China's stealth fighter, the J-20, is now part of the PLA's air force. (Photo : Getty Images)
Six years ago, China's stealth jet, the Chengdu J-20, took off on its first flight. The J-20 now joins the People's Liberation Army's air force.
The turnaround of the J-20 shows that China is quicker than other global superpowers because the U.S.'s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is still not fit to be used by the American air force.
The F-35 was launched in 2006 and is inferior to the J-20. China's stealth fighter can be refueled by an unarmed aerial refueling machine.
The J-20 is observed to have the same characteristics to the U.S.'s F-22. The similarities of the two stealth fighters raise suspicion of a possible leak of the F-22's design to the Chinese.
The designers of the J-20 said that the fighter is a"big leap forward in terms of the capabilities of the PLA."
The J-20 has a bigger fuel capacity and has a larger weaponry than the U.S. F-22 and F-35.
There was an unnamed official of the PLA who said that the J-20 is powered by domestically designed WS-15 engines. Only a few of these engines are manufactured.
The limited number of engines will also limit the number of J-20 fighters. The source revealed that China is not ready for mass production of the J-20.
The official also said that the government had to rush the launch of the J-20 because of the fast deployment of THAAD weapons to South Korea from the U.S.
The J-20 is to show the U.S. and South Korea that China is ready for war. However, the official said that the jets still need to have technical upgrades.
"There are still a series of technical problems that need to be tackled [on the J-20], including the reliability of its WS-15 engines, [and the plane's] control system, stealth coat and hull materials and infrared sensor," he said.
