Jul 21, 2026 16:18 pm IST

Opinion | Kaveri To J-20, How China Overtook India In A 40-Year-Old Race To Build Fighter Jets

Both launched ambitious military jet engine programmes during the 1980s. Both depended heavily on Soviet and Russian technology. Four decades later, however, the finish line tells two dramatically different stories.

Manish Kumar Jha Manish Kumar Jha Columnist

Manish Kumar Jha Columnist

For decades, India and China appeared to be running the same race. Both aspired to build indigenous fighter aircraft. Both launched ambitious military jet engine programmes during the 1980s. Both depended heavily on Soviet and Russian technology. Four decades later, however, the finish line tells two dramatically different stories.

China today fields the fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighter in significant numbers, is preparing the carrier-capable J-35 for service, and has developed indigenous turbofan engines that are increasingly powering its frontline combat aircraft. Satellite imagery and defence assessments indicate that Beijing is producing well over a hundred J-20 fighters annually across multiple assembly lines - an industrial pace that rivals the world's largest aerospace manufacturers.

India, meanwhile, has successfully inducted the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. Yet, the aircraft still relies on imported General Electric engines, while the indigenous Kaveri engine programme remains unfinished after nearly four decades. The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India's own fifth-generation fighter, still awaits crucial decisions on engine development.

The contrast raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: what did China do differently?

The answer lies not in a single technological breakthrough but in political patience, industrial persistence, and strategic investment.

From Copying to Creating

As recently as the early 1990s, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was hardly considered a formidable force. It operated largely upgraded Soviet-era MiG-19 and MiG-21 derivatives and remained focused on territorial air defence. Compared with the United States Air Force - already flying the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, stealthy F-117, and B-2, while preparing the F-22 - China lagged by decades.

Recognising this gap, Beijing did not search for shortcuts. Instead, it committed itself to a generational industrial strategy.

The first milestone was the Chengdu J-10, China's first genuinely indigenous fourth-generation fighter comparable to the F-16. That programme laid the foundation for far more ambitious projects. It was followed by the J-20 stealth fighter, and later, the........

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