J-16 Fighter Filmed Flying Low Over Chinese Beach: Showing Off the New Backbone of the Fleet

<p >Footage released on Chinese social media has shown a J-16 fighter flying at very low altitudes along a beach, just meters above the shore over beachgoers. Training pilots to fly at extreme low levels is considered invaluable for aircraft that lack advanced stealth capabilities to allow them to minimise the ranges at which enemy radars are able to detect them. Commentators on social media highlighted that the manoeuvre represented a bold demonstration of precision flying, with the very close proximity of the flight to civilians just meters above their heads indicating a very high level of confidence in the pilots and the aircraft. The J-16 is a heavily enhanced derivative of the Soviet Union’s most capable class of air superiority fighter the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/final-gift-from-the-soviets-how-china-received-three-of-the-ussr-s-top-fighters-weeks-before-the-superpower-collapsed" >Su-27 Flanker</a>, and since its entry into service in 2014 it has increasingly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/j16-brigade-guards-shenzhen-hk-subs" >formed the backbone</a> of China’s fighter fleet. Over <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/china-j16-fleet-surpasses-350-thirteenth-batch" >350 of the aircraft </a>are now estimated to be in service. The Flanker is one of the longest ranged and most manoeuvrable fighter designs ever operationalised, as well as one of the largest, allowing the J-16 to carry a higher weapons payload, fly considerably longer missions, and employ a significantly larger radar than any competing fighter in the Western world. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/26/article_67e373df1e8318_88507307.jpeg" title="J-16 Fighters"></p><p >The J-16 has benefitted considerably from the integration of technologies developed for the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/new-phase-single-crystal-blade-ws15" >J-20 fifth generation fighter</a>, with the fleet’s utility having grown as the aircraft deployed the world’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/world-s-top-seven-most-dangerous-standoff-air-to-air-missiles-from-european-meteors-to-russian-r-37s" >longest ranged</a> class of air to air missile, known as the PL-XX. J-16s were <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/longest-ranged-aam-first-service-undo" >first seen carrying</a> the missiles in service in December 2023. Despite its lack of comparable stealth capabilities to fifth generation aircraft, the J-16 has demonstrated an ability to hold its own against high performing fifth generation fighters during simulated combat, albeit at a slight disadvantage. Its main radar’s combination of size and sophistication leading many experts to speculate that it is the most powerful deployed by any fighter in the world. Chinese pilots <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/j-16-vs-j-10c-chinese-pilot-reveals-which-elite-fighter-is-superior" >have also reported</a> that the fighter’s twin seat configuration provides important advantages in air-to-air combat over single engine aircraft such as the J-10C. </p><p >The J-16 has been procured in larger numbers by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force than any fighter has been procured by any single service worldwide since the end of the Cold War, with the sole exception of the J-20 as the fleet size was in 2024 estimated to have overtaken that of the J-16. Both heavyweight fighter classes are being produced on considerable scales exclusively for China’s air force, and have highly complementary roles. Although the J-20’s production scale estimated at 100-120 fighters is three to four times larger than that of the J-16, the stealth fighter entered large scale production only from 2022, while the J-16 has maintained its current high production scale for close to a decade.</p>