A Chinese fighter of nominally the same technology generation as the Lockheed Martin F-22 will soon enter flight testing, while a jet airlifter larger than the Airbus A400M should be unveiled by year-end.

China’s specialist builder of large military and civil airplanes, Avic Aircraft, will become a publicly traded company by 2011, the company says, confirming that its restructuring as a more commercially viable enterprise is proceeding well. The company will acquire public shareholders by means of a backdoor stock market listing—that is, by injecting its assets into a subsidiary that is already listed.

Avic Defense, adopting an increasingly Western approach to military aircraft sales, says it is willing to allow foreign production of its latest export product, the L-15 Falcon supersonic trainer. The aircraft is likely to retain the key advantage of an aircraft from a developing country, however, since the manufacturer is also suggesting it will be cheaply priced.