China rattles sabers with J-20 stealth fighter test flight

Chinese President Hu Jintao recently confirmed to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates (who is on a visit there BTW) that the country has just conducted the first test flight of their J-20 stealth fighter, where it soared the skies for a good 15 minutes. This will definitely raise security concerns as the US is currently the only nation with a fully operational stealth plane (the F-22), and the J-20′s appearance might pose of a threat several years down the road if it is developed further in terms of technology. Another country known to be working on prototypes of stealth fighters would be Russia, and the US thinks that the skies of the world are not big enough for these two countries to churn out stealth fighters of their own. China hopes to have the stealth plane be operational anywhere between 2017 and 2019, although it will take some time before it is integrated into a fully operational and combat-ready environment. It seems that the spy photo spotted last month wasn’t a fake after all..