After massive developments in PLA aviation over the past year, it’s time for many observers to update their priors.

“Updating priors” means revising an existing belief system in the face of new evidence. Much has been written of about the modernization of China’s military in recent years, particularly People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aviation (both the PLA Air Force and PLA Naval Air Force). However, the niche trade of tracking PLA news still causes significant lags in disseminating information among the wider defense journalism, think tank, and defense commentariat crowd.

Over the last twelve months – between October 2024 and October 2025 – the breadth, variety, and scale of PLA aviation developments have emerged at a speed that is difficult to contextualize and disseminate. This article will summarize major observed PLA aviation developments in a broadly chronological (but not exhaustive) manner. Consider it a baseline to update your priors on PLA aviation.

Manned Combat Aircraft

October 2024 saw the PLA Navy conduct its first dual carrier exercise and photo-op, consisting of CV-16 Liaoning and CV-17 Shandong and their escorts. The event was even more notable as the exercise displayed – in the characteristically dry and subdued manner of the PLA – multiple 4.5th generation catapult variant J-15T aircraft among the standard ski jump variant J-15s.

The existence of the J-15T (previously dubbed J-15B) was well accepted before this; I have previously documented its development and accurately projected its likely entry into service. However the official acknowledgement that the aircraft type was already in service, after multiple years of minimal imagery, was a relative surprise.

This was followed by Zhuhai Airshow 2024 in November, where more detailed views of the J-15T emerged as the aircraft type made a flying and ground appearance. However, the J-15T was upstaged by the J-35A, a land-based PLA Air Force variant of the J-35, a carrier-borne fifth-generation fighter. A land-based variant of the J-35 had been rumored for a few years, with a handful of grainy photos of prototype airframes. But this marked the first official acknowledgement of the type. Its flight display at the airshow in short order was somewhat unprecedented for new PLA projects, and was indicative