This article analyzes China’s military strategy through the Fifth generation G-20 fighter, and discusses its capabilities in air superiority, its role in the regional armament race, and the challenges of its production compared to American aircraft, with experts’ evaluation of technical and strategic factors affecting their effectiveness.
The Arab Defense site-September 8, 2025: The Mighty Dragon, the Fifth Generation of the Chinese Fifth G-20, represents the weapon that Beijing is betting on to enhance its military superiority, especially in light of the increasing tension with the United States, and at a time when China is fighting several regional conflicts in the South China Sea, as well as tensions on its borders. Beijing reflects its strength increasingly on the international scene, adding strategic messages in all directions.
The delivery of the fifth generation fighters “G-20” to the Chinese army recorded a rapid increase, amid expectations to achieve record levels next year. In 2023, it was reported that the production of the G-20 will reach 100, or between 100 and 120 aircraft annually, indicating that production may reach more than a thousand long-term fighters. The Chinese Air Force is the only operator of this barbed fighter, and it is only one of two planes of its generation at the production or service level, along with the American F-35.
The Chinese fighter has the ability to control a full swarm of drones, which represents a real challenge in modern battles, due to its multiple tasks and design to carry out ground attacks even in the most difficult environments. Its grill wings provide access to high altitudes at speeds that exceed the speed of sound, which makes it an important component of the arms race between the United States, China and Russia to control the atmosphere, especially thanks to its capabilities in early warning, electronic warfare, air cover and even launch of nuclear bombs.
The Chinese military development depends on a cumulative force over the years, which suggests that it has become competing with the United States itself, after Beijing has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to modernize its military capabilities during the past decade.
Some military experts say that the number circulating about the production of more than a thousand “G-20” fighters is largely media amplification, noting that any plane project of this type requires several years to reach the full operating stages, with continuous development processes nearly ten years to improve the internal systems of the plane. In comparison, the American Raptor F-22 was planned to produce about 900 units, but production stopped at about 200 aircraft due to technical challenges and was not issued to any ally.
Experts note that modern Shabi fighters, whether Chinese or American, do not work effectively in isolation from an integrated system that includes early warning, supportive aircraft, and weapons management, as they are part of an integrated combat system. For Chinese aircraft, the G-20 aims to outperform the United States and control the regional airspace in Taiwan, the South China, Japan and South Korea, as part of the strategy of enhancing influence in the Far East.
Despite the ability of the fighter to reach advanced levels, experts believe that it cannot surpass the well -trained American aircraft, due to the long experience of American and European pilots and their exercises close to the reality of the battles. Also, China does not issue these aircraft for fear of technology leakage, especially with regard to sensitive grille capabilities.
Experts add that any plane of this generation cannot achieve its effectiveness alone, but rather needs full support within an integrated combat system, which includes multiple factors of maintenance, operation, electronic integration and modern weapons. Although some Asian reports described this plane as a “air boom”, the reality indicates that its effect depends on a complete system, and that the arms race in the region will continue, especially with the preparations for the sixth generation aircraft, whether Chinese or American.
G-20 was unveiled in 2010, and by 2018, an intelligence committee in the US Congress was informed that the number of aircraft may reach 500. After a few years, this number rose to 700, and in 2023 Chinese experts became noting that China will end with the production of more than a thousand fighters, an unprecedented number for a Chinese plane after the Cold War, according to Mileitary Watch.
This number is of great importance for multiple reasons. The Chinese media has boasted about the ability of the fighter to compete or outperform American Fifth American aircraft such as “F-22” and “F-35”. A large fleet of “G-20” can be used in the early stages of a comprehensive attack on Taiwan, which is about 100 miles from the Chinese coast.
“The rapid and noticeable expansion in G-20 production facilities provided an early indication that production will be widely. The high need for fifth-generation fighters as a result of pressure on China is one of the large numbers of American F-35 aircraft has made the idea of limited production of the G-20 unlikely.”
Unlike the United States and Russia, which maintained high production rates for their fighters after the Cold War by exporting their allies, China did not make any great effort to export its fighters.
It is believed that “G-20” is able to reach speeds of 2.0 Mach, faster than “F-35” with a top speed of 1.6 Mach, but it is slightly lower than “F-22” (2.25 Mach). It can also be converted into a less tisker position known as “Bomb Truck”, to carry about 28,000 pounds of internal and external weapons, much more than the full “F-35” load, indicating China’s readiness to sacrifice part of the hide in exchange for increasing the load.
Last November, China at the 2024 China Aviation Fair in Zhuhai revealed a two-seat version of the G-20 called “G-20S”.
The English -language newspaper, Global Times, quoted the Chinese Communist Party, as saying that the plane could act as a driving plane to coordinate drones known as the “loyal wing”. He added that these drones can work as external sensors for the fighter, while others act as platforms for weapons.
The China article appeared to produce 1,000 G-20 ghost fighters from the fifth generation first on the Arab Defense website.
