BEIJING—Images and witness accounts posted online Tuesday appeared to show that China's stealth fighter prototype had made its first test flight, even as Robert Gates, the US Defense Secretary who has downplayed China's stealth aircraft capability, was meeting Chinese civilian leaders in Beijing. The J-20, which has been undergoing runway tests for the last two weeks or so, took off from an airstrip at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute just before 1 p.m. local time and flew for about 20 minutes, according to several witness accounts posted by Chinese bloggers. Photographs of the twin-engine plane in flight appeared on several unofficial Chinese defense-related websites, which have also posted dozens of still and video images of the J-20 making the runway tests over the last fortnight. The accounts couldn't immediately be directly confirmed. China's Defense Ministry, Air Force and the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute have all declined to comment on previous J-20 images, and their representatives were not immediately available for further comment Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. But Chinese authorities, who routinely delete politically sensitive material and detain those who produce it, have allowed the J-20 images to be circulated in what military experts say is a clear sign that the People's Liberation Army wanted them made public.
