J-20 vs F-35: How China’s Stealth Fighter Compares With America’s

The J-20, nicknamed Mighty Dragon, is China’s first operational stealth fighter, built by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

It first flew on January 11, 2011, and China’s defense ministry announced in September 2017 that it had entered service. It is a large, twin-engine jet with small canard foreplanes ahead of a delta wing, a layout that favors speed and range over tight turning. Early jets flew with Russian AL-31F engines and later with the Chinese WS-10C. An upgraded J-20A with the long-delayed Chinese WS-15 engine, and the two-seat J-20S, appeared together at Beijing’s military parade on September 3, 2025. No other country has put a two-seat stealth fighter on public display.

The J-20 has not been exported. The PLAAF is its only operator.

The J-20 is much bigger and probably faster; the F-35A is smaller, single-engine and rated by its maker at Mach 1.6.

China has never published the J-20’s dimensions, but measurements from photographs put it at about 20 meters (roughly 66 feet) long with a wingspan of about 13 meters (about 43 feet). The F-35A is 15.7 meters (51.4 feet) long with a 10.7-meter (35-foot) wingspan, according to Lockheed Martin. Estimates of the J-20’s maximum takeoff weight run from about 32 to 37 metric tons; the F-35A’s is about 31.8 metric tons (70,000 pounds).

The J-20’s top speed has not been disclosed. Estimates put it near or just above Mach 2, and the WS-15 engine is meant to let the J-20A fly supersonic without afterburner, which the F-35 cannot do for long. The F-35A’s single Pratt & Whitney F135 produces about 40,000 pounds of thrust with afterburner.

On range, the F-35A has the clearer number: a combat radius of more than 590 nautical miles, about 1,093 kilometers, on its 18,250 pounds of internal fuel. China gives no J-20 range figure. Its size points to a large internal fuel load, which suits the PLAAF’s need to fly far over the western Pacific.

Probably not from every angle: the F-35 was designed to be hard to detect all around, while the J-20’s shape suggests its stealth is strongest from the front.

Neither the United States nor China publishes a radar cross-section figure, so any claim about which jet is harder to see is an estimate. The J-20’s canards and the shape of its engine nozzles are features that radar engineers associate with weaker stealth from the side and rear. That matches a jet built to approach head-on and fire at long range.

Both aircraft carry an AESA radar and an infrared targeting sensor under the nose, and both have sensors around the airframe to warn of incoming missiles, though the J-20’s are known only from photographs. The F-35’s edge, proven in service, is sensor fusion: its computers merge radar, infrared and electronic-warfare data into one picture for the pilot and share it with other aircraft. How well the J-20’s systems do the same is not publicly known.

Each carries four long-range air-to-air missiles inside in its stealthy configuration; the J-20 adds two short-range missiles in side bays, while the F-35 adds a gun and more bomb options.

The J-20’s main bay holds four PL-15 radar-guided missiles. China has not stated the PL-15’s range. Estimates for the PLAAF’s version run from about 200 to 300 kilometers, and AVIC’s brochure for the export PL-15E gives 145 kilometers. Two PL-10 short-range missiles sit in bays on the sides of the fuselage. The J-20 has no internal gun. Photographs have also shown J-20s carrying extra missiles under the wings, at the cost of stealth.

The F-35A usually carries four weapons internally, such as two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and two 2,000-pound bombs, and Lockheed Martin gives its total payload, inside and under the wings, as 18,000 pounds. The F-35A also has a four-barrel 25 mm GAU-22/A cannon. The F-35 is the stronger ground-attack jet; the J-20 was built first to fight in the air, and its likely targets in a war include the tankers and radar planes that U.S. fighters depend on.

There are nearly three times as many F-35s as even the highest J-20 estimate, but the J-20 fleet is growing fast and all of it serves one air force.

Lockheed Martin had delivered more than 1,380 F-35s to the United States and its allies by the end of September 2026, including 43 in the third quarter alone. The F-35 program counts 20 countries, the United States among them, that fly or have ordered the jet. China gives no J-20 figure. Western estimates rose from about 195 in mid-2024 to about 300 in service at the end of 2025, when production was estimated at about 120 a year. Andreas Rupprecht, an analyst who tracks Chinese military aviation, put the number delivered at about 500 by mid-2026, spread across 14 frontline units.

An F-35A costs $92.0 million in production Lots 18 and 19, as our guide to what an F-35 costs explains. China publishes no J-20 price. Outside estimates put it at about $100 million to $120 million a jet, but Chinese costs are opaque and not directly comparable.

They have met but never fought: the F-35 has a combat record, and the J-20 has none.

In March 2022, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, then commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said American F-35s had encountered J-20s over the East China Sea. He said U.S. pilots were relatively impressed with how the Chinese jets were commanded and controlled, a reminder that China’s airborne radar planes, such as China’s new KJ-3000, matter as much as the fighter itself. He gave no date and described no engagement.

The F-35 has fought repeatedly. Israel’s air force chief said on May 22, 2018, that its F-35s had struck targets, the first combat use by any country, and on March 4, 2026, during the war with Iran, an Israeli F-35I shot down an Iranian Yak-130 over Tehran, as our page on Israel’s F-35 fleet records.

On the public evidence the F-35 is the more capable all-round fighter, while the J-20 is a serious long-range air-combat jet that China can build in large numbers.

The F-35’s advantages are all-aspect stealth, proven sensor fusion, a combat record and a network of allied users. The J-20’s are size, two engines, likely higher speed and range, and a fleet concentrated in one theater facing Taiwan and the western Pacific. A one-on-one duel is the wrong test. Either side would fight with radar planes, tankers, ground radars and long-range missiles, so the J-20’s numbers and China’s support aircraft count for more than any single performance figure. For the U.S. comparison closer to home, see our guide to the F-35 vs the F-22.

The J-20 first flew on January 11, 2011; the F-35 first flew on December 15, 2006.

The J-20 is about 20 meters long with two engines; the F-35A is 15.7 meters long with one.

The F-35A’s top speed is Mach 1.6; the J-20’s has not been published and is estimated near Mach 2.

Each carries four long-range air-to-air missiles internally: PL-15s on the J-20, AIM-120s on the F-35.

More than 1,380 F-35s had been delivered by the end of September 2026; the highest Western estimate of J-20s delivered was about 500 by mid-2026.

An F-35A costs $92.0 million; the J-20 has no official price.

The F-35 has been used in combat since 2018; the J-20 has never been in combat.