Chinese state media CCTV has aired a two-part documentary about the development of J-10C fighter jet, days after Pakistan claimed that it used the made in China aircraft to downed Indian jets during Operation Sindoor.
The Legend of the J-10, now running on National Memory, a daily programme about Communist Party’s history, has positioned the documentary as a patriotic call to “inspire young people to love the party and country”, reported on May 22.
The J-10C, the most advanced version of the Chinese multirole fighter jet, has become a new symbol of power projection.
On May 8, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had claimed Pakistani fighter jets had shot down Indian jets.
“Ours were J-10C. All of these are jet fighters in collaboration with China,” Pakistan’s foreign minister claimed in the Parliament.
But Pakistan didn’t provide any evidence to back their claims.
New Delhi didn’t confirm the reports. India’s Director General of Air Operations A.K. Bharti had said in a news conference: “We are in a combat scenario and losses are a part of it.”
On May 17, in a direct reference to the India-Pakistan conflict, the state broadcaster claimed that the J-10CE, the export variant of the J-10C, had achieved its “first” victory “in a real battle in recent days”, shooting down “a handful of foreign jets without losing one in conflict”.
The documentary traced the jet’s origins back to 1982 and said how China’s air fleet was outdated, stuck with J-7s and J-8s, while the US and USSR raced ahead, till Song Wencong, the chief designer at what is now the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, ideated a new combat jet.
According to the documentary, the team behind the J-10 faced “extremely difficult challenges”, including a sudden oil leak, before finally finishing the first aircraft in 1997, which are described as a “miracle in the history of Chinese aviation”.
J-10C’s feature AESA radar, improved engines, and can launch long-range PL-15 missiles. It is classified as a 4.5-generation fighter.
Military expert Zhang Xuefeng told , “Through the development of the J-10, China has mastered advanced aerodynamic configuration technologies for fighter jets, achieved breakthroughs in-flight control systems and propelled the development of advanced turbofan engines.”
The fighter is now showcased at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.
Between 2020 and 2024, 81 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports came from China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. That includes not just the J-10C, but also the JF-17 Thunder and the PL-15 missile.