CHINA’S People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be showcasing a number of new platforms at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China, which opens today and closes Nov. 6 in Zhuhai, Guangdong. They include the Chengdu J-10B multirole fighter, the Xi’an H-6K bomber and the Shaanxi KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft.

    However topping Airshow China’s agenda is the last-minute public debut of the J-20 stealth fighter — a warplane China hopes will narrow a military gap with the United States.

    It’s the second successive edition of the biennial Zhuhai show at which China has pulled the covers off a classified stealth jet, after displaying the export-oriented Shenyang J-31 in 2014.

    Western analysts say the J-20 moves up a gear in terms of China’s ability to punch beyond its territory.

    The Pentagon has said the fifth generation stealth aircraft China is developing, the J-20 and the J-31, are necessary for China’s air force to evolve from a mostly territorial force to one that can carry out both offensive and defensive operations.

    The J-20 will give a flight demonstration at the airshow, the PLAAF said in a statement on its official microblog.

    “This is the first public appearance of China’s indigenously manufactured new generation stealth fighter jet,” the air force said.

    In June, it said the jet would enter service “in the near future.”

    The new Y-20 military transport aircraft will also give a flight demonstration at the seven-day air show, which is held every two years.

    China showed off the J-31 at the last Zhuhai airshow in 2014. China hopes the J-31, still in development, will compete with the U.S.-made F-35 stealth aircraft in the international market, according to China military watchers and State media reports.

    Some analysts have said photographs of the J-20 suggest China may be making faster-than-expected progress in developing a rival to Lockheed Martin’s radar-evading F-22 Raptor.

    But others say China’s defense manufacturers are still struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat.

    Another hot topic at Zhuhai will be the outlook for the much-delayed launch of State-owned aircraft maker COMAC’s 150-seat C919 passenger jetliner — Beijing’s civil aerosopace effort to challenge the domination of Airbus Group and Boeing Co. The C919 is currently scheduled to take flight this year, but industry sources say this will slip to 2017.

    “When it was launched the C919 was supposed to fly in 2014. Now it is 2016 and it hasn’t flown, because developing a commercial jet has been much harder than they expected,” said China aerospace expert Bradley Perrett of Aviation Week.

    (SD-Agencies)