China's newest stealth jet makes public debut at major air show next week
Next week China will show-off its latest military and civil aircraft at the countrys biggest aviation event. The star of the show - new J-35A stealth fighter - marks a big step in Chinas aerospace growth
The Zhuhai air-show (set for nov-12) is gonna be a huge six-day event showing off Chinas growing air-power. Last time it brought in deals worth bout $40-billion‚ but this years show is extra-special
The star attraction is the never-seen-before J-35A stealth fighter (which the air-force calls a medium-sized multi-purpose fighter). PLAAF picked a good time to show it off - right before their 75th birthday celebration. Russiaʼs bringing their best too: the SU-57 fighter is making its first-ever trip outside home
The J-35A is pretty interesting - its based on Chinas carrier-based J-35 program that came after the J-31 project from about 10 yrs ago; experts are watching it close since its key for Chinas plans to build up its navy power
On the business side COMAC (Chinas own plane maker) is trying to step-up: they might give their ARJ21 jet a new name - C909; its kinda symbolic but shows they wanna compete with the big players. Though they still need foreign-made engines and certifications to really compete worldwide
The whole show fits into Chinas bigger plan to build its own aerospace industry: Boeing thinks China needs like 8800 new planes in the next 20 yrs (thats a huge market). The shows also got lots of other cool stuff - drones electronic warfare tech and weapons systems
