They say the J-16 is the best of the Flankers?
China has unveiled a J-16 fighter jet with an unusually large number of missiles air-to-air class, which indicates a certain intention to move towards conducting combat operations beyond visual range with a large number of aircraft, rather than relying solely on the characteristics of individual machines.
This configuration, first reported by the South China Morning Post on July 12, 2026, indicates a strategy based on massive missile deployment, network targeting, and extended strike range to counter advanced air forces in a sustained air campaign.
There have been suggestions that the results of the recent Indo-Pakistani conflict, where combat clashes between groups of aircraft at long distances took place, accompanied by the mass launch of both air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles, were taken as a basis.
Armed with eight PL-15 missiles for maximum range engagements and two PL-10 missiles for close-range engagements, the J-16 effectively becomes a heavy-duty "missile truck" capable of engaging multiple targets while maintaining close-in combat capability.
Integrated with J-20 stealth fighters, KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft and other networked sensors, such weapons reflect the PLAAF's growing emphasis on distributed kill chains, larger onboard munitions and, as a result, the potential for air superiority operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
On July 12, 2026, the South China Morning Post reported that a photograph circulating on Chinese social media showed a People's Liberation Army Air Force J-16 fighter jet with an unusually large load of air-to-air weapons. The aircraft carried 10 missiles: eight PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles and two PL-10 short-range missiles, distributed across 10 external hardpoints in a configuration Chinese military commentators call "beast mode." This image is significant because it demonstrates not only the J-16's payload capacity but also points to a combat air patrol concept based on missile numbers, advanced engagement geometry, and networked targeting.
The J-16 is a twin-engine, two-seat multirole combat aircraft based on the Chinese Su-27 aerodynamic design. A 4,5-generation fighter, it combines a large internal fuel capacity, a significant external payload, a modern fire-control radar, electronic warfare equipment, and secure tactical data links.
Unlike the stealthy J-20, the J-16 is not designed to undetected penetrate active air defense networks. Its value lies in its range, armament, sensor capabilities, and the ability of a second crew member to manage complex tactical information, conduct electronic warfare, and employ weapon long range.
This makes it one of the PLAAF's most important platforms for offensive and defensive air defense operations, maritime air cover, escort, and long-duration combat air patrol.
In fact, what Russian designers did, maximizing the Su-27's strengths to produce the Su-30 and Su-35, their Chinese counterparts attempted to replicate. This ultimately resulted in the J-16, a relative of the Su-30.
Eight PL-15s transform the J-16 into what air planners would call a "heavy-duty shooter" or "missile truck."
The PL-15 is an active radar homing air-to-air missile that is reported to be equipped with a mid-course guidance system, allowing the launch aircraft or control center to adjust the missile's trajectory before its seeker engages.
The exact target engagement range and the characteristics of the homing head remain classified, but its combat significance is determined by its large engagement zone, high kinetic energy, and ability to engage maneuvering targets at long distances.
Eight missiles allow a single J-16 to launch multiple rounds, engage multiple targets, or fire two salvos to increase the likelihood of hitting targets with electronic countermeasures. Theoretically, a four-aircraft patrol in this configuration could fire 32 PL-15 missiles before returning to reload, representing a significant concentration of firepower.
Two PL-10 missiles provide a minimum level of self-defense. The PL-10 is a highly maneuverable, short-range air-to-air missile with an infrared homing head, capable of engaging targets at long ranges off the line of sight, and has a helmet-mounted guidance system. It is designed for close-range combat, where the pilot may need to launch a missile at a target located far off the line of sight.
The infrared homing head also gives the J-16 the ability to engage targets without relying on continuous radar coverage. The presence of two PL-10s indicates that the aircraft is configured to not only intercept threats aimed directly at it, but also engage any enemy that penetrates the PL-15's engagement range.
This configuration is most effective when combined with a sensor-to-shooter network architecture. Airborne KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, ground-based radars, other fighters, and possibly space-based or maritime sensors could form a common air situational awareness, while J-16 fighters with a large number of missiles would remain behind the front lines in the combat zone.
J-20 fighters could operate further from the front lines as stealthy sensors and interceptors, while J-16s would provide additional missile firepower from less vulnerable positions. This combined operation would allow the PLAAF to separate target detection from engagement, increase the number of shooters, and complicate enemy attempts to suppress a single radar or command node.
According to official assessments, the combination of J-16 and J-20 fighters with KJ-500 support aircraft is an important element of China's growing long-range air combat capability.
However, "Beast Mode" imposes limitations on aerodynamic and tactical performance. Ten externally mounted missiles increase drag, radar signature, and fuel consumption, while reducing turn speed and duration. This configuration emphasizes combat survivability and missile capacity over maximum kinematic performance.
This configuration is best suited for combat air patrols, defensive air defense missions, and airspace clearance after the suppression of assets. Defense enemy and operations to attack enemy rear areas under the cover of friendly fighters and anti-aircraft missile systems. The photograph itself does not prove that this configuration has become a standard combat configuration, but it does indicate that the PLAAF is testing or demonstrating the ability to significantly increase firepower on every combat sortie.
Apparently, China is seriously working on developing options for large-scale combat operations beyond the line of sight against an adversary using stealth fighters, electronic warfare aircraft, airborne early warning platforms, tanker aircraft, unmanned systems and large complex aviation complexes.
The PLAAF expects such an adversary (okay, the US) to use electronic countermeasures, decoys, dispersed formations, and long-range weapons to penetrate or disable China's integrated air defense system.
Increasing the number of missiles each J-16 can carry helps the PLAAF minimize the impact of misses, combat countermeasures, and target saturation, while maintaining a portion of its munitions as a reserve for subsequent combat operations. This also facilitates patrols around Taiwan and disputed areas in the East and South China Seas, as fewer aircraft can pose a more tangible missile threat.
