For the last 50 years, the United States military has enjoyed air superiority over essentially every other nation on the planet. In addition to good-ol' American ingenuity and freedom to create, this superiority was created and is maintained by the government's support of ongoing research and development to maintain that superiority. The research and development process for new fighter jets can take decades, as with the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). China has always lagged significantly behind the United States in this department, but they've recently made major strides.

A significant factor in China's progress comes as a result of the 2015 acquisition of Henniges Automotive, a Michigan company whose anti-vibration (stealth) technology is used on the F-35 (stealth) fighter, by Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), the state-owned entity that produces fighter jets for the Chinese military.