China's Chengdu and India's Rafale: Which fighter is more modern?

 Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had on Thursday said that the inclusion of the Rafale fighter jet in the Indian Air Force was a strong message to the world, especially to those who challenge India's integrity. After this stern statement of the Defense Minister, the competition for the capabilities of the two countries' ships has started once again on TV channels and social media.

The Rafale aircraft have been added to the Indian Air Force at a time when the border dispute between China and India is at its height. In such a scenario, people want to know if India's best warship is comparable to China's warship.

China claims that its warship J-20 collided with the United States only. Rafale fighter jets are preferred all over the world because of their good performance. Technically, the Rafale is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, as well as the world's most dangerous and sophisticated weapons.

It is equipped with two types of missile systems, one with a range of up to 150 km and the other with a range of 300 km. A nuclear-armed Rafale missile can hit 150 kilometers into the air and hit the ground from 300 kilometers into the air. The plane is 5.30 meters high and 15.30 meters long. So far, the raffle has been used in the wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq, and Syria.

But the case of the Chengdu J-20 is different. It has not been used in any war so far, because China has not participated in any war. Thus, the world still does not fully know how capable the Chengdu J-20 is.

Rahul Bedi, a defense expert in India, says the world is not yet aware of Chengdu's capabilities. It was first tested in 2011 and entered service in September-October 2017 and its first combat unit was built in 2018. In this way, it can be said that the world still does not know its technical capabilities. But the quality of the Rafale has been seen in Afghanistan and elsewhere and is technically a reliable aircraft.

Another difference is that the Rafale is a 4.5 generation aircraft, while Chengdu is being called a 5th generation fighter.

Confirming this, Bedi says that India's Rafale is a 4.5th generation, while according to the Chinese government's statement on the Chengdu J-20, it is a 5th generation fighter. It is named after a powerful dragon. According to Bedi, there are currently only three 5th generation warships in the world. One is the J-20 and the other two are American F-22 and F-35 fighter jets. In a way, these two planes are the same. Rafale's specialty is its missile system. It has a meteor missile that can hit 150 kilometers from the air. It also has a long-range missile system that can hit at a range of 550 to 600 km. There are also short-range missiles that can easily hit 20 to 30 kilometers. This missile system is very advanced.

Similarly, the J-20 has short- and long-range missiles, but because they have not yet been used in any actual combat, their performance is not fully known.

Defense expert and former Indian Navy commander C. Ade Bhaskar says that in the current situation, Rafale aircraft look better than Chengdu fighter jets.

He believes the Rafale is more technically reliable than the J-20. Comparing the two planes based on different capabilities, he says Rafale's stealth technology, mobility, and targeting capability, superior ability to exchange information from the ground station, and its missile system J-20 Is considered better than He also reiterated that the J-20 has not yet been tested in any operational role.

The obvious difference so far is the speed of the two planes. The J-20 has a top speed of 2,100 kmph and the Rafale has a top speed of 1,389 kmph. Bhaskar says the Rafale is smaller in size than the J-20 and weighs less. The J-20, for example, weighs about 19 tons, while the Rafale weighs 10 tons. Similarly, the length of J-20 is 20 meters while the Rafale is only 15 meters long.