By Zhao Lei (
China Daily) 11:08, August 31, 2013
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Comments twitter facebook Sina Microblog reddit The People's Liberation Army's August 1st Aerobatics Team performs at the MAKS-2013 air show in Zhukovsky on Friday. SHEN JINKE / FOR CHINA DAILY
The August 1st Aerobatics Team, China's first and best-known aerobatic demonstrationteam, performed its first show abroad in Moscow on Friday.
Six J-10 multi-role fighter aircraft performed a 20-minute stunt show in front ofthousands of spectators at the MAKS-2013 air show at Ramenskoye Airport.
The 11th international air show opened on Tuesday and will conclude on Sunday.
The jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force performed various formations andstaged a flyover, a ceremonial aerial salute, using colored smoke trails.
However, the team's most complicated maneuvers, including bomb burst, were notperformed due to poor visibility caused by fog and clouds.
Colonel Cao Zhen, commander of the team, told PLA Daily that its pilots havechoreographed and practiced 21 maneuvers specifically for Ramenskoye Airport and theteam has three show plans for different weather conditions.
"I blame the unfavorable weather as the reason why the team didn't display moresophisticated maneuvers," said Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of AerospaceKnowledge magazine. "Even if the pilots performed the maneuvers, people would not beable to see them because a lot of them are conducted at high altitudes."
Therefore, he said, pilots had to choose routines that could be performed at low altitudesand low speeds.
"It's also their first overseas show, so I think the team picked maneuvers they are mostfamiliar with to be 100 percent assured," Wang explained.
He said complicated maneuvers can be expected in the next two days as long as theweather is good.
The team, named after the date the PLA was founded, has presented more than 500shows for 668 delegations from 166 countries and regions, but the Moscow tour marks theteam's first show abroad, according to the Defense Ministry.
When the team was established 51 years ago, it flew J-5 fighters and has been graduallyupdating the aircraft fleet.
The domestically built J-10 fighters made its debut in 2008 at the 7th China InternationalAviation and Aerospace Exhibition.
In addition to the August 1st team, China has two other aerobatic demonstration teams:Sky Wing and Red Falcon.
Both were formed in 2011 and belong to two flight-training institutes of the PLA Air Force.
Colonel Yang Yujun, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said that the August 1st teamwill stage more shows in China and foreign nations in the future, indicating the PLA hasdispelled its long-held concern on sending military units to overseas defense shows.
The team's next show abroad, upon PLA approval, will be at the biennial air show in Dubai,United Arab Emirates, in November, Wang said.
"Two major factors that could influence the air force's decision on which show to participatein are geopolitics and the J-10's flight range," Yang said.
In addition, the J-10 has a promising prospect of export, and some of its potential buyersare likely to come from the Middle East, where the Dubai show takes place.
"It's an ideal occasion for Chinese aerobatic pilots," Wang added.
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