China’s J-16 Fleet Surpasses 350 Fighters as Thirteenth Batch Begins Deliveries: Numbers Outstrip All Contemporary Rivals

New images have confirmed expanded deployments of J-16 fighters under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force 125th Air Brigade, which in early 2024 began transitioning to the class from the older J-7E fighters. Serial numbers on one newly observed J-16 confirms that the aircraft is from the 13th production batch of the aircraft, which is the newest J-16 batch that has been confirmed by open source images to have begun deliveries. Each batch of J-16s is comprised of between 24 and 30 fighters, with production numbers currently estimated at well over 350 fighters. This makes the J-16 by far the most widely commissioned heavyweight fighter class by a single air force anywhere in the world since the turn of the century.

The 125th Air Brigade based at Nanning Airbase under the Southern Theatre Command is one of the latest of several in Southern China to have seen its capabilities revolutionised with the introduction of cutting edge high performance fighters, with the nearby 4th Air Brigade based at Foshan Airbase near Shenzhen having transitioned to the J-20A fifth generation fighter less than a year prior. Other units under the Southern Command such as the 41st Aviation Brigade based at Wuyishan Air Base in Fujian have also recently transitioned to field J-20s. The J-20, J-16 and J-10C are all currently in production for the PLA Air Force, although a major surge in J-20 production has led deliveries of the class to exceed those of the other two classes combined, with deliveries expected to exceed 100 in 2024 and 120 in 2025. 

The J-16 has a similarly long range, high weapons capacity, and large and powerful radar to the J-20, but is a heavily enhanced fourth generation design benefitting from a number of fifth generation technologies developed for the J-20. These include advanced sensors, missiles, and composite materials. The fighter is considered a close contender for the title of the world’s most capable pre-fifth generation fighter class, with its only close rivals being the J-15B developed for the PLA Navy, and the F-15EX which the U.S. Air Force has recently begun to commission. Compared to the F-15EX, the J-16 boasts access to much newer missile types, more powerful engines, a much longer range, and a radar that is well over one third larger, with its manoeuvrability being overwhelmingly superior. While the F-15EX is a heavily enhanced derivative of the Cold War era F-15, which first entered service in 1975, the J-16 is an enhanced derivative of the Soviet Su-27 fighter developed specifically to outperform the F-15, which first entered service in 1984. Despite its formidable performance the J-20 is thought to be considered a less cost effective fighter than the J-20, with the newer fifth generation aircraft’s stealth capabilities providing it with a tremendous performance edge that more than compensates for its higher costs.