PLA Air Force elite fleet lands in Egypt for joint drill

The People's Liberation Army Air Force has sent an elite fleet of aircraft, including the J-16 fighter jet, to Egypt for the "Eagles of Civilization 2026" joint training exercise.

The PLA Air Force said on Friday that multiple types of aircraft and personnel participating in the exercise arrived at an Egyptian air base early that morning after an intercontinental flight.

The fleet flew more than 6,000 kilometers across two continents and four countries in nearly nine hours, overcoming challenges including the long flight and complex weather conditions, according to an Air Force statement.

En route to Egypt, a YY-20A tanker aircraft conducted aerial refueling for J-16 fighter jets.

After arriving in Egypt, Chinese military personnel promptly unloaded supplies, organized equipment and conducted exchanges and coordination with their Egyptian counterparts as they began preparations for the training phase, the Air Force said.

The "Eagles of Civilization 2026" exercise is the second joint training event between the two air forces. The PLA Air Force has sent a combined force of fighter jets, tanker aircraft, combat support aircraft and helicopters.

The cross-border deployment and rapid loading and unloading operations demonstrated the personnel's capabilities in long-range projection, agile deployment and cross-system operations, according to the Air Force.

Notably, the participation of the J-16 marks the first time China has sent any of its heavyweight fighter jets to Africa.

Previously, the Chinese military had dispatched only the J-10S and J-10C, both medium-weight multirole fighters, to the continent for joint training and an air show in Egypt.

According to Aviation Industry Corp of China, the J-16 is a twin-seat, heavyweight multirole fighter developed and improved from the J-11B. Designed to meet the demands of future air combat, it has been enhanced in areas including air superiority, air-to-ground and air-to-sea strikes, battlefield awareness and coordination, electronic warfare and battlefield survivability, representing a significant improvement in overall combat capability over the J-11B series.

Public information from the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, an AVIC subsidiary that developed the J-16 series, shows that the aircraft has a standard takeoff weight of nearly 25 metric tons, a top speed of 1,370 km per hour and a maximum flight range of 3,000 km.

Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said that in addition to the YY-20A tanker, Y-20A transport aircraft and J-16 fighter jets, the Air Force task group deployed to Egypt for the exercise also includes the KJ-500 early-warning aircraft, an electronic warfare variant of the Y-9 transport aircraft and the Z-20 tactical helicopter.

"This mixed formation is capable of conducting large-scale, systematic joint air combat operations. It demonstrates new joint operational tactics developed by the PLA Air Force during its modernization drive in recent years, as well as its high-tech combat capability," he said.

According to China's Defense Ministry, the Chinese and Egyptian air forces will hold the "Eagles of Civilization 2026" joint training exercise in Egypt from mid-August to early September. The training will focus on air combat tactics, air superiority operations, and search-and-rescue missions.