Published : 08/09/2025
On September 8, 1956, China successfully developed a new jet aircraft.
Following the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), efforts to replicate and produce jet fighters commenced rapidly.
In October 1951, the Chinese and Soviet governments formally signed the agreement of technical assistance in organising aircraft and engine repairs and establishing aircraft factories.
On April 18 of the same year, the Ministry of Heavy Industry established the Aviation Industry Bureau to centrally oversee aircraft maintenance.
In December 1951, Premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來) presided over a meeting that resolved to successfully prototype the Soviet-designed Yak-18 primary trainer and MiG-15 fighter within three to five years. The fighter project was later shifted to prototyping the more advanced MiG-17 jet fighter.
China's first domestically developed aircraft and engines were successfully prototyped in 1954.
Two years later, the Shenyang Aircraft Factory successfully prototyped China's first jet fighter, the J-5, which was subsequently approved for mass production. At that time, China became one of the few countries in the world capable of mass-producing jet aircraft.
Prior to the domestically produced J-5 fighter, the Chinese Air Force primarily operated MiG-9, MiG-15bis, and MiG-17 fighters imported from the Soviet Union. Among these, the MiG-15 was the most numerous, with China importing approximately 2,000 units across three batches.
These imported fighters became the backbone of the air force after the founding of the PRC. By the mid-1950s, the People's Liberation Army Air Force required a new generation of domestically produced fighters, leading to the development of the J-5.
Developed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the J-5 was a single-seat, single-engine, high-subsonic jet fighter primarily designed for daytime interception with limited ground attack capability.
Based on the Soviet MiG-17F fighter, the J-5 adopted a swept-wing mid-wing configuration with a nose-mounted air intake. Its all-metal airframe was powered by the WP-5 turbojet engine, manufactured by the Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine Factory.
A total of 1,994 J-5 series fighters were produced. While 760 units of the original variant had been manufactured before the production ceased in 1969, subsequent developments included the radar-equipped night-capable J-5A fighter, the two-seat J-5 trainer, and the J-5 reconnaissance variant.