off from military airfields on Hainan
island, hastily repaired after the initial American strike against military bases all across
Southern China's coast by US Navy submarines utilizing tomahawk cruise missiles. While
not fully operational, the air fields are able to launch several sorties a day- enough to
threaten the all-important American AWACs planes. Now the Eight J-15s scream at full afterburner
towards their targets. US strikes weren't able to disable all of China's ground-based radar
capabilities, and the systems the People's Liberation Air Force still has operational tell
the J-15 pilots that the big birds are currently alone. None of the veteran pilots are fooled
though, the AWACS won't be alone for long. The US Air Force has been operating from airfields
in the Philippines, which China has been hesitant to strike at out of fear of driving the
Philippines from a passive ally of the US, to a fully combat-committed one. Somewhere
near the AWACS, Chinese long range radar now picks up a small flight of US Air Force
F-15s, likely there to provide cover for the vulnerable planes. The Chinese jets
aren't looking for a dogfight, they hope to get to within long-range striking distance and
down the AWACs before the F-15s can respond. To accomplish this the planes first fly east, away
from their targets, then loop around to the south before turning north on the AWAC’S six o’clocks-
an unexpected attack vector. The F-15s which have been expecting an attack from the east are
completely out of position to defend the AWACs, despite being vectored in on the
approaching J-15s. The big, slow, and extremely vulnerable American
Airborne Warning and Control planes are easy pickings as the Chinese
jets cruise towards firing range. Suddenly, four of the J-15s receive missile lock
warnings. The pilots scan the horizon wildly as their onboard alerting systems work out range
and heading. There- 3'oclock, thirty five miles out and closing extremely rapidly- American AIM
120 Amraams. The J-15s dump flares and chaff, breaking off their attack to outmaneuver
the incoming missiles. This however means turning away from the incoming missiles
and from their current direction of travel, which bleeds large amounts of airspeed
which must be very quickly made up. The other Chinese pilots panic briefly-
they know of only one plane that could have remained undetected on radar long
enough to ambush them- the American F-22. A hundred miles away, four American F-22 Raptors
supercruise at over twice the speed of sound. Had the J-15's been pointed in their direction,
their front-facing radar may have briefly detected the presence of the F-22s by the opening of
their weapon bays. Even so, the brief contact may not even have been enough to alert the Chinese
pilots they were being targeted and under fire. Given the AIM 120's kill rate of around
30% against actively defending aircraft, each F-22 has launched
three missiles at each bird, with a second volley targeting the
remaining 4 J-15s just seconds later. The Chinese formation is in chaos, as the
second group of J-15s realize they've been targeted as well. The planes dive to put
on airspeed as they dump flares and chaff- most of the American missiles explode harmlessly
into the decoys- but many don't, and six J-15 pilots are forced to eject. The other two break
off the attack and decide to cut their losses. The American F-22s have accomplished
their mission, but suddenly their powerful long-range radars detect the
unmistakable ping of a stealth aircraft opening its weapons bay doors to fire. The
F-22 computers immediately recognize the few seconds of the return signal as a Chinese
J-20 stealth fighter- and the Raptors with their 6 medium-range missile capacity per
plane are completely spent on AIM 120s. China has its own answer to the F-22, largely
due to its espionage of American military secrets. Head-on as they are
currently approaching the F-22s, the J-20's stealth is less effective than the
Americans, but more than good enough to make long-range targeting impossible if not incredibly
difficult. Picking up on the F-22's own firing, and thus breach of their stealth capabilities,
the J-20s have fired their own long-range missiles in the direction of the last
radar contact with the American planes. The missiles cannot hope to lock on to the F-22s
at such long range, but once they come within thirty to twenty miles, their on-board radar
could pose serious risks to the American F-22s. The American pilots face a tough choice. They
only have two short-range AIM 9X missiles each, only usable when within a few dozen miles of
their target. Meanwhile, the Chinese missiles are screaming across the sky towards them. Turning and
running would mean the loss of a lot of airspeed, and potentially allow the missiles to catch
up. Plus, while far better than the J-20's, the F-22's rear radar cross section is far worse than
its front, and would make them easier targets. The F-22s decide to execute a hard
ninety degree turn. Unlike the J-15s, they have the advantage of long-range detection
of the hostile J-20's missile launches, and while the maneuver bleeds off precious air
speed, there's plenty of time to regain it. Plus, the incoming missiles can't match the
extremely tight turn rate of the F-22 with its thrust-vectoring engines, and must make
a much wider turn, bleeding off its own airspeed. The turn is successful, and the Chinese missiles
tumble harmlessly out of the sky, their airspeed completely exhausted. However, the turn has also
presented the F-22's three and nine o'clock to the incoming J-20s, and these are the least stealthy
angles of the large American fighter. With plenty of radar-reflective surfaces exposed to the
long-range radar of the J-20s, there's little the radar-absorbent features of the aircraft's
skin can do to prevent a good lock by the Chinese. As the J-20s move in for the
kill on the helpless F-22s, the Chinese pilots stare incredulously at
a loudly squawking missile lock warning. More American AIM 120s are incoming, tearing
through the air at 2500 miles an hour. Lurking behind the first flight of
Raptors, is a second 4-bird flight, who have just released on the Chinese planes.
