China’s burgeoning aviation industry and military might will be on display this week as the country’s largest air show gets under way on Tuesday.
The 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, held in the southern city of Zhuhai, will showcase military fighters, passenger jets, drones and weapons systems, some for the first time in public.
Military enthusiasts will monitor the latest advances in the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, while foreign businesses hope to make deals with their Chinese counterparts.
Here are five things to watch for during the show:
J-35A multirole stealth fighter
China’s newest stealth fighter will make its hotly anticipated debut at the air show.
The fighter, over a decade in the making, is primarily designed for air superiority missions but also has surface attack capabilities.
It is smaller and lighter than the J-20 already in service, indicating an emphasis on stealth.
Many have compared it to the US’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
But one noticeable difference is that the F-35 is powered by a single large turbofan engine, while the J-35A has twin engines.
The J-35A is reserved for land operations, rather than aircraft carrier use.
J-15T carrier-based fighter
The J-15T is an updated version of China’s J-15 carrier-based fighter that adds catapult-launch capabilities.
That means it can not only operate on China’s two operational aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, which have “ski jump” takeoff ramps, but also from the newer Fujian carrier, currently undergoing sea trials, which has a flat flight deck.
The J-15T took part in China‘s first dual-carrier drills announced last month.
It is equipped with Chinese-made WS-10 turbofans rather than Russian-made engines, suggesting China is no longer reliant on Moscow for powerful fighter engines.
HQ-19 missile defence system
The HQ-19 is a mobile surface-to-air missile system primarily used for regional interception of ballistic missiles.
Each launch system carries six interceptor missiles mounted on an 8×8 wheeled chassis.
Experts have compared it to the US THAAD-ER (Terminal High Altitude Defence – Extended Range) system produced by Lockheed Martin.
China’s previous surface-to-air missile systems, like the HQ-9 and HQ-22, focus on anti-aircraft missions.
SS-UAV attack reconnaissance drone
This massive jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can launch swarms of smaller drones for reconnaissance, electronic warfare and kinetic strike missions.
Dubbed “Jiu Tian” (“High Sky” in English), the UAV has a maximum take-off weight of 16 tonnes, according to state media.
China has demonstrated interest in drone swarm capabilities in the past — in part because they can be extremely difficult to defend against.
The country has regularly deployed UAVs in the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and along contested border areas with India.
Its WZ-7 high-altitude drone was also spotted near the Philippines in April.
Su-57 stealth fighter
In a signal of close China-Russia relations, Moscow has brought its most advanced “fifth generation” fighter jet to the Zhuhai airshow for its first overseas demonstration.
The single-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter can reach Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) and carry a range of missiles, rockets and bombs.
Russia may be hoping to drum up export interest in the fighter, which has struggled to bring in orders since it entered service in 2020.
Early visitors to the airshow in Zhuhai criticised the Su-57’s construction in videos posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, comparing it unfavourably to China’s fighters.
Multiple videos showed close-ups of gaps between the jet’s bodywork panels and screws that don’t sit flush.
The crude finish may be because the Su-57 on display in Zhuhai is a prototype rather than a complete production model.
