China Rearmament: Army purchases additional J-16 fighters

The J-16 fighters are built on the Su-29. They came into service to the military, which regularly fly over Taiwan. The Command of the Eastern Theater of Acts of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (NVAK) received the J-16 fighter fighters. This was reported on May 22 by the Chinese Global Times. Battle aircraft received pilots that patrol around Taiwan. The publication noted that the Air Force Brigade has already trained on new aircraft on May 19.

Several fighters rose to the sky in the province of Jiangs in the north of the PRC. "The new J-16 aircraft has the best aerodynamic configuration and better management characteristics [compared to previous aircraft]," said Zhang Zenchenko, Deputy Chief of the Brigade Staff, who received the fighter jets. The publication states that the military was likely to be moved to the J-16 from old J-7 or J-8 aircraft. For the brigade, it is a "huge step" in terms of combat capabilities.

According to unnamed experts, the J-16 is a 4,5 generation aircraft, which is inferior to only the J-20 stealth fighter. The J-16 is also commissioned. The island in its reports often captures planes of this type in the air defense recognition zone. This may indicate a "decent number" J-16 at the Eastern Theater command, journalists say. It should be noted that the J-16 is in fact a deep modernization of the Shenyang J-11 aircraft, and essentially Su-27.