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China joins elite club

PHOTO: AP

FLYING HIGH: China's Jian-10 fighter jet takes off from a military base on Friday.

BEIJING: China's home-made new generation fighter aircraft, the Jian-10, made its debut in Beijing on Friday.

A five-minute-long video film revealed how the fighter takes off, lands, fires missiles and flies in formation.

A single-seater model plane was also unveiled by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), which spent seven years developing the Jian-10, the Taihang turbofan engine and the new-generation air-to-air missiles.

China has become the fourth country in the world to develop its own advanced fighter aircraft, aero-engines and missiles, said Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of AVIC I.

The Jian-10 and the Taihang turbofan engine, both with proprietary intellectual property rights (IPR), herald the third generation of Chinese fighter aircraft and military aero-engines, said Mr. Geng.

The Jian-10 series marks a breakthrough in China's development of heavy fighter aircraft, said Liu Gaozhuo, executive commander-in-chief of the Jian-10 programme.

— Xinhua

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