Sales representatives from the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC), maker of the newly popular J-10CE fighter jet, were especially busy last week at a major weapons exhibition in Malaysia.
The J-10CE got a boost earlier this month when it was used in combat for the first time by the Pakistani Air Force during a brief skirmish with India.
The 4.5-generation fighter jet reportedly performed exceptionally well, prompting lots of new interest from prospective buyers at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2025) that ended on Saturday.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Advanced Chinese fighter jets like the J-10 have struggled for years to shake off a reputation of poor quality, especially because they never had the benefit of being tested under real-world combat scenarios.
That’s no longer the case, and it’s clearly giving a big boost to both makers and CAC, as well as other Chinese weapons manufacturers, who are now receiving a lot more inquiries from militaries across the Global South.
