The warplane performed its first test flight in 2011 and it's expected to become operational within the Chinese Armed Forces in 2017-2019.

The Chinese Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” is a fighter jet referred to the fourth generation under China’s classification and the fifth generation under the Western category system.

Some media sources have reported that Russian-made AL-31FN engines are mounted on the J-20 and the Chinese Army has purchased decommissioned engines of this type in large numbers.

Most of J-20 performance characteristics are kept in secret. The fighter jet features a large number of elements similar to or fully copied from the Russian-made Mikoyan MiG 1.44 technology demonstrator plane and the US F-22 and F-35 fifth-generation fighter aircraft.

The aircraft has a canard configuration: it features a pair of ventral fins and the closely spaced engines (similar to the MiG 1.44), while the canopy and the nose are identical to the same elements on the F-22 aircraft.

The air inlets are arranged similar to the air intakes on the F-22 plane. The J-20 has an all-moving vertical stabilizer and the geometry similar to the F-35 fighter jet’s fin.