China has revealed the frightening arsenal of missiles carried by its J-20 stealth fighter jets.
The advanced warplanes were paraded to the public yesterday as the grand finale to a six-day airshow in Zhuhai.
Two J-20 fighter jets opened their cargo bay doors and revealed four missiles in its fuselage and one on either side of the aircraft.
Top Chinese officials, according to the Global Times, said the demonstration displayed the J-20’s superiority to the top US fighter jets, the F-22 and F-35.
The newspaper said two J-20 fighter jets opened their missile bay doors during a flypast.
Military expert Song Zhongping as saying the four missiles in the J-20’s fuselage were long-range air-to-air missiles, while the two on the sides were short-range combat missiles meant for aerial combat.
According to footage released by China Central Television Station, the J-20 is equipped with four PL-15 mid-range air-to-air missiles and one PL-10 short-range ‘combat’ missile on either side.
Chinese news site Sohu previously claimed PL-15 was a wing-less missile and 5.7 metres (18.7 feet) long. It was said to boast an impressive range of 400 kilometres (249 miles) and could help PL-15 out-perform F-22.
PL-10, on the other hand, was reported to have exceptional abilities to intercept other missiles.
In a post on the PLA’s English-language website earlier this year, Chinese military expert Song Zongping said the J-20 will ‘engage with rivals in the future who dare to provoke China in the air.’
When the aircraft was shown to the public, there were claims to suggest that it had been built in part from plans of US war planes, particularly the F-22 Raptor, obtained by Chinese hackers jailed last year.
Beijing has firmly denied the theory as it insists that J-20 had been developed and built solely with the Chinese technology.
WHAT IS CHINA’S J-20 STEALTH FIGHTER?
As China’s fourth-generation fighter jet, J-20 made its maiden flight in 2011.
According to China Central Television Station (CCTV), J-20 be powered by a made-in-China engine and possess similar combat capabilities to America’s F-22 Raptor.
In 2016, a Chinese national, 51-year-old Su Bin, was sent to prison for his part in stealing US military plans and sending documents to Beijing.
The documents were reported to include plans for the F-35 and F-22 fighter jets, which would have enabled the Chinese military to rapidly catch up with US capabilities.
China claims it is set to overtake the US as the world’s top aviation market in the next decade.
Experts say China has been refining designs in hopes of narrowing a military gap with Washington.
Cao Qingfeng, an aircraft engineer at the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow, said J-20’s ‘stunning’ display was a show of China’s strengthening aircraft industry and manufacturing – and Western officials agreed.
‘This shows they now have confidence to put it out in public,’ said a Western industry official who has monitored the biennial show from its inception 20 years ago.
‘This is the airplane for China in the way that the J-31 is not; this is the one they develop for themselves,’ he added.
Despite the impressive show of aerial military might, some foreign observers have questioned its stealth capabilities.
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