China's self goal!

As soon as the news of the first batch of five Rafael aircraft touching down at Ambala was being announced, the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece - The Global Times - had come out with the following lie on its masthead:-

 " Rafael jets no match for China's J-20", quoting a military expert who claimed the Rafael fighter is          only superior to the IAF's Sukhoi-30 MKI jets but a generation below the Chinese PLAAF's J-20

    fighter.

    

This was immediately countered and the Chinese bluff was called by the former Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa with two simple questions.

Question 1

If the J-20, also called the Mighty Dragon, is indeed a fifth generation stealth fighter, then why does it have canards while genuine 5th generation fighters such as the US' F 22, F 35 and Russian fifth generation Su 57 don't?

Canards are fuselage-mounted small, forward wings located forward of the main wing to improve aircraft control and contribute to lift. They are considered to present large angular surfaces that tend to reflect radar signals.

"I don't think J-20 is stealthy enough to be called a fifth generation fighter as the canard increases the radar signature of the fighter and gives away its position to a long-range meteor missile that the Rafael has", Dhanoa said.

Question 2

Why can't the J-20 supercruise if it is really a 5th generation fighter as its manufacturer Chengdu Aerospace Corporation calls it?

Supercruise is the ability of a fighter jet to fly at speeds above Mach 1 - the speed of sound - without the use of afterburners, the additional combustion component used on some jet engines to increase thrust.

The Rafael has the supercruiseability and its radar signature is comparable to the best of the fighters in the world", Dhanoa said.

My take.

The Chinese claim of the J-20 being a fifth generation fighter is rubbish and let there be no doubts on that. I'd already said that while the arrival of the first batch of 5 Rafaels is a morale booster for all of us and for the IAF in particular, we need to go a long way towards achieving self sufficiency, which will happen - when the production line starts building the aircraft for us in large numbers and the IAF has squadron after squadrons of Rafaels!

Tailpiece.

Got up a trifle late, being a Sunday, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Disaster struck when Suma had a nasty fall while boarding her nephew's auto rickshaw. After helping out Lekha, she was sent to the nearby hospital for immediate first aid. She was given medicines intravenously and it was confirmed that there were no fractures, as she'd feared.

Her immobility will upset Lekha's calculations, especially during the sharp spike in Corona cases, now, in the district. The maid's absence is gonna be a dampener.

Lekha is traversing through the 'Yudha Kaandham' in Ramayana.