Why China’s J-20 Is Not The US F-35’s Top Threat In The Eastern Pacific

As the war in Ukraine has highlighted, the top threat to fighter jets is not necessarily other fighter jets – no more than the number one threat of a tank is another tank. While dogfights may capture the imagination, they are rooted in yesterday’s wars. If a war were to break out in the Pacific, the top threat of the American (and Japanese) F-35 Lightning II would not likely be the much-touted Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter jet; it would likely be missiles (and perhaps drones). China’s fighter jet production now more or less matches the United States, but this will not likely be much of an air-to-air dogfight war.