The US is gradually losing its aviation advantage over China in the Western Pacific. According to Aviationist, if only the newest aircraft are taken into account, the Chinese already have an advantage.
Brigadier General Doug Wickert Estimates That Within Two Years China Will Outnumber the US West of the 180° Meridian in Modern Fighters by 12 Times and Fifth Generation Aircraft by 5 Times **** meridian in terms of the number of modern fighters 12 times, and fifth-generation aircraft - 5 times.
With 225 bombers in the region, the Chinese Air Force is already a leader here, Aviationist points out.
China has more than 2,200 combat aircraft of all types in service.
Of these, about 18% are very old Chengdu J-7 aircraft (the Chinese modernized copy of the MiG-21). There are also quite a few not-so-young Shenyang J-8 aircraft. The majority of Chinese aircraft are relatively modern Chengdu J-10 and Shenyang J-11 (600 each), which are Chinese versions of the Su-27. But the main trump card of the Chinese Air Force is more than 200 modern J-20. And their number will continue to grow.
On the other hand, the US military aviation has only up to 3150 fighters, attack aircraft and bombers. Defence Express notes that in this parameter the US has an advantage over China.
In particular, the Americans have over 370 F-15, over 800 F-16, over 900 F/A-18, about 180 F-22, over 630 F-35 and about 200 A-10 attack aircraft.
West of the 180th meridian; the US simply does not have enough air bases to deploy its forces, analysts explain.