This Day, That Year: Jan 17

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 17, 1966, the first Chinabuilt J-7 fighter made its maiden flight.

An item in China Daily on Nov 16, 2009, showed three J-7 fighter jets in flight during an air show held by the People's Liberation Army's Air Force to mark the 60th anniversary of its foundation.

The J-7 was certified as an operational aircraft by the Chinese military in June 1967.

Despite production being terminated in 2006, the aircraft is still in operation with a number of air forces worldwide.

The J-7 is a single-engine, lightweight fighter jet designed and manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Corp. Its design is based on its predecessor, the MiG-21.

In an attempt to meet the operational requirements of the defense forces, the corporation has developed dozens of variants of the J-7.

In recent decades, China's aviation industry has made remarkable progress, designing and building two fifth-generation stealth aircraft - the J-20 and the FC-31.

The J-20, designated as a future pillar of the PLA Air Force, made its maiden flight in January 2011, and was declassified in November 2016. It was commissioned to the PLA Air Force last year, becoming the world's third stealth fighter jet to enter service, after the F-22 and the F-35 of the United States.

The FC-31, which appears to have been developed for export, was first flown in October 2012 and has taken part in several Zhuhai Airshows, the nation's biggest, in addition to arms shows overseas.

To give the nation's fighter jets better combat capability, China has mastered a field of cutting-edge aviation technology that has been dominated by the United States and Russia.

The technology, known as thrust vector control, can extensively boost a fighter jet's maneuverability, providing advantages in aerial combat, especially during dogfights.