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.
China’s J-20 Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-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).
Confronting the US SecDef
If the truth were to be told, Hu had enjoyed a less-than-happy relationship with the PLA, and various events that took place under his tenure made it clear that the military, particularly the PLAAF element, was trying to snub him. “This episode gave the Chinese top brass not only to show Gates what they were made of, but also to embarrass Hu,” said a former US intelligence official who spoke to National Security Journal.
The Chinese side subsequently tried to explain the incident away as some miscommunication or an unanticipated scheduling conflict, but foreign affairs analysts at the time stated there is no such animal as a coincidence when it comes to these matters in the PRC. “Their military and civilian bosses are in lockstep,” commented Blaine Porter at the time.
J-20 Fighters from China. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Porter, a former China analyst for the State Department‘s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, explained, “Our first reaction is the right one. The timing of the flight was a poke in the eye [for Gates].”
On Public Display For the First Time
China’s J-20 stealth fighter jet will now be statically displayed on the ground this month for the first time, according to an August 11 announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Defense (MoD). The event is the open house for the annual aviation day of the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) in Changchun, at an aerodrome located in Northeast China’s Jilin Province. The static displays of aircraft, as well as demonstration flights, will take place from September 19 to 23.
Why the J-20, which has been seen flying on several occasions during the biennial Air Show China at Zhuhai in the PRC’s Guangdong Province, is suddenly being shown openly is not certain. The two-seat J-20S version of the aircraft was even openly revealed as a full-scale mock-up at the 2024 Zhuhai expo.
But there are some specific reasons why giving the world a close-up look at least some models of the aircraft today does not significantly compromise the aircraft’s detailed design.
One reason is that a large number of J-20s have been built. It is no longer some “silver bullet” that is only out there as a special mission aircraft like the US F-117As were. There were at least 200 aircraft in service by the end of last year, with 400 or more expected to be in service by 2030.
Additionally, the aircraft is being based far afield – including near the border with India, where they have been “painted” with both ground-based and airborne radars on many occasions. So, there would be little left to imagination as to its radar cross section (RCS) and other characteristics.
J-20 Variants
One of the big questions asked about the J-20 is what is the rationale for the two-seat J-20S? The US has never built a two-seat version of either F-22A or F-35. Did the Chinese design a two-seat aircraft because they needed a training platform, or is there an operational requirement?
At the 2024 Zhuhai expo, the answer came from Song Zhongping, a military technology commentator and a retired PLA officer, who explained that the J-20S would be like the Indian Air Force (IAF) twin-seat Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet – a pilot in the front seat and a weapons operator in the rear seat. In this manner, each of them can better focus on their specific tasks.
“According to an introduction from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the J-20S has good situational awareness capability, and that means it can act as a small-sized early-warning platform. The new model can also guide drones to carry out strikes against targets. All these new functions promise longer detection and fighting range,” Zhongping said at the event last year.
The other significant shift in the different types of J-20 has had to do with the engine. The aircraft initially flew with two of the Russian-made Salyut AL-31F jet engines that were acquired by the Chinese when they procured the Sukhoi Su-27.
Su-27 Flanker Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The next step was to install the Liming WS-10 engine developed in the PRC for the reverse-engineered copies of the Su-27, designated J-11. This engine was then replaced by a more capable WS-10C, which is now being used to substitute for and phase out the AL-31F across most of the PLAAF fleet.
On 28 June 2023, four days after the biennial Le Bourget Salon outside Paris ended, a video was released of the J-20 making its first public flight equipped with two Xi’an-built Woshan-15 engines. This engine was initially designed for the aircraft and ultimately delivered the planned performance, despite several delays in development and testing.
For now, the J-20 is the workhorse of the PLAAF. It is anticipated that in the future it will be complemented by the Shenyang J-35A, in the same way that the F-35 is the USAF’s “lower tier” aircraft that supports the F-22. The Chinese are not only copying this air force fighter structure but also attempting to replicate US technology. It remains to be seen how well they have accomplished these two ambitions.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the US Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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