China’s state-owned Global Times reported that the J-20, China’s most powerful, domestically developed stealth fighter jet, has started to patrol the East China Sea and the South China Sea in routine training sessions. The move will enable the advanced warplane to better safeguard China’s airspace security and maritime interests. With the J-20 switching to the use of domestically developed engines, it has become a training routine that this type of aircraft conducts combat patrols in the East China Sea and alert patrols in the South China Sea. It hasn’t yet been publicly disclosed if the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command has been equipped with the J-20.
U.S. Air Force F-35 stealth fighter jets recently had close contact with China’s J-20 stealth fighter jets over the East China Sea. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force shoulders the sacred duty of defending national security in China’s airspace. It must be emphasized that when it comes to defending national sovereignty and security, the PLA will always be ready and capable of wielding its sword. It is certain that the J-20, as advanced new equipment, will appear on potential battlefields, including at sea, particularly when advanced warplanes of the US like the F-35 and the F-22 have been flying near China.
The Chengdu J-20, also known as Mighty Dragon, is a twinjet all-weather stealth fighter aircraft developed by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The J-20 is designed as an air superiority fighter with precision strike capability; it descends from the J-XX program of the 1990s. The J-20 made its maiden flight on 11 January 2011 and was officially revealed at the 2016 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. The aircraft entered service in March 2017 and began its combat training phase in September 2017. The first J-20 combat unit was formed in February 2018.
The J-20 is the world’s third operational fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft after the F-22 and F-35. The J-20 has a long and blended fuselage, with a chiseled nose section and a frameless canopy. Immediately behind the cockpit are low observable intakes. All-moving canard surfaces with pronounced dihedral are placed behind the intakes, followed by leading-edge extensions merging into the delta wing with forward-swept trailing edges. The aft section has twin outward canted all-moving fins, short but deep ventral strakes, and conventional or low observable engine exhausts.
