While the world’s air forces are racing to build sixth-generation stealth fighters, it was an older model that made the headlines earlier this month.
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A Chinese J-16, a 4.5-generation multirole fighter, was reported by state media to have intercepted two unidentified foreign warplanes near China’s east coast and to have performed a barrel roll over one of the planes.
Reports said it may have got as close as 10 metres (33 feet) to the other plane during the manoeuvre last year, which was only reported this month.
The J-16 has been overshadowed in recent years by the fifth-generation J-20 but the older plane, nicknamed the Hidden Dragon, has previously featured in encounters with Australian and US reconnaissance planes that prompted complaints from both countries about dangerous manoeuvres.
The jet has been in service for almost a decade and regularly patrols along the country’s east coast and potential flashpoints such as the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
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In the event of conflict in the latter area, it is credited by some analysts as forming the “strongest door-kicking combination” in tandem with the J-20.
Inside China, the two-seat multirole strike fighter is often described as an “airborne missile truck” – a nod to its impressive payload capacity.