China Displays Military Fighter At Airshow

China's aerospace concern showed off its newest military fighter at Zhuhai's Airshow, Bloomberg News reported this week. The J-31 fighter, which flew a demonstration at the show, has been compared to the Lockheed Martin F-35 military jet. "It appears to be a fifth-generation fighter and so far of course only the United States has been able to produce those," Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Bloomberg. "So in a sense, it's kind of impressive on a superficial level." Bitzinger said the jets have stealth technology and can fly at supersonic speeds, Bloomberg reported.

However, state-owned aviation conglomerate AVIC released few details at the show. The New York Times reported that industry watchers want to know when the fighter will be in service and how it could potentially compete with Lockheed Martin's jets on quality and price.Robert M. Farley, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, told The New York Times that engine design has been an obstacle for China, which has used Russian engines in its military aircraft. "The problem with Chinese engines is that they've been remarkably unreliable," he said. "The potential problem with Chinese- and Russian-construction stealth fighters is that if there's a bolt out of place, it shows up on a radar signature," he said. "Will Chinese fighters be as 'stealthy' as Western fighters? We won't know that for another five or 10 years."