The plane would be manufactured by the Guizhou Aviation Industry Group, but it was still unclear if the Chinese airforce had signed contracts to buy the trainer, the China Daily reported.

A model of the aircraft made its maiden flight in December 2003, with reports at that time saying mass production would begin in 2005.

The plane, whose NATO-designation is FTC-2000, is expected to train fighter pilots flying third-generation craft like the Russian Sukhoi Su-27s and Su-30s, the most advanced fighters in China's air force.

The planes can also be fitted as fighter aircraft and sold to developing markets, the report said.

"Our goal is to see to it that a number of the new trainers go to the military in 2006," Zhang Shangdao, vice president of the Guizhou manufacturer, was quoted as saying.

"Since it is both a fighter and trainer, some small countries, lacking a large fleet of fighter planes, could use the Mountain Eagle to train their fighter pilots in peace time, arming it for use as a fighter in war time."

The Guizhou factory, which is part of the China Aviation Industry Corp I, has manufactured some 1,100 planes for the Chinese military since it was set up in 1964.

The JL-9 is powered by a domestically-made WP-13 turbojet engine, can reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 (1.6 times the speed of sound) and can carry two pilots.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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