The editor of defense affairs in the American magazine "The National Interest" spoke about the combat capability of the Chinese Air Force in light of what he claimed was a shortage of refueling aircraft and fifth-generation fighters.
One might wonder, when it comes to a quick assessment of the Chinese air force, whether the Chinese Air Force has enough fifth-generation fighter jets to achieve air superiority to support an amphibious assault on Taiwan,
editor Chris Osborne said in
his report .
In addition, according to the report, China may not have enough refueling aircraft to project its air power across continents, or even continue to launch attacks with long-range fighter aircraft over Taiwan, given that the fifth-generation J-planes -20" (J-20) comes off the ground.
Actions to fill the shortfall
Perhaps, realizing this potential shortfall and shortage of J-31 stealth fighters, the Chinese Air Force moved quickly to increase its fleet of air-to-air refueling aircraft.
It may also be an attempt to plug an apparent tanker shortfall with the United States and fully project global air power, according to the National Interest report.
According to the classification of the American "Global Firepower" website, which specializes in assessing the military power of countries, the United States uses 265 refueling aircraft, while China is listed as having only 3 aircraft of this type.
In his report, Osborne believes that this shortage of refueling aircraft would limit or jeopardize any Chinese effort to launch a large-scale intercontinental air campaign.
China already has fewer fifth-generation aircraft than the United States and NATO in the Pacific.
The magazine report concludes by noting that the shortage of refueling planes makes it difficult for Chinese fighters - whose range of distances they travel without refueling in the air is between 300 and 500 miles - to fly thousands of miles across a continent or ocean.