With the J-20s moving their forward-facing radar off-axis, they never had a chance
to detect the second flight of Raptors. The J-20s may be cheap copies of the F-22,
but they are still a very stealthy plane, making it hard to get a good weapons lock on them
from long range. That's why while the Chinese and American fighters juked for supremacy, a US
Air Force RQ-170 Sentinel drone quietly snuck behind the Chinese formation. Now, the unmanned
drone activates its radar and blasts the Chinese stealth fighters, hitting the fighters in their
least stealthy angles. With its remote data link, the Sentinel sends targeting data
back to the second flight of F-22s, which feed that data directly to their own
nine AIM 120 missiles already in flight. The American kill network is brutally effective,
and China's limited fleet of J-20s is reduced by another four. Three J-20s remain however, and the
Raptors boost towards the Chinese flight. Neither side has any long-range weapons remaining, but
each plane still carries two short-range missiles. At these ranges, the stealth characteristics
of both planes are largely ineffective, but the F-22's far greater maneuverability
and its superior engines proves dominant, especially with its ability to vector its
thrust. The J-20's canards allow it great agility as well, but its inferior
engines proves to be its downfall. Two short-range missiles don't guarantee
a kill even in a dogfight however, which is why the American Raptors have
an onboard cannon. The J-20 does not, and within a few minutes, one American Raptor has been
downed, with the total loss of all Chinese J-20s. The clash just a few dozen miles from
the Paracel islands has pulled much of the Chinese Air Force's remaining
air power in the area. So far, the war has been extremely expensive for both
sides in terms of aircraft lost, with hundreds downed on both the Chinese and American side. With
their superior technology and capabilities though, the American planes are enjoying a far greater
kill ratio- but it is not an easy victory. Supercruising at 65,000 feet above sea
level, a third flight of F-22s now closes in on Hainan island and its remaining military
infrastructure. Head-on to incoming radar waves from the surviving Chinese radar installations,
the F-22s present their stealthiest side and won't be detectable until within a hundred or
so miles. Even then, the radar resolution will be so low that weapons lock won't be achievable
until the planes close to within thirty miles. The F-22s don't need to get that close.
Armed with two 1,000 pound glide bombs each, the F-22s open their weapons bay doors at just
under 200 miles and release their payloads. Chinese radar immediately picks up the distinct
ping of stealth aircraft firing, followed briefly by a large flash as the planes bank and turn away
from their targets, but due to their stealthy rear radar cross-sections, the island's air defenses
are completely confounded and can't respond. Eight 1,000 pound bombs deploy small fins and
begin their satellite guided flight to their targets. The four remaining air-defense radars
on the island will receive two bombs each, and in just a few minutes the giant radars are smoldering
wrecks. With the loss of this last outer ring of defenses, China has effectively lost the ability
to monitor and respond to threats along a large section of the South China sea, leaving the US
and its allies with complete air superiority. For now, the Chinese Air Force will be forced to
fight a defensive war close to its own shores, where air defenses remain dense enough
to ward off even the stealthy F-22s. At the absolute limits of their combat ranges
from airfields in the Philippines, the F-22s rendezvous with one of dozens of American
airborne tankers before returning to base. With the superior fighter, a larger
AWACS and airborne refueling fleet, and the world's most robust battle
management and data link capabilities, the US military has won the day, despite the high
costs of a war between these two military giants. For now though, the F-22 continues to reign
supreme, unmatched by any other weapon in the sky. Want to find out how the mighty Raptor compares
to the Russian SU-35? Check out this video, US F-22 Raptor vs Russian SU-35 Fighter Jet-
Who Would Win? Or click this other one instead!
