China dispatches fighter jets to patrol territorial waters

China has started to dispatch its most advanced fighter jet, the J-20, to patrol the South and East China Seas.

Previously, Chinese aircrafts used Russian engines, yet they have been replaced recently with house-trained engines.

The newly home-bred was shown to the public last year at Airshow China.

The classification intends to safeguard China’s airspace security and maritime interests.

Ben Yukun, a spokesperson for the J-20’s aircraft says that it was a training routine for the jet to conduct patrols after being equipped with Chinese engines.

The aircraft US F-35 of United States, and China’s J-20 came into close contact over the East China Sea.

The East and South China Seas have been contested regions for numerous countries.

These regions have overlapping territorial claims by other countries.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its territory, as it keeps building it and militarizes its facilities there.

It has turned the islands into military bases, and it has created a military militia with more than hundreds of boats.

China claims its sovereignty over the Senkayu Islands in the East China Sea.

It is a Japanese controlled land that the US wishes to defend from the foreign aggression.

According to experts, the move indicates China’s confidence in its military abilities, a well as its warning to countries entering its territorial waters.

Peter Layton, a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, says that the PLAAF has a fleet of advanced stealth fighters as the Americans, following the benchmark.

He adds, “Any foreign military aircraft intruding into China’s claimed airspace in the East and South China Sea may now be intercepted by J-20s.”

The J-20’s wide radius allows it to patrol further out of sea, and it cans tay longer in the East China Sea.

The shift from Russian engines to Chinese ones, depict the growing independence in military manufacturing.

He proceeded, “It’s not just that China does not need Russian help anymore, it is that Chinese-built aircraft are now superior to Russia.”

J-20 has two reliable engines which makes its credible than that of Russians’.

According to a report by the China Power Project in 2017, the new Chinese engines would give the J-20 low super-cruise ability, meaning they could fly at supersonic speeds for prolonged periods.

US officials considered the J-20 to perform inferior to theirs, but Wilsbach, the US Pacific Air Forces commander recently said that the newly-created jets have made a strong impression, while being encountered by them at the East China Sea.

He further added, “We’re relatively impressed with the command and control that was associated with the J-20s.”

The US observed professional flying by the Chinese aviators, but noted the US was unsure whether China would employ the jets in multi-mission roles like the F-35 or in an air superiority role like the F-22.

Layton said the US, Japan and other countries will be “keenly collecting electronic intelligence data” on any J-20s out on coastal patrols.