Jet fighters are always my favorite but I am not the expert. Since the top 3 military powers are USA, Russia, and China both in quality and quantity, I think it is fair enough to compare the best jet fighter of each country that are F-22 Raptor (USA), Su-33 Flanker (Russia), and J-10 Dragon (China).
USAF F-22 Raptor
Russian Su-33 Flanker
PLAAF J-10 Dragon
USA’s F-22 may be the best in the world. It is considered 5th generation fighter because of its stealth feature and advanced avionics, whereas Su-33 and J-10 belong to 4th generation. The stealth capability is due to the material used and unlike Su-33 or J-10, the missiles are stored in two internal bays. This reduces the radar reception significantly. Using the super cruise and stealth capabilities, together with the most advanced radar and missile system, F-22 posses a high chance to “fire and forget” both Flanker or Dragon using its AIM-120D AMRAAM. However, Flanker is believed to be highly maneuverable, which makes it very deadly during close combat. Su-33 can carry R-77 medium range missiles, which is comparable to AIM 120D. On the other hand, J-10 is comparable to the latest version of USA’s F-16 and most of the Flanker family (Su-27, Su-30). It is equipped with SD-10 BVRAAM, slightly inferior to AIM 120D, but comparable to AIM120C. See https://yalun.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/the-best-air-to-air-missile-from-the-usa-russia-and-china/ for the BVR missiles comparison.
The table below shows some comparison among these three jet fighters (source: Jane’s, Sinodefence, wikipedia)
| F-22 | Su-33 | J-10 | |
| Number in service | 122 | 25 | 150 |
| Crew | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Flight range (km) | 3000 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Powerplant, total max thrust (kN) | 312 | 244 | 122 |
| Speed (mach) | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Cruising speed (mach) | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Combat radius (km) | 760 | 1800 | 1800 |
| Service ceiling (km) | 20 | 17 | 20 |
| g-limits | -3/+9 | -3/+9 | -3/+9 |
| Empty weight (tonnes) | 20 | 18 | 9 |
| Loaded weight (tonnes) | 29 | 30 | 18.5 |
| Hardpoints | Internal | External | External |
| Thrust/weight | 1.2 | 0.83 | 0.98 |
| Steath capability | Yes | No | No |
| BVR missile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BVR missile range (km) | 95 | 175 | 80 |
| Radar range (km) | 240 | 110 | 110 |
J-10 is not as maneuverable as both F-22 and Su-33. It only has one engine and no thrust vectoring. Although J-10 is the least advanced compared to Raptor and the latest version of Flankers, it serves as a stop gap for the 5th generation fighters (J-XX). Russia is also developing its 5th generation Sukhoi (Su-PAK FA), which is planned to be delivered in 2009. These show that the Chinese and Russians are catching up.
In addition, please check:
Top 10 fighter jets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqucM_jXP2A&feature=channel_page
Filed under: Military | Tagged: Advanced jet fighter, Air force, Comparison, Military |
Just for sharing ideas 
I thing stealth aircraft is still the best due to their capability to “disappear” from radar scanning. This capability will absolutely help them to complete their missions, both bombing, spy missions, etc…
True indeed.
It reminds me on how powerful the Klingon and Romulan starships in the Star Trek TV series because they have a cloacking technology that allows them to be invisible on the sensor/radar. Even they can not be seen, similar to the Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloack. I also wonder when we could see the super jet fighter that can generate shield.
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For someone who is interested in the main battle tank comparison, check:
I think that choosing those three planes was not fair, because the J-10 is a light weight fighter (9 tonnes) comparing to the other giants (18++ tonnes).
And it seams that you forgot about MiG-29 SMT, MiG-35, Su-35 and Su-37.
There are many things to consider when comparing fighters, for example: MiG’s-29 SMT ability to use any weapon without the need to (install driver first) will add to its overall rank. And the Su-33 3D-TVC will give “Here *” an advantage over F-22’s 2D-TVC during dogfights.
The Big size of Su-27 bullets will make more damage than F-16’s smaller bullets.
But also the firing speed and accuracy counts, so we can not determine which fighter is the best without making an experiment, that is, to test them in a fight (under various conditions) and take notes then re-test again many times, then analyse the data gathered, then only after that, we can select the best fighter in the world.
* I used a female pronoun for Su-33 because fighters in Arabic are “Females,” and that adds to their beauty!
Hi Muneer, thanks for the input.
Yes J-10 is considered a lightweight fighter comparable to the latest model of F-16. However, since the idea is to compare the best fighters from these 3 countries, I choose J-10 because it is the most advanced indigeneous fighter from China.
Mig-29 has a bad reputation compared to Flanker family. Recently, Russia choose Sukhoi over Mig for developing its 5th generation fighter to compete with F-22. Also, the reason I did not compare Su-35 or Su-37 was because those two had not been fully deployed yet.
I agree that it is difficult to compare the fighter just based on the data on papers. At least my comparison is trying to build some interests among the readers.
Yes its very difficult to judge which of the fighters are the best! God forbid, we will have to find out in when there is a clash of civilizations!
I read a report where one F22 was sent up against 5 F15s and the result reported was that all 5 F15s were “shot down” in simulation by the Raptor and that THE F15s, with their pretty advanced avionics, never knew the F22 was around.
That seems to indicate it’s pretty darn capable.
Forget g-limits, cruising speed, combat radius, empty/loaded weight, missile range, total thrust, etc. None of that matters if you can’t find your foe. In that respect, there’s one clear winner….the F22. No doubt the SU-33 and J-10 are incredible, awesome fighter jets. However, they simply don’t stand a chance against a stealth laden F22. But, that might not last for long. The USA’s air dominance will soon be tested. You’ve all probably seen the Chinese and Russian copycat stealth fighters. They just might exceed the American ingenuity that invented the technology. It’s happened before, just look at our auto industry.
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1. We need to Faster, Planes now too! The Aim is (M)-2.00+ Speeds too! The Fifty Gerations Fighters are faster then Forth Gerations Fighters Planes too! True!
Su Su and only Su, Russian Jets are always known for the best maneuverability, it doesn’t matter who has the bigger bombs on jets, cs if u cant fly like a devil u cant do anything up there, No one will ever come close to Russian Air Power, since the first designed Mig they remain the kings of airspace, and for the Stealth thing, new PAK Fa is coming out pretty soon and the Su-37 will come out also, after Stealth tune ups, so F22 and F35 are in big trouble.
People who think manouvaribility matters in todays BVR reality are SORELY mistaken.
Look at the speed and manouverability of any modern AA missle and compare it to a missle carrying jet fighter. It should be clear, the winner in air on air warfare is the one that sees the other first. In that respect the US has the clear advantage. Both from their onboard radar POV and from POV of the fact that others radar can’t see them