Key Points and Summary – Despite showcasing its advanced fifth-generation J-20 and J-35 stealth fighters at venues like the Paris Air Show, China has failed to attract any European buyers for its combat aircraft.
-The primary obstacles are political and technical, not technological.
-European air forces require full NATO compatibility for interoperability, a standard Chinese jets do not meet.
-Furthermore, a long-standing EU arms embargo on China politically complicates any potential purchase from Beijing.
-In contrast, competitors like South Korea’s KAI have successfully sold their FA-50 fighter to Poland, as it uses Western components and is designed to integrate with NATO systems.
Europe Says Nope to J-20 and J-35 Fighter from China
L’aéroporte Le Bourget, Paris – The state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and its export sales monopoly trading company, China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC), had their usual line-up of military aircraft models displayed at this year’s Le Bourget air show outside Paris.
The difference this year was the addition of the Shenyang J-35 and the Chengdu J-20, both of which are labeled by CATIC as 5th-generation fighter jets, as well as the Chengdu J-10CE, an export variant of the “4.5-generation” J-10C multirole combat aircraft.
An almost three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine is potentially threatening the eastern flank of NATO. Many countries are scrambling to ramp up defense spending in response to the rising threat of Russian aggression, and fighter aircraft that can be delivered expeditiously are in demand.
Nonetheless, Chinese industry still fails to attract interest from European buyers. The closest the Middle Kingdom has come to a sale in the region is the purchase of another Chengdu product, the JF-17, which is produced jointly with the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra.
The joint venture made the sale of 40 aircraft to the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan; ironically, the JF-17 is the least advanced and oldest fighter design ever produced by the Chengdu design center. This aircraft was not even a Chinese design to begin with, but is actually a heavily modified and developed derivative of the Soviet-era MiG-21, making it the oldest and least advanced of all the PRC-made aircraft on offer.
No J-20 Fighter Buyers Despite Extensive Publicity
In the past several months, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has captured the attention of combat aviation observers.
Conventional wisdom was that December 2024’s appearance of the Chengdu J-36 and the Shenyang J-50 conducting test flights on the same day, which also happened to be Mao Zedong’s birthday, would have caused some nations to consider for the first time the acquisition of a Chinese-design fighter.
The two aircraft were both labeled as 6th-generation fighter aircraft. This development gave the Chinese bragging rights by having two advanced prototypes flying while the US, Europe, Japan, and others are still trying to develop a comparable aircraft.
This should have convinced European buyers that a 5th-generation fighter like the J-35 was a mature design and a safe choice for a major acquisition. However, the major Chinese fighter manufacturers remain outsiders in the global market for combat aircraft exports.
What’s more, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the PRC’s major Asian competitor and one that got into the fighter design business many years later than the PRC, has already exported its Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 fighter aircraft to several nations. Exports include a 48-aircraft sale to the European nation of Poland.
No J-35 Sales: Obstacles to China Selling Stealth Fighters in Europe
Some obvious observations made by analysts of the military aircraft business to the Hong Kong-based English-language daily, the South China Morning Post, explain the PRC’s problems in gaining traction in the European market.
Bence Nemeth, a senior lecturer in defense studies education at King’s College London, told the paper that, to begin with, the first hurdle that Chinese-made weapon systems would struggle to overcome is that any fighter operated by a European nation must be NATO-compatible.
Secondly, he continued, “the EU has [also] maintained an arms embargo on China, which forbids EU members to export weapons to China and politically also complicates importing weapons from Beijing.”
“Even though some Chinese models are approaching Western capability, these political, industrial, and technological dynamics make Chinese fighters effectively non-starters for European air forces.”
If these obstacles were not enough, then the issue of after-sales servicing and support enters the equation. Shin Dong-hak, KAI’s vice president of international business, explained that despite being an Asian, non-European product, his company’s FA-50 is a known quantity, with little question as to how well it can be supported after purchase.
“We will use the advantage in the price competitiveness of our fighter jets, which are more cost-effective than other aircraft in comparison to its characteristics and potential, and promote it attractively by diversifying options such as technology transfer and local production that other competitors cannot do.”
KAI’s next step, says its representatives, is to market its next-generation fighter, the KF-21 Boromae, to every nation that has already purchased the FA-50.
The KF-21 is a stealthy-looking design that the company is proposing to nations that cannot afford the expense of a 5th-generation US fighter, such as the F-35.
“We have already exported to Poland, and we are marketing to them again for their transition to the KF-21. We are also actively working with various countries in Eastern Europe, such as Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria, by proposing industrial cooperation,” Shin said.
Therefore, the question European nations will likely ask if the Chinese J-35 is proposed to them is most likely, “Why would I buy this Chinese aircraft when the South Koreans can give me a very comparable product that uses an American-made engine and is designed to US standards?”
About the Author:
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments, and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
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