Reuben Johnson
Key Points and Summary – For the first time, China will put its J-20 stealth fighter on static display at an air show this month, a major shift in a famously secretive program.
-The new openness signals the J-20’s maturation from a rare prototype into the workhorse of the Chinese air force, with hundreds now in service.
-The decision is also likely driven by the fact that the jet has been deployed near foreign borders and detected by adversary radar, meaning its core stealth characteristics are no longer a closely guarded secret.
-The display reflects China’s growing confidence in its premier fighter.
China’s J-20 Mighty Dragon Stealth Fighter Has Arrived
WARSAW, POLAND – Nearly 15 years after its first public flight announcement, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) pervasive security apparatus is reportedly set to unveil a real Chengdu J-20 at a public air show.
The stealthy-looking, twin-engine fighter was first reported to have flown in January 2011 as an initial validation test flight from the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) aerodrome that is co-located with Aircraft Plant No. 132. This is today, where the fighter rolls off the assembly line in series production.
That January 11, 2011, test flight was conducted just hours before then-US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was to have a face-to-face meeting with then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman Hu Jintao. The purpose of the official visit by Gates was supposedly to address what were then already deteriorating military-to-military relations between Washington and Beijing. (Not much has improved since.)
The anticipated but unannounced flight was assessed to have “undermined” the purpose of that meeting. Hu himself seemed to have been caught off guard and not aware that the first lift-off was to take place on that day. This in turn prompted questions over whether the PRC’s so-called “civilian leadership” had full, positive control of the increasingly aggressive People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
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