Russia-China ties: Stealth is the name of the game in Zhuhai airshow

In a marked departure from standard reportage protocol when it comes to giving access to cutting-edge military equipment, Russia allowed Chinese state-owned media reporters onboard its latest cutting-edge fighter aircraft—the Sukhoi-57 ‘E’ at the Zhuhai airshow on Friday. ‘E’ standing for the export variant of the fighter.

The state-owned Global Times reported on Friday evening: “During the experience, the Russian personnel allowed photography on most of the aircraft, with only exceptions of its inner cockpit, the air intakes, the details of the landing gears, and the inner structures near the engines.”

In contrast, when the US’s latest fifth-generation fighter—the multirole F-35 A Lightning—landed at Bengaluru’s Yelahanka air base in February last year during India’s flagship show Aero India 23, no one, even top Indian officials, were not allowed to go near the fighter aircraft.

It is not just a no-holds barred demonstration of air power and capabilities at China’s biggest air show held in Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong Province, it is also a show of strategic intent and positioning when Russia decided to park its latest cutting-edge fighter aircraft for the first time on Chinese soil—the first time the Su-57 has touched down on foreign soil.

And no military watchers would fail to be awestruck when the tarmac at Zhuhai played host to three different types of fight-generation stealth fighter aircraft—the Russian Sukhoi-57, the newly-unveiled Chinese J-35 and the already mass-produced J-20. This is an unprecedented event.

The laying out of three stealth fighters also underlines the proximity of Russia-China bilateral ties and close military relations.

Russia has sent two Su-57s for the Zhuhai airshow that began on November 12 and will conclude on November 17. One of the Su-57s is for flying demonstrations and the other one for static display.

A single-seater, twin-engined multirole fighter, the Su-57 can fly at twice the speed of sound and can carry a rich payload of a range of explosives from missiles to rockets.

But what stands out as its main brownie point is its demonstrated experience against cutting-edge western air defence systems.

What made for news was the announcement by Rosoboronexport, the sole state-owned Russian entity authorised for the export and import of military and dual-use products, that the first contract had already been signed “to deliver the export version of the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet to foreign customers”. The buyer, of course, has not been named yet.

China made its bold moves with the unveiling of the two variants of the J-35 (J-35 and J-35A), alongside the mass-produced J-20.

The twin engine J-35, mainly meant for air superiority roles along with surface attack capabilities, is smaller than the J-20 which implies that the stealth component is predominant in the former.

Alexander Mikheev, director general of Rosoboronexport, was quoted by the China state-owned media as saying that “the military-technical cooperation between the two countries is of strategic nature”.