GJ-11 was "in service" since 2019 and look how long it took for actual deployment. IOTE counts as in service as technically they are delivered to the airforce for evaluation but are still far from serial production and front line duty.
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
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We can take fighter aging in the equation. Aircrafts availability on these 1300 fighter jets is very low, about a third if not half are waiting repairs at all time. Even their new jet the F-35 is below 60% mission availability rate.
Chinese fleet is younger even the planes presently being replaced with J-20/J-35 and J-16.
The exact deployment timeline of the GJ-11 is not publicly known. The PLA can maintain secrecy around many of its equipment developments unless officially announced. This is exemplified by systems like the UADF, which made its first surprise appearance during the military parade.
This is the number of active units in the USAF.
It does not include the ANG (Air National Guard) and USAFR (United States Air Force Reserve).
The total number can be viewed here:
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
TMB 2025 Data: Air Combat Command (ACC) 4 sqn with F-15E Strike Eagle 3 sqn with F-16C/D Fighting Falcon (+4 sqn personnel only) 4 sqn with F-35A Lightning II (+2 sqn personnel only) Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) 2 sqn with F-15C/D Eagle 1 (interceptor) sqn with F-16C/D Fighting Falcon...
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1300 fighters also doesnt include aicraft that are not primarily allotwd for combat. (Even though they could in theory be used for combat) Example would be early f22 batches that now serve for pilot conversion training. or planes for tech and tactics development.
Notably, for f22, the text mentions 134 combat coded f22. Leaving 50 more. Meaning 30 or so for usaf and 20 or so for ang.
Most other aircraft in the article have similar airframes to be added to total tally.
Usaf and ang together have roughly 2000 tactical combat aircraft, when everything is added up.
Equivalent to that would be all the plaaf brigades, frontline ones, training ones, development and test ones as well as training and reserve airframes in various units.
Notably, for f22, the text mentions 134 combat coded f22. Leaving 50 more. Meaning 30 or so for usaf and 20 or so for ang.
Most other aircraft in the article have similar airframes to be added to total tally.
Usaf and ang together have roughly 2000 tactical combat aircraft, when everything is added up.
Equivalent to that would be all the plaaf brigades, frontline ones, training ones, development and test ones as well as training and reserve airframes in various units.
and IOTE models still do represent the very first in service variant.
The UADFs shown in the September parade are technically in service. They most likely represent IOTE level of service so you can't exactly compare them to the J-20. The J-35s are also both in service and likely not far beyond IOTE if even passed IOTE. However, we wouldn't call those J-35s prototypes or even late EMD prototypes.
The GJ-11 in 2019 was probably IOTE and PLA never talks or shows much of anything that's in IOTE outside of mockup or a few photos. J-35 carrier variant is heavily propagandised so we see a bit more of it. Most non-military people only see "big" things like carriers as a milestone. In the case of J-35, stealth fighter on EMALS carrier.
UADFs are in service too. Wait some time and the first official variant will just be Type x then comes Type xA and so on. If not skipping the first level and these UADFs are the Type x and in some time they will be replaced by Type xA.
All of these are certainly in service just like 2019 version of GJ-11 was also in service in training, evaluation and tactic forming role. The GJ-11 we see today is a later block variant of the 2019 version. We're only seeing glimpses of these even though they're being mass produced.