Yes, thats why raptor was made manuverable and all aspect stealth. While J-20 and T-50 may be stealth but as long as they are less stealthy as compared to Raptor, Raptor will always have the upper hand and first shot.Thats why i was debating the trade off of manuverbility. Russia and China have overwighed manuverbility while US has overweighed stealth. But manuverbility has a limit (both aircraft structure and human factor) so by the pace, weapons development is going on, this limit will eventually be overwhelmed. okey for example while an aircraft can use its SC to escape a turbojet based missile (or a ramjet, though i dont think so), he wont be able to do against a missile powered by scram jet. An aircrafft can aviod a 4th gen IR missile. But 5th Gen WVRAAMs have pushed the bar very high. So thats why US went with All aspect stealth ( they call it "unless you cant be seen, you cant be hit") differentiates itself from J-20 or T-50 doctrine
I disagree that the F22 will always have the first kill, first shot maybe but it is not the same thing.
The fact that the F22 'appears' to be stealthier in features than its two competitors (T50,j20) doesn't mean it is so. That is the first thing.
The second thing is that to shoot first is not as easy as you think.
The F22 has an enormous detection range based on its passive AN/ALR-94 system, 250+ miles. However for that system to be effective the enemy needs to ..emit ! If the J20/T50 are not emitting .. i.e. using their radars, or have 'advanced' LPI modes then the system may not be of any use. Hence that advantage is gone.
The T50 on the other hand has an IRST .. totally passive and pretty much only dependent on distance from target.
The third thing is that both the T50 and the J20 are stealthy targets. At the very least the distance of detection between the F22 and these two planes is reduced.
if we still assume that the F22 fires first, there is absolutely NO guarantee that the AiM120 will actually hit the target !! and remember currently the US only fields EM guided medium range missiles.
At least the T50 will be able to fire IR guided medium/long range missiles too.
Right. First, I don't think the T50 engine is that long that it comes all the way forward such as this pic suggests.
Second, I am beginning to suspect that what we see is not the compressor blades, but an EM RAM shield/deflector just like in the X-23.
as far as the cockpit canopy, the ITAE has claimed they have used a plasma layering technique between the layers of 'glass' that reduces the RCS of all canopies. Su35 included.
It remains to be seen . .
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