China will unveil its new generation J-20 stealth fighter jet at an air show next week, the air force said on Friday, the first public showing of a warplane China hopes will narrow the military gap with the United States.

The ability to project air power is key for China as it takes on a more assertive stance on territorial disputes with neighbors in the East China and South China seas.

The Pentagon has said the fifth generation stealth aircraft China is developing, the J-20 and the J-31, are necessary for China's air force to evolve from a mostly territorial force to one that can carry out both offensive and defensive operations.

The J-20 will give a flight demonstration at next week's China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in the southern city of Zhuhai, the People's Liberation Army Air Force said in a statement on its official microblog.

Some analysts have said photographs of the J-20 suggest China may be making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to Lockheed Martin's radar-evading F-22 Raptor.

But others say China's defense manufacturers are still struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat.

Quoted:
https://www.f35.com/assets/uploads/images/AIM_120(2).jpg

Quoted:
Anyone other me kind of wonder about China's high-technology capabilities? They seem like they reverse engineer every one else's stuff or just buy from Russia.

Yesterday's official unveiling reflects justified pride at the fact that China will soon become only the second country to put a so-called 'fifth-generation' fighter into service (the J-20 is in low-rate production and will likely enter squadron service next year). America is of course first with the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and Russia was supposed to be second with its T-50, but China has leapfroged the Russians.

Mind you, the J-20 is powered by Russian engines, and most pundits assess that Chinese aero engine technology is not only well behind the US but Europe and Russia too. The J-20 is also likely to lag the US and Europe in sensors (radar, infra-red etc) and data fusion - that is, making the flood of information from onboard sensors and other aircraft digestible to the pilot.

The J-20 is probably superior to anything currently being fielded in the Asia Pacific, but whether it matches the F-35, which Japan, Singapore and Australia will field in coming years, is open to question (one American general says it's not even close).

Quoted:
What makes this a fifth-gen fighter?