The Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is a crucial and much under-studied element in Western defence and security discourse. While the rise of China as a global economic and political power is regularly cited as one of the defining trends of international politics over the coming decades, the modernisation of its armed forces is usually only discussed with relation to specific equipment purchases or as context for discussions of potential flashpoints such as Taiwan or the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Part of the reason for this is that, aside from displays of modern hardware at increasingly frequent airshows, arms exhibitions and military exercises, China prevents many details on the actual nature of reforms and capability growth within its armed forces from being released. Andreas Rupprecht's book, Modern Chinese Warplanes: Chinese Air Force - Combat Aircraft and Units, therefore, is notable for its attempt to provide a genuinely comprehensive overview of PLAAF modernisation and capabilities, which is particularly rare for publications that rely on open-source data.
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