U.S. Air Force Chief Cites China’s New Sixth Gen. Fighters to Stress Need For Stronger Fleet

<p >United States Air Force Chief of Staff General David W. Allvin on January 17 <a href=" >argued</a> that his service required significantly more attention and investment to face emerging challenges, citing China’s <a href=" target="_blank">unveiling</a> of two new sixth generation fighters as a serious cause for concern. “Last month, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) released videos of not just one, but two new sixth-generation aircraft,” the general stated at the opening of his argument, adding that it was his “sincere hope that this got America’s attention and serves as a wakeup call, because we need the nation’s assistance advancing the Air Force with the sense of strategic urgency this moment requires.” He stressed that China had “invested in a first-rate Air Force and has instituted realistic training programs rivalling our own,” while “today, our aircraft fleet is smaller and older than any time in history, and the gap between our high-end combat training and that of our pacing competitors has closed dramatically.” Allvin noted that a stronger air force would require “funding a family of medium- and long-range penetrating airframes coupled with modern munitions, survivable refuelling, human-machine teaming, and a hardened warfighting network – a combination designed to protect American interests and capable of disabling our adversary’s ability to defend themselves.” He added that this needed to be pursued alongside improvements to logistics and nuclear forces. </p><p ><img src=" title="Flight Demonstrator of Second Chinese Sixth Gen. Fighter Design Unveiled in December 2024"></p><p >The Air Force chief of staff cited the service’s lack of “control of our own force structure,” and Washington’s refusal to allow it to divest of aircraft that it no longer needed, with the A-10 attack jet and early production F-22s fighters being <a href=" target="_blank">notable examples</a>. “A force already 20,000-30,000 Airmen short of our requirements,” and poor mission readiness rates, were further serious issues he cited. The U.S. Air Force’s ability to keep pace with that of China has repeatedly been called into question, with the emergence of strong Chinese lead in its aerial warfare capabilities being speculated increasingly widely based on assessments of prevailing trends. China surpassed the United States in 2020 as the world’s largest spender on defence procurements, as while the American defence budget is significantly larger a significant portion of this is allocated to salaries, veteran’s benefits and other personnel related expenses. China’s ability to begin fielding its first fifth generation fighter the J-20 just six years after its first demonstrator flight, while in the United States delays to the rival F-22 and F-35 programs meant both took over 15 years, has been cited as a further factor strongly favouring the East Asian state’s ability to develop its sixth generation fleet more quickly. </p><p ><img src=" title="Chinese J-20 Fifth Generation Fighter in Yellow Factory Primer" ></p><p >The advances demonstrated by China’s J-20 program, which produced a fighter that is considered <a href=" target="_blank">technologically fully on par </a>with the F-35, has further indicated that the country’s sixth generation fighters will likely be peer level rivals, if not superior, to their American counterparts. The U.S. Air Force’s ICBM arsenal, meanwhile, relies on by far the oldest strategic ballistic missiles operational worldwide, with efforts to replace them with the new Sentinel missile program facing <a href=" target="_blank">growing issues</a> and <a href=" target="_blank">tremendous cost overruns</a>. China by contrast has been able to seamlessly bring multiple new generations of ballistic missiles into service relatively seamlessly, including missiles with hypersonic glide vehicles and other cutting edge technologies. With the United States already facing tremendous budget deficits and an ongoing fiscal crisis, Washington’s ability to allocate significantly more funding to the air force remains in serious question. As China moves forward with its sixth generation fighter development efforts, U.S. officials have expressed <a href=" target="_blank">growing uncertainty</a> regarding whether a long range next generation fighter development effort will proceed due to its perceived lack of affordability.</p>