RH POWER NETWORK · CHINA ARSENAL
China’s modern arsenal.
Stealth fighters. Carrier aviation. Unmanned systems. A growing missile portfolio. Explore the equipment behind China’s military modernization, with a dated record behind every entry.
Explore the systems- Selected systems
- 25
- Categories
- 4
- Evidence focus
- 2025 / 26
- Reviewed through
- 9 Sep 2026
01
Modernization, with evidence
New-generation aircraft sit alongside established systems still relevant to the force. Public appearances, assessed service and carrier-integration trials are distinguished. Every quantity and range carries its own limits.
- Fielded systems
- Current training records
- Early production
- Readiness uncertainty
Showing 25 selected systems across four categories.
Dated quantities; labeled range types in km. How we count · Reading ranges
Jets
6Helicopters
4Drones
6Missiles
9EQUIPMENT → INSTITUTIONS
Explore the people and organizations behind the force.
02
Method and limits
How we count
Reviewed 9 September 2026. “Listed fleet” preserves a dated FlightGlobal/Cirium directory entry with initial data from 1 October 2025. “Analyst estimate” identifies a separately attributed assessment. Neither is inventory today or a count of mission-capable aircraft.
Orders, projected deliveries, sortie counts, parade vehicles and launchers do not become inventory. Family totals are not assigned to a narrower variant. Where sources disagree, notes preserve the disagreement. “Not publicly verified” means unknown, not zero.
Reading ranges
All numerical ranges use kilometers. Aircraft combat radius, total flight distance, drone operating range and missile reach describe different things. The H-6K/N and J-16 references explicitly use the aircraft-radius footnote, not combined aircraft-plus-missile reach.
Older technical estimates are dated. A group reference, such as CJ-10/CJ-100, remains labeled as a group. Domestic and export variants are distinguished. Payload, configuration and flight conditions matter; a quoted maximum does not guarantee an operational result.
Selection and source limits
This is a selected guide to 25 jets, helicopters, drones and missiles, not a complete Chinese order of battle. Modern operational families and publicly documented emerging programs are included. Ships, tanks and artillery are outside this edition’s inventory scope.
Chinese official reporting establishes what the authorities show or claim. Foreign government records and analyst estimates are separately attributed. Public display or a blanket in-service claim does not independently establish combat readiness. The review date is not the date of every underlying observation.
Images and attribution
Every tile has a credited image and a source/license link in its detail panel. Historical photos, exhibition models, launchers and related variants are labeled. GJ-11 uses an exhibition model; Z-10 uses a labeled Z-10K variant photograph. The YJ-18 tile shows a Type 052D launch-platform example because a suitable reusable missile photograph was not established. It does not show a missile or confirm the ship’s loadout.
Images retain the equipment shown and may be resized or cropped by the page layout. Pre-August-2025 China News Service footage stills retain their recorded CC BY 3.0 terms; later footage uses the license recorded for that release. Attribution does not imply endorsement.
No bases, deployment locations, coverage rings, launch sites, vulnerabilities or real-time force posture are mapped here.
Source record
- 01FlightGlobal / Cirium World Air Forces 2026 ↗
Initial data compiled 1 October 2025. China table visually checked. Active entries, orders and variant groupings are kept separate; this is not inventory today.
- 02U.S. China Military Power Report, 23 Dec 2025 ↗
Government assessment, largely covering 2024. The fielded-strike table footnote explicitly distinguishes aircraft combat radius from combined aircraft-plus-missile reach. Public cached PDF table visually checked.
- 032025 Pentagon report: public cached PDF ↗
Accessible copy of the original government report. Fielded Conventional Strike is printed page 85 in this copy. Used to visually inspect the range table and footnote.
- 04RUSI: evolution of Chinese air power, 8 Jan 2026 ↗
Justin Bronk’s original assessment. Distinguishes estimated in-service fleets, projected deliveries and developmental aircraft. Analyst estimates are not audited fleet returns.
