Deployment years away

 With its test flight of the J-20, China has joined Russia as only the second country outside the United States that is known to have tested a stealth fighter jet, one able to evade radar; the United States’ F-22 Raptor is the world’s sole fully operational stealth fighter.

 With the J-20, there are still many unanswered questions, said Bradley Perrett, the Asia-Pacific bureau chief for Aviation Week, who is based in Beijing.

 For instance, he said, was the plane on Tuesday a prototype, the first in a program that will produce others, or was it just a “technology demonstrator” built to explore and practice new ideas?

 Even if it was a prototype of a stealth fighter jet, Perrett said, the J-20 would probably not go into service until the latter half of this decade.

 Still, he said, the J-20 makes one thing clear about the U.S. advantage over China when it comes to combat aircraft: “That gap is closing.”

McClatchy