As for getting into a dogfight
1: as a stealth platform if you do get into a dogfight you either know what you’re doing (and have control of the situation) or have done something very, very wrong.
2: short range AAMs outclass guns in basically every imaginable way, barring volume of fire. However having 2 clear shots with a sraam is hard enough as is in dogfights, if both of those somehow miss trying to get guns on the adversary would be even more difficult.
3: air combat is not necessarily directly matching what the enemy is doing and hoping you come out on top, e.g. using a stealth platform to “duel” another. Stealth is a valuable asset, and imo best used with as great an effect and as low a risk as possible, and there are plenty of very high value targets on the battlefield that offer as much, if not bigger value than an enemy stealth fighter while presenting significantly less risk. Dealing with enemy stealth fighters is a very complex task and, to the extent of my knowledge, requires collaboration between a great number of assets to be effective. Relying on one stealth jet to counter another is ineffective at best and stupid at worst, in fact I won’t be very surprised if in some occasions stealth fighters actively avoid engaging one another. Not to say that combats between stealth jets will not occur (quite the contrary), just that ideally they have better things to do.
4: Stealth is not magical, it doesn’t just turn a jet invisible and impossible to find, especially on a large battlefield full of sensors from both sides. In a lone scenario I can very much see two stealth jets failing to locate each other and somehow either missing the encounter entirely or getting into a merge, but in a war I think it’s much less likely. A more probable outcome is a shortened OODA loop in which both sides observe each other at a shorter (but probably still bvr-appropriate) range and has significantly less time to orientate and get into action. This may result in whoever react first wins, or a very scuffed bvr stint, or a dogfight, we don’t know. But regardless, the jets will still have a hard time getting close enough for a gun engagement, especially with the widespread use of fox-3 enabling the platform to “turn cold” and regain desperation between jousts
At the end of the day we don’t know if J20 has or will have a gun, and I think a good case can be made by both sides of the argument. However please keep in mind that when a gun is out inside an airframe, by its nature it must take up weight and space that may otherwise used by other subsystems. Having a gun is a trade off, not necessarily a pure gain.
