Chinese J-20 Jets May Have Shadowed F-22s During US-Korea Exercise

China's J-20 stealth fighter jets may have shadowed US-made top secret F-22 fighter jets during their exercise with South Korean Air Force last week.

Speculation is rife that the J-20s may have entered South Korean airspace undetected at a time when Seoul's air defences should be been on full alert as the joint exercise, meant to intimidate North Korea, were underway.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) reconnaissance aircraft flew routes they had not taken before during a scheduled raining exercise after taking off from an airbase in northern china, it said on its Weibo account Monday.

The planes traversed South Korean airspace above East China Sea and Yellow Sea, according to some military observers in China, reported Asia Times.

“If that’s the case, then the only Chinese plane that was so stealthy that [it] could come and go totally undetected must be the J-20,” one commentator said.

“One or two J-20s may have flown with the group, which first headed to the East China Sea in a freedom-of-navigation patrol, but the fighter then turned northeast and pierced Seoul’s airspace, taking advantage of its cutting-edge stealth coating without triggering any alarm on Seoul’s radars.”

Other sources suggest that the PLAAF has started deploying a small batch of J-20s, which just entered service this year, at its key airbase in Cangzhou, in the northern province of Hebei.

Cangzhou borders the Bohai Sea across Korea Bay as well as the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, but is secure enough as it’s guarded by China’s Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas.