The thrust to weight ratio isn’t irrelevant. It just isn’t the only determining factor in deciding if any given plane can take off from the skijump.
What determines that is whether the aircraft can attain sufficent speed, and hence generate sufficient lift, by the time it reaches the end of the skijump, to maintain controlled flight. Hence some obvious factors are:
Good acceleration (low drag airframe, and high thrust)
Minimum controllable speed of the aircraft (lower is better)
Generated lift (higher is better)
Hence an Su-25 can do it, despite its lowish T/W ratio, because its large, high aspect ratio wing will generate a lot of lift at low speeds and give it a low stalling speed.
Any modern fighter, in comparison to an older design, will hopefully be better. More advanced aerodynamics might have cut drag. Blended wing/body designs may have effectively greater lifting surface for generating greater lift. Stalling speed should be lower than for an older fighter. And, yes, they might have higher t/w ratio.
To argue thrust/weight ratio is the only deciding factor is frankly idiotic. JAS-39 Gripen has a T/O thrust to weight ratio of 0.9. Do you think it can’t take off from the Kuznetsov’s skijump? By your reasoning, it can’t.
Does that make sense to you?
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