China’s latest J-20 stealth fighter has been officially commissioned into military service, according to Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday.
The flight tests are being conducted as scheduled, Wu said at a press conference.
The J-20 is China’s fourth-generation medium and long-range fighter jet. It made its maiden flight in 2011 and was first shown to the public at the 11th Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong.
The J-20 shocked the world in 2011, when China unveiled the plane during a state visit by Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. Although China was known to be working on a large fighter, known as the J-XX, the extent to which the country had made progress on a so-called "fifth generation fighter"—which only the United States had successfully developed—shocked experts.
CSIS assesses the J-20 as a full fifth-generation fighter, which means it includes stealth technology, supersonic cruising speed, and highly integrated avionics as part of the criteria. It also believes that at 34,000 to 37,000 kilograms, the J-20 is slightly lighter than the Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor.
Like the F-22, the J-20 is powered by two after-burning turbofan engines. The rearward placement of the engines, according to CSIS, likely means it has more usable internal volume than the F-22. Stealthy aircraft, to remain stealthy, must hide weapons and fuel in internal bays within their fuselages. The J-20 has three such bays, two for smaller air-to-air missiles and a single large belly bay for larger air-to-air, anti-ship, and air-to-ground missiles.
CSIS notes that others see the J-20 going in one of two directions: a long range air-to-air fighter or a strike fighter capable of penetrating advanced air defences. The aircraft is large and heavy enough to do either, but its emphasis on frontal stealth and relative weakness when scanned by radar from different angles suggests it would not do well penetrating deep into enemy territory.
Source: China Power CSIS