China’s Air Force: The PLAAF Fleet by the Numbers

China’s air force, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), flies 2,216 aircraft by our count of FlightGlobal’s World Air Forces 2026 directory. Across all its services, China fields 3,529 military aircraft, third in the world behind the United States and Russia.

In combat aircraft only America has more: 2,718 to China’s 1,814. The type that is changing the balance is the J-20 stealth fighter. FlightGlobal counts 250 of them, and one analyst who tracks serial numbers estimates about 500 had been delivered by mid-2026.

For scale, the US Air Force received 187 operational F-22s before Lockheed Martin closed the line in 2012.

The most-quoted totals are also out of date. FlightGlobal still lists 387 J-7 fighters, a type China has been retiring since the late 2010s, and lumps every modern Flanker into one line of 319 jets.

This guide ranks each type the PLAAF flies by how many it has, using the newest estimate for each as of October 2026. It then covers the radar planes, tankers, transports and air defenses, and how the force compares with America’s.

Rank	Aircraft	Role	Best estimate, 2025-26	FlightGlobal 2026 listing
1	Chengdu J-10 family	Multirole fighter	About 550	243
2	Shenyang J-16 and J-16D	Strike fighter, electronic attack	About 450	In a 319-jet Flanker line
3	Chengdu J-20, J-20A and J-20S	Stealth fighter	300 to about 500	250
4	Shenyang J-11 family	Air superiority fighter	About 440 built	In the Flanker line
5	Xi’an H-6 family	Bomber	120, about 20 of them nuclear H-6Ns	120
6	Sukhoi Su-30MKK	Multirole fighter	76 bought	In the Flanker line
7	Xi’an JH-7A	Fighter-bomber	69	69
8	Sukhoi Su-35	Air superiority fighter	24	In the Flanker line
9	Shenyang J-35A	Stealth fighter	First batch, number not public	Not listed
Legacy	Chengdu J-7	Light fighter	Retired from front-line units	387
Legacy	Nanchang Q-5	Attack jet	Last one built in 2012	118
Legacy	Shenyang J-8	Interceptor	Being replaced	96

1. Chengdu J-10: The Most Numerous Fighter

The single-engine Chengdu J-10 is still the PLAAF’s most common combat jet. Justin Bronk of the UK’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) estimates more than 300 of the modern J-10C variant were in service in 2025, with about 250 older J-10A and J-10B jets also still flying.

That is more than twice the 243 J-10s in FlightGlobal’s listing, which has not changed since the 2025 edition. The J-10C began combat duty in April 2018, according to Xinhua, and carries an active radar plus the long-range PL-15 air-to-air missile.

Its only combat so far came in Pakistani hands. In May 2025, Pakistan’s export J-10CEs fired PL-15E missiles at Indian jets.

2. Shenyang J-16 and J-16D: The Workhorse

The Shenyang J-16 is a two-seat strike fighter built on the Flanker airframe, with Chinese WS-10 engines and an active radar. The Pentagon counted more than 225 in service in 2023; RUSI puts the total at about 450 by the end of 2025, built at roughly 100 a year.

It is the only jet that carries China’s PL-17, a very-long-range missile built to hit tankers and radar planes. The Pentagon’s 2025 report gives a J-16 with a PL-17 a reach of about 870 miles (1,400 km), its roughly 620-mile (1,000 km) combat radius plus the missile’s range.

The J-16D trades the cannon and infrared sensor for an internal jamming suite and wingtip pods, and RUSI calls it a near-direct counterpart to the US Navy’s EA-18G Growler.

The J-16 has also flown close calls with Western patrol planes: in May 2022 one released flares and chaff ahead of an Australian P-8, and some were sucked into the P-8’s engines.

3. Chengdu J-20: The Stealth Fleet Nobody Can Count

The Chengdu J-20 is a twin-engine stealth fighter, and the estimates of how many China has run from 250 to about 500. FlightGlobal raised its figure from 19 to 250 in the 2026 edition. RUSI put it at about 300 in at least 13 regiments by mid-2025.

The highest estimate comes from Andreas Rupprecht, a long-time PLA aviation analyst, who told TWZ in July 2026 that about 500 had likely been delivered, across 14 front-line units. In September 2025 The Aviationist reported a J-20 at the Changchun air show carrying construction number CB10300, the 300th airframe.

Production explains the spread: RUSI says J-20 output reached about 120 a year in late 2025, and satellite analyst J. Michael Dahm counts five J-20 production lines at Chengdu. RUSI projects about 1,000 J-20s and 900 J-16s by 2030, which would make the stealth jet the backbone of the force.

