Rafale no match for China’s J-20

BEIJING: India has recently received five Rafale fighter jets, with a former Indian air chief marshal boasting that the French-made warplanes' capability was superior to China's J-20 stealth fighter jet.

Chinese experts said Rafale was only a third-plus generation fighter jet, and stood no chance against a stealth, fourth generation one like the J-20. In some combat performance areas, Rafale is superior to the Su-30 MKI fighter jets, which are in service in the Indian Air Force in large batches, but it is only about one-fourth of a generation more advanced and does not yield a significant qualitative change, Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times.

Thanks to its AESA radar, advanced weapons and limited stealth technologies, the Rafale is comparable to other third-plus generation fighter jets used by other countries, but it will find it very difficult to confront a stealth-capable fourth generation fighter jet, Zhang said.

Zhang's statement came after the five Rafale fighter jets took off from France nd arrived in India last week. In a report by the Hindustan Times, India''s former air chief marshal BS Dhanoa claimed that the Rafale "is a game changer, and the Chinese J-20 does not even come close.