The outcome of any future high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific will likely be decided primarily in the air and electromagnetic spectrum, even though combat operations will be conducted simultaneously at sea, on land, in cyberspace, and in the information domain. Air superiority will determine whether naval forces can maneuver, whether air and naval bases can continue to conduct combat sorties, and whether air surveillance, refueling, and logistics networks can survive.
In the event of a conflict over Taiwan, control of the airspace will be essential for sustained blockade operations, precision strikes, airborne assaults, or amphibious landings. China's buildup of J-16s and their increased missile deployment should be viewed in the context of a broader effort to seize the initiative, shorten the decision-making cycle, and create unacceptable risks to support aircraft operating beyond the first island arc.
The J-16's design is doctrine translated into hardware. It demonstrates that the PLAAF is increasingly focusing on formation depth, long-range air combat, and distributed kill chains, rather than relying solely on the performance of individual aircraft.
Eight PL-15 and two PL-10 missiles don't make the J-16 invulnerable, and this configuration comes with significant tradeoffs in aerodynamics and survivability. However, it does indicate that China is preparing to counter the opening salvos of a hypothetical air campaign in the Indo-Pacific region with a massive deployment of fighters with multiple missiles, multi-layered detection systems, and a combination of stealthy forward platforms and heavily armed support fighters.
The strategic warning is clear: future air superiority in the region may depend not only on who detects the enemy first, but also on who can launch, direct, support, and recover the largest number of effective weapons.
So, is the J-16 truly the best of the Su-27's descendants? China has truly done a truly remarkable job on the Su-27, which it acquired way back in time. And today, it's a very serious combat aircraft... unless there's an Su-35S in the sky nearby.
Essentially, the J-16 and Su-35S are fighters that represent a deep modernization of the Su-27, but the performance characteristics of the aircraft are very different: from the avionics to the range of weapons, and therefore it is impossible to judge so definitively.
The J-16 was developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and is a modernization of the Chinese copy of the Su-27, namely the J-11B, but has a two-seat cockpit.
Radar. Like the J-11B, the J-16 is equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. While the presence of an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is a huge advantage at first glance, compared to the Su-35's passive phased array (PESA), there's a caveat. According to online sources in the East, the J-16 is equipped with a stripped-down version of the KLJ-5 (Type 1475) radar from the J-20 fifth-generation fighter.
Without claiming complete certainty, since the Chinese are good at keeping quiet about their achievements, but according to Western data, the J-16 radar is capable of tracking up to 26 air and 8 ground targets, and the detection range of a target with an RCS of 1 m² at opposite angles is up to 230 km.
The Su-35S has long been known for its capabilities: the N035 Irbis radar with the Baget-53 onboard computer processes up to 30 air and 4 ground targets in real time, the detection range of a target with an RCS of 1 m² at head-on angles is 270 km, and targets with an RCS of 0,1 m² (for example, the F-35) at head-on angles are up to 160 km.
Avionics. It's very difficult to evaluate; there's practically nothing about the J-16 online, even cockpit photos are rare, but both aircraft are fully loaded. However, the Chinese version does have a strong point: its avionics suite includes a helmet-mounted display similar to the J-20, from which it was apparently borrowed.
On the left is the J-16 cockpit, on the right is the Su-35S cockpit.
Engine and other considerations. The J-16 is significantly lighter than the Su-35S. The Chinese have extensively redesigned the Su-27 fuselage and used composite materials extensively in the airframe, so the empty J-16 weighs 2 tons less than the Su-35. A fully loaded Su-35 is a ton heavier than the J-16, but that's not the whole story: it has more fuel, the thrust of its two AL-41F-1S engines is 1400 kg greater than that of the Chinese Shenyang WS-10, and the Su-35S also has a ton more combat load, plus it flies farther. Some sources say the Su-35S also handles G-forces better than the plastic Chinese fighter.
And the icing on the cake: the Su-35S is capable of non-afterburning supersonic flight at a speed of 1,15 Mach, which the J-16 cannot do.
The aircraft are roughly equal in terms of armament. Yes, the PL-15 air-to-air missile, with a range of 250–290 km and an interception speed of Mach 4,85, is good, but we won't praise it until it achieves its first victory. Especially since our R-37M and Su-35S have already scored victories and earned, if not the respect of, then at least a fair amount of fear from Ukrainian pilots.
The PL-15 was developed for the fifth-generation J-20 fighter, and it's only because of its relatively common avionics system with the J-16 that the latter is capable of using this type of missile. The PL-15 has limited capabilities with its active seeker due to its high speed; its response is slow, and its ability to adjust on approach to the target is limited. But its main drawback is its virtually no protection against jamming, so if the target is covered by systems EW, then the PL-15's probability of hitting a target drops significantly.
The Khibiny system, which is built into the Su-35S, is, frankly speaking, not a modern system, but at long ranges, together with the R-37M, it will be unpleasant.
But in any case, what the Chinese aircraft manufacturers have achieved with the J-16 is a very high-quality piece of work.
Yes, this is a real departure from the principles embodied in the Su-27; it's clearly an independent development of the aircraft line, the realization of the concept of a universal multirole fighter. And with regard to the J-16, the comparisons should be somewhat different, since the J-16, if it ever faces off, will likely be against the F-15 or F/A-18. Yes, these aircraft have come a long way, but if you look back, the Su-27 was developed precisely to destroy the F-15.
Evolution is a spiral. At what point will the next iterations of the Su-27 and F-15 converge? This is, of course, a question, but current global events suggest it will happen sooner rather than later. So, the PLAAF's preparations for possible future air battles are, in fact, not without reason.
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