Three versions flew over Beijing in the September 2025 parade: the original J-20, the re-engined J-20A and the two-seat J-20S, which China calls the world’s only two-seat stealth jet.

Most J-20s still fly on Chinese WS-10C engines; state footage in January 2026 showed signs of the long-awaited WS-15 on J-20As in pre-delivery testing. Our ranking of the best Chinese fighter jets puts it first on capability.

4. Shenyang J-11: The Flanker China Copied

China became the first export customer for the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker in 1992. In 1996 it signed a $1.2 billion deal to build it under license as the J-11A, then built its own unlicensed copy, the J-11B.

About 440 Shenyang J-11s of all versions had been built by 2024, according to The Aviationist. The number still flying is lower and shrinking, because RUSI says J-16s and J-20s are re-equipping the regiments that flew J-11s and the original Su-27s.

5. Xi’an H-6: A 1950s Bomber With a Nuclear Job

China’s long-range bomber is the Xi’an H-6, a license-built version of the Soviet Tu-16 from the 1950s. FlightGlobal lists 120 with the air force and 30 with the Navy. The modern H-6K has a combat radius of about 2,200 miles (3,500 km), per the Pentagon.

The H-6N, revealed in 2019 and fielded in 2020, can refuel in flight and carries an air-launched ballistic missile that may be nuclear-armed. The Federation of American Scientists estimates about 20 are in service, and notes the airframe lost its bomb bay to make room for the missile.

H-6s now fly regular joint patrols with Russian Tu-95s. On July 24, 2024, NORAD intercepted two H-6s and two Tu-95s in the Alaska air defense zone, the first such flight near Alaska. The 11th joint patrol, on June 27, 2026, took in the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific.

The H-6’s replacement, the Xi’an H-20 stealth bomber, has still not been shown, a decade after the PLAAF announced it in 2016. The Pentagon’s 2024 report gave it a range of more than 6,200 miles (10,000 km).

The Pentagon’s 2025 report does not mention it at all, and the head of US Air Force Global Strike Command said in February 2026 that China is “just not there yet.”

6. Sukhoi Su-30MKK: Still on the Front Line

China bought 76 Su-30MKK two-seat strike fighters from Russia in two orders, in 1999 and 2001. The J-16 later borrowed many of its features, and the two now fly side by side.

The type is far from retired. The PLAAF’s own video of the June 2026 joint patrol with Russia showed Su-30MKKs flying alongside J-10Cs, H-6K bombers and a YY-20 tanker.

7. Xi’an JH-7A: The Two-Seat Fighter-Bomber

The two-seat Xi’an JH-7A is a twin-engine fighter-bomber that serves with both the air force and the Navy. FlightGlobal lists 69 with the air force and 34 with the Navy.

Treat that split with care. The Pentagon reported that in 2023 much of the Navy’s shore-based combat aviation was transferred to the PLAAF, so the split between the services in older listings may no longer hold.

8. Sukhoi Su-35: 24 Jets, Russian Screens

China signed for 24 Sukhoi Su-35s on November 19, 2015, a deal TASS put at more than $2 billion. The first four arrived on December 25, 2016 and the last batch in December 2018, all with the 6th Aviation Brigade in Guangdong.

PLA media said at the time it hoped the Su-35 would be the last combat aircraft China ever imports. One quirk survives: AIN reported the PLAAF kept the original Cyrillic symbols on the cockpit screens rather than translating them.

9. Shenyang J-35A: The Second Stealth Fighter

The Shenyang J-35A is China’s second stealth fighter design, unveiled at the Zhuhai air show in November 2024. China Daily reported a first batch delivered before the September 2025 parade, making China the second country after the US with two stealth fighter families in service.

Nobody outside China knows how many there are. FlightGlobal left the type out of its 2026 directory for lack of confirmed details, and RUSI described it as still in low-rate initial production in late 2025.

Capacity suggests that will change fast. Dahm told FlightGlobal in March 2026 that a new Shenyang plant with more than 370,000 square meters (about 4 million square feet) of floor space is thought to be for the J-35.

The Navy version was on the deck of the carrier Fujian when it was commissioned on November 5, 2025, one of the three carriers China now operates.

The Paper Fleet: Jets That Are Still Counted but Retiring

More than a third of the combat jets in FlightGlobal’s PLAAF table are types China has been retiring for years. Its 2026 listing carries 387 J-7s, 118 Q-5s and 96 J-8s, the same numbers as the 2025 edition.

