Beijing: China’s second stealth fighter has made its first test flight, state media reported on Thursday, in a boost to the country’s air capabilities even though the plane is unlikely to be deployed for years.
The J-31, the second stealth plane to be unveiled by China in less than two years, flew for 11 minutes on Wednesday morning, the state-run Global Times reported, citing an eyewitness.
Photos posted online by Chinese military enthusiasts appeared to show the black-painted combat plane in mid-flight. Images of the aircraft were first leaked online in September.
A long testing process means the aircraft is unlikely to be put into action for nearly a decade. “It will take at least seven or eight years before it can be commercially sold,” military expert Andrei Chang told AFP adding that the test flight was timed to coincide with the run-up to China’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition next month.
“I think the regime is trying to to show off to their colleagues that the Hu Jintao regime achieved a lot for China,” he said, adding that the J-31’s manufacturers hoped to export the plane to Chinese allies such as Pakistan.
China says its defence spending will top USD 100 billion in 2012, the latest in a series of budget increases to the country’s 2.3 million-strong military.
Decades of increased investment saw the country fall from being the world’s largest importer of arms in 2007 to the fourth largest by 2011, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said.
Arms exports rose 95 per cent in the same period. The US ordered 31 fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter jets in one 2010 deal, the same year it deployed four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters in joint drills with South Korea in the Sea of Japan. (AFP)