Russians’ training of Chinese jet fighter pilots exposed by crashes

FPI / April 29, 2022

Geostrategy-Direct.com

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) insists that its military forces are self-sufficient and do not rely on foreign training.

Online video showing a Chinese jet crash revealed that the Chinese air force appears to be receiving flight training from Russian instructors, according to U.S. and Chinese social media reports.

The use of Russian flight instructors is considered a Chinese military secret although it is to be expected considering that China’s pilots are training on aircraft designed by Moscow.

That secret was exposed on April 23 when a two-seat JL-10 supersonic jet trainer crashed in central China and footage recorded by local residents showed two pilots, one of whom was reported on U.S. and Chinese social media as a Russian flight instructor. It was one of two such crashes reported.

The footage from the April 23 crash showed two pilots in a field shortly after ejecting from the JL-10. They had minimal injuries, according to the Washington Times report.

One pilot, wearing a Chinese air force uniform, spoke on a cellphone with his commander in Chinese. The second pilot was a red-haired Caucasian who spoke English with an accent, according to social media reports.

“Don’t do that,” the foreign pilot said to one villager who was using a video camera.

Chinese social media described the man as a Russian flight instructor.

The JL-10 trainer is a built-in-China jet based on the Russian Yak-130 trainer and began flying in China in 2019.

Security correspondent Bill Gertz cited a Chinese dissident source as saying Russian flight instructors have been training Chinese pilots on the JL-10 for at least a year. Russian military instructors also trained Chinese pilots in conducting aircraft carrier landings.

Full Text . . . . Current Edition . . . . Subscription Information

FPI, Free Press International

You must be logged in to post a comment Login