China is next week to unveil its J-20 stealth fighter jet at an air show, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force said yesterday, the first public showing of a warplane China hopes will narrow the military gap with the US.
The ability to project airpower is key for China as it takes on a more assertive stance on territorial disputes with neighbors in the East and South China seas.
The Pentagon has said the fifth-generation stealth aircraft China is developing, the J-20 and the J-31, are necessary for China’s air force to evolve from a mostly territorial force to one that can carry out both offensive and defensive operations.
The J-20 is to perform a flight demonstration at next week’s China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in the southern city of Zhuhai, the air force said in a statement on its official microblog.
Air force spokesman Shen Jinke (沈金科) said the J-20’s production was proceeding according to plan and would assist in the air force’s mission to “safeguard sovereignty and national security.”
“This is the first public appearance of China’s indigenously manufactured new-generation stealth fighter jet,” the air force said.
In June, it said the jet would enter service “in the near future.”
The new Y-20 military transport aircraft is also to perform a flight demonstration at the seven-day air show, which is held every two years and opens on Tuesday next week.
China showed off the J-31 at the previous Zhuhai air show in 2014, a show of muscle that coincided with a visit by US President Barack Obama for an Asia-Pacific summit.
China hopes the J-31, still in development, will compete with the US-made F-35 stealth aircraft in the international market, according to China military watchers and state media reports.
Analysts have said photographs of the J-20 suggest China might be making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to Lockheed Martin’s radar-evading F-22 Raptor.
However, others have said China’s defense manufacturers are still struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat.
Beijing has been ramping up research into advanced new military equipment, including submarines, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles, which has rattled nerves regionally and in the US.
China said there is nothing unusual about its development of military technology, and that it is a reasonable course of action for every country that wants to defend its security.
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