J-20: See Photos of China’s First Stealth Fighter Jet

By Daniel Brown,Business Insider

China announced in February that its new J-20 stealth fighter jet is going into combat service, with the hopes that the aircraft will narrow the military gap with the US.

First shown to the public at the Zhuhai airshow in late 2016, the J-20 is an advanced multirole fighter expected to carry out both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat roles, according to CSIS.

The J-20’s capabilities are still not fully known, but it’s often compared to the US’ F-22 Raptor and Russia’s Su-57.

While most analysts agree that the F-22 is, at the moment, still superior, the chief editor of Military Watch Magazine, Abraham Ait, recently wrote in The Diplomat that it “could soon surpass the US F-22 Raptor.”

Here’s what we know:

View As: One PageSlides

First spotted by Chinese observers in 2010, the J-20 was later shown to the public for the first time in 2016.

What is reported to be a Chinese stealth fighter, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan province, January 5, 2011. Reuters