J-20A Mighty Dragon production progress

Also in 2023, the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) J-20 production line at Chengdu-Huangtianba has been very active.

Scramble Magazine received confirmation that the 4th Air Brigade that used to fly the Shenyang J-11 aircraft from Foshan air base as well as the 97th Air Brigade flying the Chengdu J-7E from Dazu air base have both converted to the CAC J-20A, with serials 61252 and 70282 noted so far.

With the 200th aircraft built noted early this year, total production should be getting close to 250. As a result at least nine People’s Liberation Army - Air Force (PLAAF) Brigades are flying the stealth CAC J-20A, with unconfirmed rumours about another five Brigades that also would have started flying the J-20A this year.

The other side, of course, is that the number of active J-7 units (China's development of the MiG-21) has fallen sharply this year with only about five brigades active.

Credit photo: via chinamil.com.cn