China is Buying These Aircraft to Prepare for Potential War

Here 24/7 Wall St. is looking at the newest military aircraft that China is buying. To identify every aircraft on order for the Chinese military, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2024 World Air Forces report from FlightGlobal, an aviation and aerospace industry publication. We ranked these aircraft by how many are on order. We also included supplemental data on the type of aircraft, military branches with aircraft in service, and how many of these aircraft are in active service.

Here is a look at every Chinese military aircraft on order:

Why Are We Covering This?

In recent years, the relationship between China and the United States has become more adversarial with each nation wishing to exert influence over the other. Military might would be the final straw when it comes to exerting influence, why it is important to consider how these nations would stack up against each other in a military sense.

6. Z-19

Z-19 helicopter (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED) by Alert5

• Aircraft on order: 11
• Active aircraft: 175
• Type of aircraft: Combat helicopter
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Ground Force

5. Z-10

• Aircraft on order: 12
• Active aircraft: 106
• Type of aircraft: Combat helicopter
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Ground Force

4. J-15

PLAN Shenyang J-15 carrier-based fighter aircraft 20211221 - 3 (CC BY 4.0) by u65e5u672cu9632u885bu7701u30fbu7d71u5408u5e55u50dau76e3u90e8

• Aircraft on order: 50
• Active aircraft: 45
• Type of aircraft: Combat aircraft
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force

3. Su-30

• Aircraft on order: 50
• Active aircraft: 45
• Type of aircraft: Combat aircraft
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force

2. Su-33

Sukhoi Su-3... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Dmitry Terekhov

• Aircraft on order: 50
• Active aircraft: 45
• Type of aircraft: Combat aircraft
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force

1. H120

OK-BST (Airbus Helicopters H120) (BY-SA 2.0) by Petr Kadlec

• Aircraft on order: 57
• Active aircraft: 93
• Type of aircraft: Training aircraft/helicopters
• Military branches with aircraft in service: People’s Liberation Army Ground Force