For Years China’s J-20 Used Underpowered Russian Engines — Now the WS-15 Has Pushed Its Thrust to F-22 and F-35 Class

For Years China’s J-20 Used Underpowered Russian Engines — Now the WS-15 Has Pushed Its Thrust to F-22 and F-35 Class

China’s Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon entered service in the mid-2010s as China’s first operational stealth fighter — but for years its weakest component was its powerplant: underpowered, unreliable variants of the Russian AL-31 engine that limited the aircraft’s thrust-to-weight ratio and prevented true supercruise. China has now swapped those Russian engines for its indigenous WS-15, an engine with thrust comparable to the Pratt & Whitney F119 us…