歼20现身珠海航展，或将改变世界格局

中国在周二开幕的该国最大规模的飞机制造商和买家聚会上，首次公开展示了其成都歼-20隐形战斗机，展示其军事实力。

在南方城市珠海举行的中国航展，为北京提供了一个展示其在民用航空领域的雄心及凸显其国防抱负的机会。中国有望在未来十年内超越美国成为世界上最大的航空市场。

作为珠海航展的最大亮点，两架歼-20飞机飞掠过齐聚在航展开幕式上的贵宾和数百名观众及行业高管的上空，整个表演持续的时间几乎未超过一分钟，带来震耳欲聋的轰鸣声，激起一片惊呼声、掌声并触发了现场停车场的汽车警报声。

专家表示，中国一直在改进歼-20的设计，以缩小与美国的军事技术差距。该机型最早于2010年被飞机观察者发现。随着中国在亚洲，尤其是在南中国海和东海采取更加强硬的立场，习近平主席一直敦促军方加强武装力量。

“这显然是中国战斗力的一大进步。”《航空周刊》（Aviation Week）资深中国观察家白广原表示。

这是继2014年歼-31首次亮相后，中国连续第二次在两年一度的珠海航展上展示新型隐形战机。

答案未揭晓

两架歼-20一起低空飞抵后，其中一架迅速消失在地平线上，而另一架则留下表演了一系列转弯，并在亚热带明亮的天际下，向观众展示了它的三角翼。

但分析师称，这场简短且相对谨慎的歼-20例行表演——飞行员未打开武器舱门，亦未进行低速掠飞——并未给出多少答案。

“我认为我们所获信息甚少。我们了解到声音很大，但不知道其使用的是什么类型的发动机，对其机动性也了解不多。”《飞行国际》（Flight global）的亚洲主编格雷格·沃尔德伦说。 “最重要的是，我们没有了解到太多关于它的雷达截面的信息。

一个关键的问题是，该新型中国战斗机是否能与洛克希德·马丁公司的F-22猛禽制空战斗机或者F-35的隐身性能相媲美。为美国空军开发的F-22猛禽战机是与歼-20最为相似的机型。但是，其他人士表示，仅仅展示这种新开发的飞机本身就是一个能说明问题的信号。

悉尼洛伊研究所（Lowy Institute）高级研究员山姆·家雅各布说：“中国展示歼20本身就表现出了极大信心和自豪感。”

目前尚不清楚歼-20在飞行表演后是否会或如何在航展上展出。

根据官方计划，将与最新式的中国武器系统、雷达和无人机一同展示的飞机包括西安运-20战略运输机，以及AG600——航展组织者称其为目前在产的最大水陆两栖飞机。

该水上飞机在官方宣传中被称为灭火或搜救飞机。但分析人士指出，AG600合用于在争议地区提供军事前哨。AG600首次亮相就是在海牙法庭7月针对中国对南中国海部分地区的权利主张作出不利裁决的10日后。

值得注意的是，中国商飞公司研制的150座级客机C919并未参加航展。该机型旨在与主宰着全球大型客机的供应的欧洲的空中客车集团和美国的波音公司竞争。目前，姗姗来迟的C919已经比原计划推迟了三年。

中国商飞公司在展会上表示，中国东方航空将是C919的首家客户，并且该机型已经斩获23架新订单，使总订单数达到了570架。C919可能在今年晚些时候或2017年初进行首次试飞。（财富中文网）

翻译：Charlie

审校：詹妮

China showed its Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter in public for the first time on Tuesday, opening the country’s biggest meeting of aircraft makers and buyers with a show of its military clout.

Airshow China, in the southern city of Zhuhai, offers Beijing an opportunity to demonstrate its ambitions in civil aerospace and to underline its defense ambitions. China is set to overtake the U.S. as the world’s top aviation market in the next decade.

Two J-20 jets, Zhuhai’s headline act, swept over dignitaries and hundreds of spectators and industry executives gathered at the show’s opening ceremony in a flypast that barely exceeded a minute, generating a deafening roar that was met with gasps and applause and set off car alarms in a parking lot at the site.

Experts say China has been refining designs for the J-20, first glimpsed by planespotters in 2010, in the hope of narrowing a military technology gap with the United States. President Xi Jinping has pushed to toughen the armed forces as China takes a more assertive stance in Asia, particularly in the South China and East China seas.

“It is clearly a big step forward in Chinese combat capability,” said Bradley Perrett of Aviation Week, a veteran China watcher.

It was China’s second successive display of a new stealth jet at the biennial Zhuhai show, following the 2014 debut of the J-31.

QUESTIONS UNANSWERED

After arriving as a pair at low-level, one of the J-20s quickly disappeared over the horizon, leaving the other to perform a series of turns, revealing its delta wing shape against bright sub-tropical haze.

But analysts said the brief and relatively cautious J-20 routine – the pilots did not open weapon bay doors, or perform low-speed passes – answered few questions.

“I think we learned very little. We learned it is very loud. But we can’t tell what type of engine it has, or very much about the mobility,” said Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor of FlightGlobal. “Most importantly, we didn’t learn much about its radar cross-section.”

A key question whether the new Chinese fighter can match the radar-evading properties of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air-to-air combat jet, or the latest strike jet in the U.S. arsenal, Lockheed’s F-35. The F-22 Raptor, developed for the U.S. Air Force, is the J-20’s closest lookalike.But the mere display of such a newly developed aircraft was a revealing signal, others said.

“It’s a change of tactics for the Chinese to publicly show off weapons that aren’t in full squadron service yet,” said Sam Roggeveen, a senior fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, “and demonstrates a lot of confidence in the capability, and also a lot of pride.”

It remained unclear whether or how the J-20 would be displayed at the airshow after the flypast.

Aircraft that are officially scheduled to be on display alongside the latest Chinese weapon systems, radar and drones include the Xian Y-20 strategic airlifter, and what organisers say is the largest amphibious plane now in production – the AG600.

The flying boat is officially promoted as a fire-fighting or search and rescue plane. But analysts note the AG600 – first unveiled 10 days after a Hague tribunal ruled against China’s claim to parts of the South China Sea in July – is well suited to resupplying military outposts in the disputed area.

Notably absent from the airshow schedule is the 150-seater COMAC C919 passenger jet. Designed to compete with Europe’s AirbusGroup and of the United States, the rivals who dominate the global supply of airliners, the much-delayed C919 is now running three years behind original plans.

COMAC said at the show that China Eastern Airlines will be the launch customer for the C919, which may take its first test flight later this year or early 2017, and that it had clinched 23 new orders for its C919, taking total orders to 570.