The Chengdu J-7 is a Chinese MiG-21. Chinese media described its retirement as speeding up in 2017, and state broadcaster CCTV said in early 2023 it would be phased out that year, with J-16s replacing it.

The Q-5 attack jet went into series production in 1968, and the last one was delivered in October 2012. The Shenyang J-8 interceptor is among the types RUSI says J-16s and J-20s are replacing.

Radar Planes and Tankers: The Gap China Is Closing

Fighters are only as good as the radar planes that find their targets and the tankers that extend their range. This is where the PLAAF has been weakest, and where it is now growing quickly.

Aircraft	Role	Number	Source
KJ-500	Radar plane	14 listed; about 50 by late 2025	FlightGlobal; RUSI
KJ-2000	Radar plane	4	FlightGlobal
KJ-200	Radar plane	11	FlightGlobal
Xi’an Y-20	Heavy transport	34 listed; 51 by March 2024	FlightGlobal; Pentagon
Xi’an YY-20 (Y-20U)	Tanker	7 listed; 16 by March 2024	FlightGlobal; Pentagon
Ilyushin Il-78	Tanker	2 listed; 3 bought	FlightGlobal; USCC
Ilyushin Il-76	Heavy transport	27	FlightGlobal
Y-8 and Y-9	Medium transport	80 and 24	FlightGlobal
Trainers (151 JL-8s)	Pilot training	243	FlightGlobal
Helicopters	Transport, rescue	66	FlightGlobal

The workhorse radar plane is the KJ-500, a radar dome on a Y-9 turboprop, first delivered to the PLAAF in 2015. FlightGlobal still lists 14; RUSI puts the fleet at closer to 50 by late 2025. The Pentagon’s 2025 report credits it with improving what the PLAAF can see.

The bigger KJ-2000 exists because of a deal that collapsed. Israel was to fit its Phalcon radar to an Il-76 for China, but the sale was canceled in 2000 under US pressure, so China built its own radar for the airframe.

Its successor, the KJ-3000 on a Y-20 airframe, has been in flight test since late 2024, and the Pentagon says it will probably be the world’s first to use a digital radar.

Tankers are China’s thinnest fleet. The PLAAF first confirmed the YY-20 tanker in July 2022, and the Pentagon counted 16 by March 2024. China also bought three Il-78s from Ukraine in 2011.

In August 2026 a YY-20A refueled an Egyptian Rafale, the first publicly documented time the type has refueled a Western-built fighter. The US advantage here is the subject of our US vs China fighter jet comparison.

Transports: The Y-20 Replaces the Il-76

The four-engine Xi’an Y-20 first flew in January 2013 and entered PLAAF service in July 2016, built to replace China’s small fleet of Russian Il-76 heavy transports. The Pentagon counted 51 Y-20A transports by March 2024.

Early Y-20s flew on Russian engines. The new Y-20B uses the Chinese WS-20, and in April 2026 it made its first trip abroad, to South Korea, escorted by four J-20s. A new four-turboprop medium airlifter, still without an official name, first flew in December 2025 to fill the gap between the Y-9 and the Y-20.

Drones, Trainers and Very Few Helicopters

The PLAAF flies a growing drone fleet that the directories quoted here leave out. From August 6 to September 5, 2025, satellite imagery showed three GJ-11 Sharp Sword stealth combat drones at Shigatse air base in Tibet, which TWZ read as a sign the type may be close to operational.

The strangest is the WZ-8, a rocket-powered spy drone launched from an H-6 bomber. A leaked US assessment in 2023 credited it with Mach 3 at 100,000 feet.

New pilots start on the CJ-6 propeller trainer, then move to the JL-8 and JL-9 jets, according to the US Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute. Since 2020 the JL-10 advanced trainer has let some cadets skip a full year of that ladder.

Helicopters are mostly not the air force’s business. FlightGlobal lists just 66 in the PLAAF, which uses them for its Airborne Corps and for rescue, against 857 aircraft in the PLA Army, nearly all of them helicopters.

Air Defense: The Missiles the Air Force Runs

The PLAAF also runs much of China’s ground-based air defense. The Pentagon says it has “one of the largest forces of advanced long-range SAM systems in the world,” built on the Chinese HQ-9 and HQ-9B and the Russian S-300 family.

China added the Russian S-400, with the first regiment set delivered in April 2018. At the September 2025 parade the air force showed six systems, including the first public outing of the HQ-20, the HQ-22A and the HQ-29, an interceptor Defense One says could hit missiles in mid-flight or satellites in low orbit.

