Will China fill the skies with stealth jets?

China is one step closer to selling stealth jets to militaries around world, now that the latest copy of China’s newest stealth fighter has reportedly flown for the first time. The debut of FC-31 number two brings China closer to being an exporter of radar-evading warplanes—and draws the United States closer to, perhaps some day, facing Chinese-made stealth fighters in combat.

That could negate one of America’s main advantages in aerial combat—its lopsided technological superiority over most of the foreign air arms it faces in wartime…

Likewise, the first FC-31 trailed thick plumes of smoke from its apparently Russian-made engines when it first flew two years ago. Smokey engines are a huge liability for fighter pilots hoping to avoid visual detection in close aerial combat.

The new FC-31, by contrast, appears to boast new, smoke-free engines—that is, if the scant video evidence is any indication.

The FC-31’s quick progress parallels China’s similarly determined efforts to get its first stealth fighter, the J-20, ready for wartime use. The Chinese air force apparently began equipping the first frontline squadron with the twin-engine J-20s in late 2016, just seven years after the fighter—which is much larger than the FC-31—first flew.