China’s J-20 stealth fighter debuts at air show

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING (AA) – China’s J-20 stealth fighter made its public debut Tuesday at an aviation exhibition attended by exhibitors from across the world, according to state media.

The J-20 was among several civilian aircraft and military jets -- including China’s heavy-load transport aircraft Y-20 -- showcased at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition 2016, or Airshow China, in southern Guangdong province.

According to the Global Times’ website, the warplane is China's domestically built fifth-generation fighter jet and features the most advanced technology and combat capability of the country’s fighters.

Besides China, only the United States and Russia possess fifth generation stealth fighter jets.

Song Zongping, a Beijing-based military expert who served in China’s People's Liberation Army, told the Times on Monday that the J-20's debut in Zhuhai city would showcase the Chinese air force’s technological strength and its rapid advancement.

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China told a press conference Monday that the warplane would be turned over to the air force “very soon" and that research and development on the jet was “based on China's strategic and defense needs”.

“Our country's strategic purpose is to defend our territory and maintain peace rather than a global strategy, and we don't require global deployment,” Zhang Xinguo underlined.

According to Zhuhai Airshow Co. Ltd, the organizer of the six-day exhibition, the air show features more than 700 domestic and foreign exhibitors from 42 countries and regions.

Eight of China’s 12 major national military companies -- excluding those in the shipbuilding and nuclear industry -- attended the exhibition.