Fighter Aircraft: Does the Chengdu J-20 make the F-35 obsolete?

What is the J-20?
An air superiority fighter?
An interceptor or interdictor?
An air support aircraft?
A nuclear fighter-bomber?

All we know about the J-20 is that it is (supposed to be) a low-observable aircraft, aka "stealth", that it doesn't have the engines that it really wants, and that it's bloody huge! The truth is no one knows what the J-20 is going to be, except the people who spec'd it out, and the people who are building it. They probably spend their coffee/tea breaks laughing about the rumour mills.

But does it make the F-35 obsolete?
This will be a highly speculative answer because no one really knows what it is. But what we do know is that the F-35 JSF (joint strike fighter) is a jack of all trades, master of (n)one. And that "one" is air support. I think of the F-35 as a stealth AV-8B Harrier II, the USMC's famous jump jet. In a BVR (beyond visual range) or WVR (within visual range) confrontation with an air superiority fighter, both the F-35 and AV-8B would have a very low chance of survival, assuming pilots are equally well-trained and in good condition.

If the J-20 is not an air superiority fighter, then it would only be competing on the military aircraft export market. The Americans have a much larger customer base than the Chinese, so the F-35 is winning this fight.

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About Chinese not from China

Chinese not from China is an overseas Chinese educated on Chinese history, fluent in two Chinese languages, and raised in Chinese culture. Learn more about me.