When India purchased Rafale fighters and the fighters arrived, India then Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Rakesh ·Kumar · Singh · Bhadauria (RKS Bhadauria), immediately posted on social media, saying that when India deployed one Rafale fighter to the border, China had to deploy four J-20s to the border to deal with it.
Rafale fighter
Rafale vs. J-16
After the Chief of Staff of the India Air Force said this, he was naturally ridiculed by many people with normal cognitive ability.
After all, as a "four-and-a-half-generation" fighter, how can this Rafale be compared with the J-20. In fact, the Rafale fighter does not even have an advantage over the Chinese J-16 fighter.
Rafale is a twin-engine, delta-wing, highly maneuverable, multi-role fighter produced in France.
It has a maximum flight speed of Mach 1.8, a maximum range of 3,700 kilometers, a maximum load of about 12 tons (Rafale M purchased by India), two Snecma M88-2 turbofan engines, a climb rate of 304.8 m/s, and a total of 13 weapon hardpoints (Rafale M).
In contrast, the J-16 has a maximum flight speed of Mach 2.0, a maximum range of about 3,000 kilometers, and a maximum load of about 12 tons.
J-16 fighter
The climb rate of the J-16 is unknown, but it can be compared with Russia's Su-35 and Su-27 fighters, after all, the aerodynamic shape layout of the two sides is the same. And the Su-30's climb rate is also about 300 meters per second, which is about the same as the Rafale fighter.
As for the attachment points, the J-16 has 12, which is one less than the Rafale.
On the whole, the Rafale fighter's all-round combat capability is stronger than that of the J-16, and it is very good in air combat and ground strike capabilities.
China's J-16 fighter pays more attention to air combat capabilities, and takes into account the existence of China's J-7 and H-6 in terms of ground strike capabilities, so it does not attach as much importance as Rafale.
J-16 fighter
The J-16 is more capable of air combat
But if you let the Rafale and the J-16 fight in close combat, then the J-16 will have a slight advantage.
In fact, according to common sense, the J-16 should be defeated by Rafale in close combat. Because the Rafale adopts a variable canard wing, with the advanced flight control computer, the canard wing and the main wing can achieve the best aerodynamic combination in any conditions, so that the Rafale has strong maneuverability anytime and anywhere.
However, it is a pity that the Rafale adopts a large delta wing tailless layout, and the vortex generated by the fighter during flight is basically concentrated in front of the fuselage, and it is difficult for the rear of the fuselage to maneuver with the front of the fuselage when the fighter is maneuvering.
Rafale fighter
The aerodynamic center of the J-16 is relatively close to the middle section of the fuselage, and the trapezoidal wing layout with large aspect ratio allows the fighter to obtain a stronger lift-to-drag ratio, making it easier to maneuver.
If you have to compare it, China's J-16 is like a four-wheel drive vehicle, and the Rafale fighter is like a front-wheel drive car with unsteerable rear wheels, so naturally the J-16 is more maneuverable.
This is the sacrifice made by the Rafale fighter in order to obtain a stronger payload capacity, and it is also one of the main reasons why the Rafale fighter is stronger than the Rafale in ground capability.
As for long-range air combat capabilities, the J-16 can be described as a "lore".
J-16 fighter
This can actually be seen by comparing the radars used by the fighters of both sides.
The Rafale fighter uses the RBE-2 phased array radar, which is a passive phased array radar.
The radar was upgraded in 2012 to the RBE-2AA radar and replaced with an active phased array radar, which can reach a detection range of 160 kilometers, lock on to 40 targets and strike at 4 of them.
As an active phased array radar, the performance of the RBE-2AA radar is qualified, but compared with the radar used by the J-16, it is much smaller in power.
The maximum detection range of the J-16's radar exceeds 200 kilometers, which is obviously more advantageous than the radar of the Rafale fighter.
In addition, there is a huge gap in the air-to-air missiles used by the two sides.
Thunderbolt-15 missiles
Rafale fighters mainly use Meteor air-to-air missiles, which have a maximum range of about 150 km. China's J-16 fighter jets use Thunderbolt-15 missiles, which have a maximum range of more than 200 kilometers.
It should be noted that it is very difficult for air-to-air missiles to maneuver significantly after being launched, because it requires a considerable amount of energy.
However, as a missile that uses a dual-pulse engine, the Thunderbolt-15 will carry out a "secondary ignition" during the flight, which means that the Thunderbolt-15 has the ability to maneuver significantly and is in the optimal attack envelope throughout the flight.
Therefore, the long-range strike capability of the Rafale is also inferior to that of the J-16.
Leave aside the -15 missiles
In addition, we should also consider the early warning aircraft system that will be used in the over-the-horizon strike system. Neither France nor India is inferior to China in terms of AWACS aircraft, so it is difficult to let Rafale deal with the J-16.
The India Air Force is terrainically inferior
In the current "air force confrontation" between China and India, in addition to the gap between the performance of the fighters themselves and the air force system, the terrain will also have a great impact on the air combat capabilities of both sides.
India's terrain is too disadvantaged, and after taking off from the India Air Force airfield, the fighters have to climb for several minutes to reach the sea level of the Chinese Army.
As a result, Chinese Air Force fighters can be directly at an altitude of several thousand meters above the ground in India after taking off and entering India's airspace.
Topography of the South Asian subcontinent
After the India side took off, it had to raise the flight altitude of the fighter plane. In this process, China will be able to respond to India's actions for a long time.
In addition, China's ground-based radars have also suppressed India.
China's radar system deployed on the Sino-Indian border is directly in the "high altitude", and with this sea level advantage, most of India's territory is within China's radar coverage.
India is completely incomparable to China in this regard. If India deploys its radar on its own territory, the radar electromagnetic waves will not be able to reach the top of the Tibetan plateau, let alone the Sichuan region behind the Tibetan plateau.
The Tibetan Plateau is the "invincible city wall"
Therefore, if India's radar is deployed on the ground, it will not be able to detect the situation on this side of China's territory at all.
If India wants to break this disadvantage, it can only rely on airborne early warning aircraft.
But the problem is that the development of India's airborne AWACS aircraft is also very stretched, and even inferior to Pakistan in this regard.
Pakistan, backed by China, has also imported some usable airborne early warning aircraft, and India has suffered several losses in the air confrontation with Pakistan because of the problem of airborne early warning aircraft.
Pakistan's Chinese AWACS aircraft - ZDK-03 AWACS
It can be seen that in the border air war between China and India, India's disadvantage has reached a certain point.
Resources:
[1] Global Times · "Pour cold water: the Rafale advantage over Chinese fighters boasted by senior Indian military officials does not exist at all"
[2] China Military Network · "A Closer Look at the "Wind"