Key facts
- Type
- Stealth air superiority fighter
- National origin
- China
- Manufacturer
- Chengdu Aircraft Corporation
- Designer
- Chengdu Aircraft Corporation
- Status
- In service
- Primary user
- People's Liberation Army Air Force
- Number built
- 300+ as of September 2025
- Manufactured
- 2009–present
- Introduction date
- 8 March 2017 (J-20) , 3 September 2025 (J-20A/J-20S)
- First flight
- 11 January 2011; 15 years ago
- Developed from
- J-XX
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- military aircraft
- Country of origin
- China
- Developer
- Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group
- Manufacturer
- Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group
- Image
- J-20 at Airshow China 2016.jpg
- Height
- 4.7
- Length
- 23
- Has use
- air superiority fighter
Show 6 more facts
- first flight
- 2011-01-11
- Commons category
- Chengdu J-20
- wing configuration
- canard
- service entry
- 2017-03-09
- wingspan
- 15
- vehicle range
- 6000
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Chengdu J-20 (Chinese: 歼-20; pinyin: Jiān-Èrlíng), also known as Weilong (Chinese: 威龙; pinyin: Wēilóng; lit. 'Mighty Dragon', NATO reporting name: Fagin), is a twin-engine all-weather stealth fighter developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The J-20 is designed as an air superiority fighter with precision strike capability. The aircraft has three notable variants: the initial production model, the revised airframe variant with new engines and thrust-vectoring control, and the aircraft-teaming capable twin-seat variant.
Descending from the J-XX program of the 1990s, the aircraft made its maiden flight on 11 January 2011, and was officially revealed at the 2016 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. The aircraft entered service in March 2017 with the first J-20 combat unit formed in February 2018, making China the second country in the world to field an operational stealth aircraft.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chengdu J-20” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.