Tobin Harshaw, Columnist

China's New Jets Are Impressive. But Are They for Real?

As with Beijing's supposedly cutting-edge submarines and missiles, the J-20 may not have the software to match its hardware.

November 2, 2016 at 6:04 PM UTC

By Tobin Harshaw

Tobin Harshaw is a Bloomberg Opinion senior editor and columnist on national security and military affairs. Previously, he was deputy editor at the op-ed page of the New York Times and the newspaper’s letters editor.

A known unknown takes flight.
Photographer: STR/AFP/Getty Image

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There was a brief but impressive show of new U.S. aircraft technology this week. The problem is that the planes belong to the Chinese military.

Aided in large part by espionage against the Pentagon and U.S. firms, the People's Liberation Army air force unveiled its new J-20 stealth fighter, which it says is a so-called fifth-generation fighter like the American F-22 and F-35. Two J-20s flew for just a few minutes at an airshow in Zhuhai on Tuesday, leaving military experts of two minds about what the J-20 is actually capable of.