On February 24 a Chinese language J-11 fighter jet intercepted an U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance plane over the Paracel Islands within the South China Sea. The fighter carried 4 air to air missiles, and shadowed the American plane for over an hour. It reportedly flew as shut as 150 metres off the port aspect of its goal throughout some phases of the interception. J-11B fighters have been ahead deployed to outlying South China Sea islands because the late 2010s, and supply a primary line of defence because the U.S. and plenty of of its Western allies enhance their navy presences within the space. The category is prized for its capability to hold a very massive sensor suite, considerably heavier than that on any Western fighter, in addition to its very excessive endurance, excessive flight efficiency and entry to a variety of superior missile lessons. Bases internet hosting J-11s within the South China Sea are protected by superior air defence networks centred across the HQ-9B lengthy vary system, which alongside the fighters themselves gives the main anti plane functionality at China’s ahead outposts.
Though the J-11 collection started manufacturing within the late Nineteen Nineties as an improved spinoff of the Soviet Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighter, the J-11B represents an additional enhanced iteration that started to hitch the fleet the next decade from 2009. The category remained in manufacturing till 2018, and the fleet is at the moment being modernised to the J-11BG commonplace to combine fifth era degree armaments and avionics together with an AESA radar and PL-15 air to air missiles. Because the operations of American reconnaissance plane, destroyers and strategic bombers close to Chinese language waters have lengthy been seen by Beijing as provocative, China has deployed more and more succesful property to counter them with the J-11’s successor, the J-20 air superiority fighter, starting to take over the position of patrolling the East and South China Seas from 2022. The J-20 has been concerned in a number of incidents intercepting American navy plane together with F-35 stealth fighters. Its deployment has been significantly notable since, alongside the F-35, it’s the solely fighter of its era in manufacturing and fielded at squadron degree power.
