Our frenemies across the Pacific are now a naval superpower, having successfully landed a Chinese jet on a Chinese aircraft carrier for the first time. And it’s lethal — the guy in charge dropped dead in the middle of it.
We’re not doctors here, so we can’t exactly say the J-15 literally killed Luo Yang, President of Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and the guy in charge of the J-15 program. But China Daily notes he did suffer his cardiac arrest smack in the middle of a J-15 training operation, what was surely a weighty time for both he and the entire Chinese military apparatus. That’s a lot of pressure.
We also can’t exactly say China is really a naval superpower, as the aircraft carrier is an old rust bucket it bought on the used lot from Russia — an old Soviet model — and the J-15 itself is based on old Soviet blueprints. [The Aviationist]