The Chengdu J-20, first Chinese 5th generation stealth fighter, today successfully completed its first flight! According to Chineses sources the jet fighter made a 15-minute flight in southwest China’s City of Chengdu.
The Chengdu J-20 is a twin-engine multi-role heavy fighter with stealth capability and maneuverability as compared to American F-22 Raptor and Russian Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA.
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Credits: http://www.defenceaviation.com
Clearly the J-20 is not as advanced as the USAF F-22. However, it also looks much more affordable and easy-to-produce. If China can field 2000 of these fighters it can easily overwhelm any F-22 force by shear number… Even a 1000 J-20s against the complete force of 187 F-22s could be tricky.
Combined with anti-carrier and anti-AWACS missiles, China could very well win a limited conflict.
While what you say Bruce might be true in theory such a conflict will never occur between the two states due to nuclear deterrence, unless one of these countries loses its nuclear capability.