A recent report from a Japanese media agency claimed that although China deploys 5 times as many warplanes as Japan, there is a clear gap between Chinese and Japanese radar performance. Interviewed by a reporter, Song Xinzhi, an air force equipment expert, said that the performance of missiles has a greater impact in air combat than the performance of of radar. In this regard, Japan lags behind China by an order of magnitude.

In modern warfare, a range of sensors pick up distant threats, and then provide the pilots of airplanes with information which has been processed by computer, allowing the pilots to make a judgment and take the most appropriate action as quickly as possible. The USA F-35 airplane is considered to be outstanding in this regard. Next comes the F-22. They can put sensor integration into practice because they carry AESA radar and LINK-16 data chain.

Song Xinzhi pointed out that maneuverability ranks first in the present assessment of the air-battle capacity of warplanes, but it has only limited influence. The detection range of radar ranks second, including the detection range of the optoelectronic system. The factor which has the greatest influence is missile technology.

Song pointed out that Japanese warplanes have stronger maneuverability and a stronger radar performance, but the firing range and attack strength of Japanese air-to-air missiles are both much weaker than those of Chinese air-to-air missiles. There is a gap of some magnitude between the two. The attack range of missiles ranks first in the assessment of air-combat capacity.