The Chengdu J-10C is set to make its debut at the upcoming Singapore Airshow, with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force display team to perform.
According to Chinese propaganda outlets, seven J-10Cs of the August 1st team arrived in Singapore on 27 January, accompanied by a single Xian YY-20A tanker.
The last time the August 1st team appeared at the Singapore show was in 2020, when it flew an older variant of the J-10, the J-10A.
The Singapore appearance comes following a significant year for the J-10C. In May 2025, J-10Cs of the Pakistan air force likely downed several Indian aircraft using the long-range PL-15 air-to-air missile.
Singapore’s neighbour, Indonesia, also appeared to be edging closer to obtaining 42 examples of the type.
While frontline J-10C units are powered by the Shenyang WS-10B engine, the August 1st jets use the original Russian powerplant for the J-10 family, the Saturn AL-31FN.
This configuration is understood to maintain commonality with the team’s older twin-seat J-10SY trainers. It also avoids the need to re-engineer airshow-specific modifications, such as the enlarged dorsal spine used for smoke-generation systems.
This year’s Singapore air show is not the first time the August 1st team’s J-10Cs have performed in Southeast Asia. In 2023 the team performed at Malaysia’s LIMA defence show, and it also appeared in Thailand in 2025.