What Comes Next: Two Sixth-Generation Jets

On December 26, 2024, two Chinese companies flew two different tailless prototypes, which the Pentagon calls sixth-generation aircraft. Analysts call them the J-36 (Chengdu) and J-50 (Shenyang); Beijing has confirmed neither name.

The pace has not slowed. The South China Morning Post reported images of what may be a fifth J-36 prototype in July 2026, a month after the PLA released its first official clip of a sixth-generation jet. The Pentagon expects them to be operational by 2035, and our guide to sixth-generation fighter jets covers the rival programs.

Behind them sits the factory base. Dahm estimates China’s fighter makers will be able to build 300 to 400 fourth- and fifth-generation fighters a year from 2027, and says that if they use it China will have the largest fighter force on the planet by 2029.

How Strong Is China’s Air Force, Really?

On raw numbers it is the third-largest military air fleet in the world and the second-largest combat fleet. The Pentagon’s 2025 report estimates the PLAAF and Navy aviation together field 2,200 fighters, counting combat-capable trainers, plus 550 bombers and attack jets. Of those fighters, 850 sit in the Eastern and Southern theater commands, against Taiwan’s 350.

It has shown that mass around Taiwan. During the Joint Sword-2024B drills in October 2024, Taiwan’s defense ministry counted a record 153 Chinese military aircraft in one day.

During Justice Mission 2025, on December 29, 2025, it counted 130 in 24 hours, 90 of them crossing the Taiwan Strait median line. Our guide to Taiwan’s air force covers the other side.

2026 has been quieter. Taiwan’s figures, compiled by George Mason University’s Taiwan Security Monitor, add up to 1,775 sorties from January through August, and August’s 171 was less than a third of either previous year.

Leadership is less settled. Gen. Chang Dingqiu, commander since 2021, was absent from a December 2025 promotion ceremony, and no official explanation for his departure has been given. On July 3, 2026, Chinese state television named Wang Gang as Air Force commander as Xi Jinping promoted him to general.

The force has 403,000 personnel, according to the IISS Military Balance 2025. It was founded on November 11, 1949; only 17 aircraft were available for inspection at the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic six weeks earlier. For where it ranks worldwide, see the largest air forces in the world.

FAQ

How big is the Chinese Air Force?

The PLAAF flies about 2,216 aircraft by our count of FlightGlobal’s World Air Forces 2026 directory, including 1,602 combat aircraft, and has 403,000 personnel according to the IISS Military Balance 2025. Across all its services China fields 3,529 military aircraft, third in the world behind the United States and Russia.

How powerful is China's air force?

It is the second-largest combat air force in the world, with 1,814 combat aircraft across all PLA services against 2,718 for the United States. The Pentagon estimates the PLAAF and Navy aviation field 2,200 fighters, 850 of them in the two theater commands facing Taiwan. Its weak points are tankers and radar planes, and both fleets are now growing fast.

How many J-20 stealth fighters does China have?

Estimates run from 250 to about 500. FlightGlobal’s 2026 directory counts 250, RUSI estimated about 300 by mid-2025, and analyst Andreas Rupprecht told TWZ in July 2026 that about 500 had likely been delivered. Production is about 100 to 120 a year, and RUSI projects about 1,000 by 2030.

What air defense system does China have?

The PLAAF runs one of the world’s largest long-range surface-to-air missile forces, according to the Pentagon, built on the Chinese HQ-9 and HQ-9B and the Russian S-300 family, plus the Russian S-400 delivered from 2018. The September 2025 parade added the HQ-20, HQ-22A and HQ-29 to the public lineup, alongside the HQ-11, HQ-9C and HQ-19.

Does China have a stealth bomber?

Not one that has been shown. The H-20 stealth bomber was announced in 2016, but as of October 2026 China has not displayed it or confirmed a flight. China’s bomber force is still the H-6, a license-built version of the 1950s Soviet Tu-16, including about 20 nuclear-capable H-6Ns.

Does China's air force have special forces?

Yes. The PLAAF Airborne Corps commands six airborne combined-arms brigades, a special operations forces brigade, a support brigade and an aviation transport brigade, according to the Pentagon’s 2024 China report. It is China’s parachute force and belongs to the air force, not the army.

Who commands the Chinese Air Force?

Gen. Wang Gang. Chinese state television named him Air Force commander on July 3, 2026, when Xi Jinping promoted him to general. His predecessor, Gen. Chang Dingqiu, was absent from a December 2025 ceremony, and no official reason for his departure has been given.

When was the Chinese Air Force founded?

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force was founded on November 11, 1949. Six weeks earlier, only 17 aircraft were available for inspection at the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.