China’s “People’s Daily” WeChat public account recently released the latest promotional video of the Chinese Air Force. At the end of the promo, some rare markings of the J-20 fighter plane were exposed for the first time.
It’s reported that at the end of the promotional video, two rows of real red five-star and hollow red five-star marks appeared under the J-20 cockpit: the solid red five-star ranks in the first row, and the hollow red five-star ranks in the second row. “This is the first time this type of logo has appeared on the J-20 fighter,” wrote analyst Lin Jin.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily’s “Zhengzhidao” account, Chinese air force expert Yang Yujie once explained in a Chinese CCTV program that the solid red stars above represent the number of enemy aircraft shot down, and the hollow red stars represent the number of enemy aircraft damaged.
Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping further explained that when there is no opportunity for actual combat, the winning pilots and fighter jets can also be painted in such a way to show their records in exercises like “Golden Helmet”.