A V/STOL Chinese Fighter?

China May Be Flight Testing A V/STOL Fighter -- Defense Tech

We heard a little chatter about this earlier in the month; apparently China is test flying its own vertical/short take-off and landing fighter jet dubbed the J-18. According to my old colleague Wendell Minnick at Defense News, the jet is similar in appearance to Russia’s Su-33 carrier based evolution of Sukhoi’s famous Su-27 line.

(The image above is a Soviet-designed Yak-141 VTOL fighter; recognize that rotating rear nozzle and forward lift-fan design?)

While the flight of a Chinese V/STOL aircraft is unconfirmed, the aircraft’s existence would make sense as Minnick’s article ably points out.

China’s defense industry is largely opaque and it is difficult to substantiate Internet chatter. However, Chinese-language military blogs reported the first test flight of the stealthy J-20 Black Eagle fighter in January, much to the surprise of the Western media.

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My Comment: The Chinese have made it very clear that they want to have a military that has a global reach with all the necessary tools and equipment to make it possible. A V/STOL aircraft will be just one of those tools.