China displays new stealth fighter in race to match US

The public debut of the J-35A stealth fighter and other weapons systems at China’s premier airshow, which started Tuesday, represent the centerpiece in the Chinese air force’s celebrations of its 75th anniversary—a milestone in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s sweeping campaign to modernize the People’s Liberation Army.

A single J-35A soared over crowds of spectators in a brief flypast on the opening day of Airshow China in the southern city of Zhuhai, making a steep climb with afterburners before rolling away and streaking out of view, state television footage showed.

Other new weapons—including the “Jiu Tian" reconnaissance and attack drone and the HQ-19 anti-ballistic-missile system—were also prominent in ground displays at the biennial airshow, as examples of the PLA’s growing prowess in aerial warfare and air defense.

Much remains unclear about these systems and their capabilities. Even so, Chinese officials and state media say the new armaments reflect the significant advances that Beijing has made in developing its air power and enhancing its ability to defend China’s strategic interests.

These displays “will certainly accelerate views in the U.S. and the region that China is outpacing rival militaries in air-power capabilities," said Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“For the incoming Trump administration, it’s another reminder of the formidable capabilities of the PLA Air Force that the U.S. will have to contend with for years to come," Morris said.

Xi has directed an ambitious modernization program for the PLA, aimed at transforming the Soviet-style military into a 21st-century fighting force. Beijing has demonstrated progress through increasingly complex combat drills—such as combined aerial and naval manoeuvrers—as well as more frequent deployments that reach beyond China’s periphery.

U.S. officials have increasingly raised concerns about how Beijing’s burgeoning military strength could affect Washington’s ability to maintain an effective security presence in the Asia Pacific.

“China is not a future threat. China is a threat today," U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in September. “The Chinese Communist Party continues to invest heavily in capabilities, organizations and operational concepts designed specifically to defeat the ability of the United States and its allies to project power in the Western Pacific."

Moscow’s close military ties with Beijing are also on show at Zhuhai, with Russia’s most advanced jet fighter, the Su-57, flying its first aerial displays abroad. Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, who is visiting China this week, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Tuesday.

State media has cast the J-35A as the headline act at Zhuhai, noting that its debut makes China the second country—after the U.S.—to operate two models of stealth fighters. The PLA already uses the J-20 stealth fighter, a larger warplane designed primarily as an air-superiority platform, which some analysts consider China’s rough equivalent to the U.S. F-22.

Beijing hasn’t said when the J-35A will become operational, nor has it disclosed much of its technical capabilities. In development for more than a decade, the J-35A has been described as a multipurpose stealth fighter capable of air-to-air and surface attack missions. The ‘A’ designation refers to land-based models, with a naval variant set to follow, Chinese experts say.

The Chinese military had set higher technical requirements for the J-35A’s stealth capabilities, and manufacturers needed to develop new technology to meet these targets, according to Wang Yongqing, the chief expert at an aircraft-design institute affiliated with the Aviation Industry Corp. of China, a state-owned defense conglomerate.

In an interview with Chinese state media, Wang likened the J-35A’s role to that of a point guard in basketball. “It not only has a strong point-scoring ability of its own, it also must assess the situation on the court clearly," and organize friendly assets to fight more effectively, he said.

Some analysts have compared the J-35A to the U.S. F-35 in terms of their roles and capabilities. While the Chinese fighter bears some physical resemblance to the American jet, there are also notable differences—such as the J-35A’s twin-engine configuration, compared with the single-engine F-35.

China has been churning out more advanced military hardware but “how well most of these new pieces of equipment function on an actual battlefield is another matter," said James Char, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, who studies the Chinese military.

Other air show debutants included the “Jiu Tian" reconnaissance and attack drone, which Chinese analysts described as a next-generation weapons platform, and the HQ-19 surface-to-air missile system, which state media said is capable of intercepting conventional ballistic missiles and hypersonic projectiles.

The latest iteration of the CH-7 stealth drone was also on display, with significant modifications since its first appearance at the 2018 airshow. Compared with China’s existing fleet of Soviet-designed H-6 bombers, the CH-7 may be able to operate farther into the Pacific Ocean and allow Beijing to track U.S. military movements with more precision, said Morris of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

China’s navy, meanwhile, showcased a new variant of its J-15 fighter that can be launched off aircraft carriers using a catapult system—a capability that Beijing has added to its newest carrier. Known as the J-15T, this variant can carry more weapons and fuel than baseline models that take off under their own power using ski jumps.

Some Western analysts say that Beijing’s advances in aircraft technology, while significant, doesn’t worry American war planners as much as the threat that Chinese missiles pose to U.S. air bases in the Asia Pacific.

“For the United States, we are still less concerned about air-to-air combat with China, than we are about the ability of our own aircraft to get off the ground," with many airfields in the region vulnerable to Chinese missile attack, said Oriana Skylar Mastro, an assistant professor at Stanford University and an expert on the Chinese military.

Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com