China shows off latest military innovations at annual show

 

This year’s aerial extravaganza has much to flaunt, from a fifth-generation stealth fighter to China’s largest combat drone

A pair of China’s homegrown J-20 stealth fighters made their public debut on Tuesday by roaring over Zhuhai during the opening of the China International Aviation & Aerospace
Exhibition (otherwise known as the China Air Show). Also expected to embark on their maiden public flights in the southern Chinese city are the Y-20 military transporter, a Chinese-made aircraft that can take off while carrying 200 tons, and the CH-5 combat drone, a domestically manufactured unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that can stay in the air for up to 60 hours and carry 24 surface-to-air missiles.
The weeklong show, which takes place every two years, is designed to parade China’s latest military innovations. This year’s aerial extravaganza has much to flaunt, from the fifth-generation stealth fighter to China’s largest combat UAV, which is capable of targeted assaults that were once the exclusive preserve of American drones.

China’s air force was once an afterthought appended to the nation’s massive army. Even today, it is called the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. But fed by double-digit budget hikes, the nation’s flying force, like its naval and land counterparts, has modernized its arsenal from the days when it depended on Soviet castoffs. “China’s military aircraft are improving in terms of the speed of innovation and the ability to innovate,” says Gao Feng, a Chinese military analyst. “Compared to some European countries, China can make new military aircraft faster. The R&D cycle is shorter and shorter.”
China’s military upgrade may be only natural for an incipient superpower, especially one that is embroiled in various territorial disputes. But the growing military-industrial complex is also big business for Beijing. The same day the Zhuhai air show began, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak was in Beijing, where he is expected to sign a landmark deal to purchase Chinese-made coastal patrol boats. Last year, the two nations began joint military exercises, even though Malaysia is one of the nations at odds with China over Beijing’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea.