China just started using its Chengdu J-20 fighter jets, a military official announced last week via state-run Xinhua News Agency. The long-range stealth fighters are evidently China’s best in their class. They should help the People’s Liberation Army air force with long-range interception or position it to strike first at infrastructure targets on the ground. China will probably focus on its coasts and land borders, the most likely sites of skirmishes given China’s turbid neighbor relations. “The PLA Air Force, like the PLA Navy, lagged behind for many years and is eager to acquire cutting-edge capabilities now that the Chinese industrial base has grown stronger and budgets are flush,” says Joshua Pollack, editor of The Nonproliferation Review in Washington.China’s latest can beat three other weighty countries that are developing similar aircraft, although this is largely because rival aircraft have yet to be released or proven yet in service. They are:
- India: Indian aerospace and defense firm Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is working with Russian aircraft maker JSC Sukhoi Co. to develop what this news report describes as a fighter aircraft with stealth capability. It would be in the same class as the J-20. But the project is “complicated,” and work will go slowly, the head of a Russian state-owned export promotion firm was quoted saying in the report. The two countries have worked together since 2007. Russia’s military is considered stronger than China’s, but India is a step behind and troops from the two countries faced off over a disputed border region for 70 days in mid-2017.
- Russia: In addition to the fighter being developed with India, Sukhoi will finish research and development on another J-20 peer, the PAK FA T-50, in 2019 with initial trials due next year, the country’s news service TASS reports. This aircraft, two of which got into a mock dogfight at an aviation show in July, was originally due for use this year. China got there first. The two countries have lived in peace for the past 25 years, following several border clashes. But China’s J-20 would also be a tough rival against the American-made, U.S. Air Force’s hundreds of