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China’s military this week showcased its new J-20 advanced stealth fighter, built with stolen American military technology, at an air show now underway in Zhuhai.
Chinese state media hailed the J-20’s participation in the air show near Hong Kong as the country’s “indigenous fourth-generation medium- and long-range fighter jet.” The Global Times said the two J-20s “dazzled” spectators at the show and were the first models to feature engines produced domestically.
The stealth jet has been in the works for more than a decade and was first flight-tested in 2011 during a visit to China by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Mr. Gates later wrote in his memoir that the timing of the flight test was “about as big an ‘f—- you’ as you can get.”
But Mr. Gates played down the J-20 test at the time, telling Western reporters traveling with him that he questioned whether its radar-evading stealth capabilities were good.
Mr. Gates as defense secretary canceled production of the advanced F-22 stealth fighter after 187 jets were produced. The F-22 was designed for a future conflict with China and is equipped with a unique “super-cruise flight” capability not deployed with the multi-service F-35.
Earlier reports about the J-20 also were dismissed by many China analysts, who questioned whether the advanced jet posed a threat. Now the J-20 is front and center in China’s aggressive campaign against Taiwan, with growing tensions across the 100-mile wide Taiwan Strait amid promises from Chinese President Xi Jinping to re-take the island.
Recent large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, exercises that U.S. officials say were a dress rehearsal for a future military attack on the island democracy, involved J-20s conducting simulated strikes.
China’s military exercises in early August included 11 ballistic missile firings near Taiwan. The display followed the visit to Taipei by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and were the largest military exercises near the island in decades.
China designed and built the J-20 with stolen American jet technology, according to U.S. officials and court documents. In 2016, Su Bin, a Chinese national, led a cyber operation that obtained sensitive U.S. aircraft information from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, including data on the F-35 and the C-17.
Su was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in 2016 for the hacking operation that netted the Chinese more than $40 billion worth of military technology, at an operational cost to Beijing of less than $400,000.
Su’s cyber team obtained a document from Lockheed that outlined how the F-35 would be tested as it was developed, including how many airplanes would be built and used; how certain components would be tested, how they could be configured, and using what instrumentation; and the techniques used to test the performance, capabilities, and limits of various features of the F-35, according to a court document in the case.
