In 2009, a senior PLAAF official revealed that the first flight was expected in 2010–11, with a service entry date by 2019.
Chengdu had previously used the double-canard configuration in the J-9, its first design and cancelled in the 1970s, and the J-10. In 2008, the PLAAF endorsed Chengdu Aerospace Corporation's proposal, Project 718 Shenyang's proposed aircraft was larger than the J-20. The J-20 emerged from the late-1990s J-XX program. The two Chengdu J-20s making their first public appearance at Airshow China 2016 The J-20 is the world's third operational fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft after the F-22 and F-35.
The first J-20 combat unit was formed in February 2018.
The aircraft entered service in March 2017, and began its combat training phase in September 2017. The J-20 made its maiden flight on 11 January 2011, and was officially revealed at the 2016 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition. The J-20 is designed as an air superiority fighter with precision strike capability it descends from the J-XX program of the 1990s. The Chengdu J-20 ( Chinese: 歼-20 pinyin: Jiān-Èrlíng), also known as Mighty Dragon ( Chinese: 威龙 pinyin: Wēilóng), is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed by China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Chinese fifth-generation fighter aircraft
