The Chinese Air Force has unveiled a slew of new weaponry, including a new stealth fighter and an attack drone, demonstrating its capabilities to challenge America’s military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The J-35A stealth fighter debuted at the Airshow China underway in Zhuhai, a city in Guangdong and other weapons systems at the main Dragon airshow which this year is the centerpiece of celebrations marking 75 years of the founding of the Chinese Air Force, a milestone in President Xi Jinping’s campaign to modernize the armed forces.
A J-35A hovered above the crowd of spectators in a brief flyby, making a steep climb on afterburners before speeding away and disappearing from view, according to images broadcast by state media.
Another novelty, mirroring an American UH-60 Black Hawk, is the Chinese army’s Z-20 helicopter, in the naval variant. It is considered an important step by analysts to fill gaps in the Navy’s capability: the Z-20J is a weight step towards the complete anti-submarine platform. Even as it fields increasingly advanced warships, part of long-term military modernization, it struggles to protect them, including its emerging fleet of aircraft carriers, from submarine attack, a capability already finely honed by many of its rivals.
Also presented was the model of China’s first commercial unmanned space plane, developed by the state company Avic. According to China Daily, the aircraft “brings a low-cost reusable cargo shuttle solution with Chinese characteristics to space exploration.” The China Manned Space Agency awarded Avic a contract for engineering flight verification of the space plane on October 29, the newspaper reported.