A J-20 stealth fighter jet performs aerobatics during the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China 2021, in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 29, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

 
J-20 stealth fighter jets that entered service with an ace unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Northern Theater Command Air Force last year have now formed combat capabilities and already started to carry out combat alert duties, the unit's commander announced on Monday.

Senior Colonel Li Ling, commander of the brigade, made the remarks in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Monday.

Li's unit, affiliated with the PLA Northern Theater Command and dubbed the Military Development Vanguard Air Group, originated from the first aviation combat force of the Chinese People's Air Force that served in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) and homeland air defense missions, commissioned J-20 fighter jets in June 2021, the PLA Air Force announced at the time.

This means that China now has two ace units equipped with the J-20 ready for combat, with the other being the PLA Eastern Theater Command's Wang Hai Air Group, according to media reports.

In a recent exercise, four J-20 fighters attached to Li's brigade held a two-versus-two mock combat that lasted more than an hour, and the intense battle required the aircraft to take maneuvers as high as eight Gs to evade hostile attacks, CCTV reported.

The unit started to hold night drills in 2022 and have made them routine, the report said.

"During air combat at night, the J-20 takes advantage of its stealth capability, carries out beyond-visual-range combat missions and plays the role of a commander in the air, taking initiatives in combat," Li said, noting that the unit aims to control air superiority at all time.

"We will form capabilities our opponents do not want us to form, and accomplish missions they do not want us to accomplish," Li said.

Li's brigade is not the only unit with J-20s that holds nocturnal battle drills, as a PLA Air Force training base recently also organized an aerial confrontational exercise at nighttime, in which J-20s challenged other types of warplanes including a J-16 heavy fighter jet.

Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Monday that the frequent drills indicate the number of the J-20 is large, and the PLA Air Force units are gaining all-round combat capabilities.

The night exercises showed that the J-20 is very reliable and can join combat at all time and under all weather conditions, Wei said.