During the opening ceremony of the event, a J-16 multirole fighter jet stunned the crowd by pulling off several low-altitude maneuvers in its flight performance, reflecting the pilots' accurate judgment and control as well as the aircraft's outstanding maneuverability. 

A J-20 stealth fighter jet brought the event to a climax, as it put a number of challenging moves on display, including quick pullups, quick turns and consecutive horizontal and vertical maneuvers. This particular J-20 comes from the first PLA combat unit to equip the aircraft, and it has recently participated in joint exercises around the island of Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi provocatively visited the island.

After performances by the J-10 fighter jets of the Bayi Aerobatic Team, a Y-20 large transport aircraft took off and dazzled the audience with moves like low-altitude flights and steep turns, showing the aircraft's agility despite its huge body.

The flight performances were more than just for show, as they also demonstrated the combat capabilities of the warplanes and the pilots, analysts said.

The J-20's flight performance displayed the aircraft's outstanding horizontal and vertical maneuverability. Moves like steep turns as well as sudden turns after pullups and dives are widely used in air combat, allowing the J-20 to quickly take positions for attacks, Wang Mingzhi, a Chinese military expert who attended the event, told the Global Times on Friday.

Having participated in multiple non-war military operations and long-distance delivery missions, the Y-20's flight performance showed its excellent agility, flexibility and capability in carrying out aerial delivery and airborne landing missions. Its moves like combat pullups, steep turns and defensive maneuver turns demonstrated its outstanding handling, Wang said.

Li Debing, the pilot who flew the J-20 at the event, said at a press conference later in the day that the J-20's flight performance was not only beautiful to watch but was also very combat-oriented, as it reflected the aircraft's technical performance and posed huge challenges to the pilot's mental stamina, skills and handling of the aircraft.

The J-20's commissioning has changed the configuration of the PLA Air Force's main force aircraft system, and has brought a revolution to its combat concepts and tactics, as it could reflect achievements in the PLA Air Force's strategic transformation, Li said.

"My comrades-in-arms and I have devoted ourselves to combat preparations. We are flying further, and our capabilities in the system are becoming stronger. We play important roles in systemic confrontational exercises, and provide powerful support to the new-type combat capability leap of the PLA Air Force," Li said.

The PLA Air Force open day event kicked off in Changchun, NE China's Jilin on Friday. During Friday’s air show, the Y-20, J-20, J-16 and other star fighter jets were on full display. The PLA Air Force's August 1 aerobatics team also delivered a wonderful aerial display. (Photos: Cui Meng/GT)

In addition to the flight performances, the PLA Air Force also put the YU-20, an aerial tanker variant of the Y-20, on static display at the open day event for the first time. Other main force equipment including the JH-7 fighter bomber, the H-6K bomber, the HQ-9B long-range surface-to-air missile and several types of radar systems were also on display.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated the key task of building strong military forces that can fight to win. The J-16, J-20 and Y-20 are all among the main force battle equipment types that have entered PLA service in the past decade, and since then they have witnessed technological upgrades, mass production, and increases in experience thanks to combat-oriented exercises, observers said.

Over the past decade, the contrails of Chinese warplanes could be seen all over the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the high-altitude plateau and even far out to sea, Wang said.

The PLA Air Force's close-in deterrence missions that see its warplanes break the first island chain and encircle the island of Taiwan have become routine, and this fully reflects that the PLA Air Force will go wherever the national interests require, Wang said.

The PLA Air Force is effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests with real actions, and it is striving to become a world-class air force, the expert said.

The PLA Air Force open day event kicked off in Changchun, NE China's Jilin on Friday. During Friday’s air show, the Y-20, J-20, J-16 and other star fighter jets were on full display. The PLA Air Force's August 1 aerobatics team also delivered a wonderful aerial display. (Photos: Cui Meng/GT)

The protectors

After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit to China's island of Taiwan on August 2, the PLA launched a series of large-scale military exercises around the island, which have since become routine. Many warplane types on display at Friday's event participated in the drills, including the J-20 stealth fighter jet, the J-16 multirole fighter jet and the YU-20 aerial tanker.

Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Friday that with heavy fighter jets like the J-20 and J-16 plus large aircraft like bombers, early warning aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft, the PLA Air Force can easily conduct missions around the island of Taiwan. This is further amplified by the YU-20 aerial tanker, which could provide aerial refueling to other aircraft and greatly increase their combat radius.

With more advanced warplanes, well-trained pilots and complete protocols, the PLA Air Force has enhanced its capabilities to deal with military provocations from external forces around the island of Taiwan, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, particularly the frequent aerial close-in reconnaissance attempts by US warplanes, experts said.

On April 1, 2001, PLA Navy pilot Wang Wei's J-8II fighter jet collided with a US EP-3 signals intelligence aircraft above China's exclusive economic zone southeast of Hainan Island. The US EP-3 was conducting close-in reconnaissance in the South China Sea, and Wang Wei was on a mission to track and monitor the US plane, but the US plane suddenly made a huge turn, colliding into the Chinese aircraft and leading to the accident. Military experts said that with the fast development in PLA hardware and capabilities, incidents like this will have another ending.

The PLA Air Force open day event kicked off in Changchun, NE China's Jilin on Friday. During Friday’s air show, the Y-20, J-20, J-16 and other star fighter jets were on full display. The PLA Air Force's August 1 aerobatics team also delivered a wonderful aerial display. (Photos: Cui Meng/GT)

According to a report by the PLA Daily earlier this month, the J-20 has started carrying out identification missions on foreign military aircraft in China's East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. In March, Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces General Kenneth Wilsbach also said that US F-35 stealth fighter jets had close contact with China's J-20 stealth fighter jets over the East China Sea at the time.

Wilsbach said that the Chinese pilots "are flying the J-20s pretty well," and US forces are "impressed with the command and control that was associated with the J-20." He noted that China's KJ-500 early warning aircraft could guide very-long-range air-to-air missiles carried by J-20s to hit targets very far away.

The PLA Air Force open day event kicked off in Changchun, NE China's Jilin on Friday. During Friday’s air show, the Y-20, J-20, J-16 and other star fighter jets were on full display. The PLA Air Force's August 1 aerobatics team also delivered a wonderful aerial display. (Photos: Cui Meng/GT)

The J-20 stealth fighter jet, together with the KJ-500 early warning aircraft, enjoys advantages even against US stealth fighter jets, not to mention large non-stealth reconnaissance aircraft, Fu said.

In addition to advanced warplanes like the J-20, China now has complete protocols to counter such close-in reconnaissance provocations, Fu said. Early warning systems would detect foreign aircraft long before they came close to Chinese airspace, and PLA warplanes would sortie to track and identify them. 

If a foreign aircraft comes close to Chinese airspace, the PLA warplanes would send warnings via radio communications. If that does not work, professional tactical maneuvers at a safe distance would be taken to drive the foreign aircraft away. If the foreign aircraft persists, the PLA aircraft could release flares and jamming chaff, or even fire warning shots, which are very serious warnings, Fu said, noting that well-trained and experienced PLA pilots will handle the situation properly and professionally.

Some of those piloting techniques and the performances of aircraft were also displayed at Friday's flight performances, as the PLA Air Force demonstrated its capabilities in safeguarding China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests, experts said.