- 05China MOD: J-35A debut, 13 Nov 2024 ↗
Official description of the land-based J-35A and its public debut. A debut alone does not establish operational readiness.
- 06China MOD: Fujian catapult training, 22 Sep 2025 ↗
Navy announcement identifying J-15T, J-35 and KJ-600 catapult and arrested-landing training. The naval J-35 is distinct from the land-based J-35A.
- 07China MOD: J-10C training, 11 Aug 2026 ↗
Official photo caption identifies J-10C flight training on 2 August 2026. Does not enumerate a fleet.
- 08China MOD: Z-8L training, 4 Aug 2026 ↗
Official captions identify Z-8L and Z-8G helicopters in early-June 2026 training. The variants are not pooled here.
- 09China MOD: Z-20 air-assault aircraft, 19 Dec 2020 ↗
Historical official operating record for the Z-20. Establishes a service baseline, not a current fleet count or independently tested performance.
- 10China MOD: HQ-9B commissioned, 7 Nov 2019 ↗
Historical service statement. HQ-9B is a ground-based surface-to-air system; export and naval variants are kept separate.
- 11Taiwan MOD: aircraft identification, 2 Jul 2026 ↗
Original identification of J-16 and H-6 family activity. Sortie counts are not used as inventory, and an H-6 sighting does not identify every subvariant.
- 12Japan MOD: Chinese aircraft activity reference, Apr 2025 ↗
Original identification record for aircraft and unmanned systems including WZ-7, TB-001 and BZK-005. Geographic tracks are not reproduced.
- 13Japan MOD: GJ-2 identification photo, 26 Feb 2025 ↗
Original Japanese defense photograph, with its government-source link and reuse record on Commons. Identifies a flying example, not national fleet size.
- 14U.S. Army: Chinese UAS developments, 11 Dec 2025 ↗
Original analytical reference identifying WZ-7, TB-001 and BZK-005 reconnaissance systems. Used for type and role context, not inventory projections.
- 15Japan NIDS: 2025 parade assessment, 5 Sep 2025 ↗
Original analysis identifies GJ-11 imagery and records China’s blanket claim that parade equipment was in service. Such claims do not independently verify unit readiness.
- 16China MOD: WZ-8 profile, 21 Jan 2026 ↗
Official description of a high-speed reconnaissance drone. Promotional survivability claims are not adopted as fact.
- 17CSIS Missile Threat: China catalog, 18 Mar 2026 ↗
Current catalog status baseline for selected missile families. Individual technical profiles can be older or inconsistent; differences are identified in the notes.
- 18CSIS: DF-17, updated 23 Apr 2024 ↗
Original technical profile for the boost-glide system and its 1,800–2,500 km reference band.
- 19CSIS: DF-21D subsection, updated 23 Apr 2024 ↗
Uses the D-variant subsection, not the longer range listed for other DF-21 variants.
- 20CSIS: DF-26 profile ↗
Public profile for the intermediate-range, dual-capable missile family. Cross-checked against the March 2026 country catalog.
- 21CSIS: DF-41, updated 23 Apr 2024 ↗
Older range reference. Its development-status field is superseded here by CSIS’s March 2026 country catalog listing the system as operational.
- 22CSIS: Chinese missile developments, 16 Oct 2019 ↗
Original analysis supplies the YJ-12 estimated range reference and background on publicly displayed missile families. Historical technical baseline.
- 23CSIS: YJ-18, updated 23 Apr 2024 ↗
Anti-ship range band and ship/submarine family context. Some subvariant and platform descriptions in the profile are inconsistent, so those details are not imported wholesale.
- 24RUSI: Chinese combat-air trends, Oct 2020 ↗
Original technical analysis describes the domestic PL-15 in the 200 km maximum-range class. An older analyst reference, not a guaranteed engagement range.
Keep the context close.