This is the era of the 5th-generation stealth fighters, and these 5th-generation jets have several advantages over the fourth-generation fighters. It can be said today that, when technology is becoming more and more important in the field of military, and a country wants to dominate the world, it should equip its Air force with 5th-generation jets.
The United States was the first nation in the world to operate 5th-generation fighters, such as the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II Stealth Fighters. The second 5th-generation aircraft of the United States, the F-35 was developed along with a large number of allied countries. Therefore, after the mass production of the F-35, many nations now operates these latest technologies equipped jets.
At present time, the only 5th-generation aircrafts in the world that can compete with the F-22 Raptor are the Russian Sukhoi Su-57 and the Chinese J-20. Although these two aircrafts cannot compete with the F-22 in the field of advanced military technology. So in today’s article, we will explain about the performance of these jets in terms of engine life?
Let’s look at the American F-22 first, the F-22 was produced by Lockheed Martin in the United States. It is the earliest 5th-generation aircraft in the world, and it is also the first twin-engine stealth aircraft in the world. This is one of the most advanced and deadliest fighter aircraft currently in active service with the USAF. This fighter not only have great stealth performance, but its maximum speed, cruising altitude and endurance is also of top class.
The F-22 Raptor is powered by two F119 Thrust-Vectoring Engines and the maximum thrust of a single unit reaches 104 tons. Such a powerful engine also has a great and long service life of 8,000 hours.
Next is the Russian Su-57, whether the Su-57 is considered as a 5th-generation aircraft or not, this question is still controversial internationally, because the stealth performance of Su-57 is not really great. But, this aircraft is still one of the most advanced and deadliest fighter ever built by the Russian Armed Forces.
The former Soviet Union or USSR, was known in the world for its excellent capability to design and produce high-thrust producing jet engines, and the engines used on the Su-57 are also very powerful. But unfortunately, the short engine life span of Soviet fighters is still a big problem. And still Russia has not been able to improve and overcome this major issue. It is reported that the Engine Life of the Su-57 is 3,000 hours. This is very low if compared with the engine life of the F-22 (8,000 hours).
Finally, let’s have the look at the so-called 5th-generation Stealth Fighter of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, the Chengdu J-20. For a long period of time, the lack of proper and good aircraft engines has been a issue for China. China has been trying to build indeginous good quality engines to match the the United States, but this work is not so much easy Although in today’s era China is able to make some working engines, but still they are of no match with the advanced engine jet engines designed and manufactured by the United States.
China has designed a good engine for its stealth fighter Chengdu J-20, although the power and performance of this engine is not as good as that of the United States and even Russia, but China has tried its best. The overall lifespan of the J-20 engines is 3,600 hours, which is a good achievement for China.
China is trying to reduce the technological gap with military superpowers such as the United States and Russia. But it will take China a lot of R&D work to compete with these two superpowers.