The Chinese Air Force has unveiled two new stealth combat aircraft to rival the American F-22 and F-35 advanced fighter jets, including one that can collaborate with drones in combat.
The latest Chinese fighter aircraft capable of avoiding detection, the J-20S and the J-35A, made their debuts at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, a six-day airshow that officially began on Tuesday in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai.
Two Republican senators, Roger Wicker and Eric Schmitt, warned last month that “China is on the cusp of world-changing air capabilities.” They called for the execution of a full-scale rebuilding of the United States Air Force to win the fight for aerial superiority.
In its report released last year, the Pentagon said China has the largest aviation forces in the Indo-Pacific region and the third largest in the world, with approximately 2,400 combat aircraft in service with the country’s air force as well as the aviation branch of the navy.
According to the manufacturer, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the J-20S is the first and only model of a twin-seat stealth combat aircraft in the world. It is a variant of the J-20, China’s first stealth fighter jet comparable to the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor.
A spokesperson for the Chinese aircraft maker said that the J-20S can “team up” with unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, in aerial combat. The U.S. military said in the same report that the J-20S was first revealed on Chinese social media in 2021.
A drone that flies alongside crewed fighter jets is known as a “loyal wingman” to the U.S. Air Force. It is potentially equipped for combat and spying missions that serve to expand the fighter jet fleet and protect human pilots at a lower cost than current fighter aircraft.
Song Zhongping, a retired Chinese military officer, pointed out that the J-20S is capable of guiding drones to strike and functioning as an early-warning platform in the air. “All these new functions promise longer detection and fighting range,” he explained to China Daily.
Meanwhile, the newly announced J-35A shares some similarities in design with the F-35A Lightning II, the second stealth fighter jet in service with the U.S. Air Force. China is now the second country after the U.S. that operates two types of radar-evading fighter jets.
According to Wang Yongqing, who is the chief expert at the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the J-35A is one of the variants of the J-35 family of fighter jets, which also included a carrier-based version.
This is similar to the U.S.-design F-35 family, which comes with three variants: the F-35A, which is capable of conducting conventional takeoff and landing; the F-35B, w hich can execute short takeoff and vertical landing; and the F-35C, which is deployed aboard aircraft carriers.
“The J-35 series is designed to be one platform with multiple variants for both Chinese air and naval forces,” the Chinese media quoted Wang Yongqing, who said that the J-35A has “enhanced stealth, informatization, network integration, and intelligence capabilities.”
Wang Mingzhi, a Chinese military analyst, said that the medium-sized, multi-role J-35A can coordinate with the so-called heavy-duty J-20 in combat, where the former strikes land and maritime targets and the latter focuses on maintaining air superiority.
Specialist outlet The War Zone said the official unveiling of the J-35A, which was “heavily inspired”—if not cribbed—from the F-35, just over a year since it was first spotted. This demonstrated the pace of development in China’s military aerospace industries.
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