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Business Insider: China's J-20 stealth fighter has no cannon — and it shows the jet can't dogfight with the US
* China's J-20 stealth fighter lacks a gun, something the US's stealth fighters made a point to include.
* Dropping the gun from the J-20 likely means that it's not useful as a dogfighter and that many older US jets could defeat it in head-on close-range fights.
* But the lack of gun also indicates a new focus for the J-20 that may be more modern and relevant to real aerial combat than even that of the US's F-22 and F-35.
China's J-20 stealth fighter jet represents a massive milestone for Beijing's armed forces and the first stealth aircraft ever fielded outside the US, but the impressive effort still falls noticeably short in some areas.
The J-20 doesn't have a cannon and represents the only entry into the world of fifth-generation fighters that skips the gun, which has seen 100 years of aerial combat.
Enemy aircraft can't jam a fighter jet's gun. Flares and chaff will never fool a gun, which needs no radar. Bullets rip out of the gun already above the speed of sound and need not wait for rocket boosters to kick in.
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WNU Editor: A good review on why the J-20 is not ready for "prime time".
