Chinese stealth fighters are combat ready: Beijing

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China has said that its newest J-20 fourth-generation stealth fighter was combat-ready and officially commissioned into the country’s air force, the media reported. Long touted as China’s answer to US F-22 and F-35 stealth fighter jets, analysts say the J-20 is intended to fulfil two roles, air-to-air combat and ground attack.

“The stealth jets will improve the air force’s comprehensive fighting ability and enable it to better safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” Shen Jinke, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, as saying.

A report last year from the China Power Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies suggests the J-20 could be used to strike enemy airfields and command centres in the ground attack role.

The report also points out that if long-range air-to-air missile are mounted on the J-20, it could threaten key components of the US air fleet, such as aerial refuelling tankers and early warning and command and control aircraft.