Chinese J-10 Missile Kill Video Lifted from Top Gun?

While there is no disputing that China has recently test-flown a stealth aircraft, their battle prowess may have been artificially enhanced by the state television outlet CCTV. A recent report it broadcast showed an earlier Chinese fighter jet firing a missile and destroying an aircraft. Internet denizens were quick to note that the producers of the report likely spliced in a clip from the climactic air battle in the 1986 film Top Gun. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the standalone report was taken off the CCTV website for a time and re-edited. The original newscast that contained the report was removed from the archives, but CCTV was not fast enough in removing the report, as archived copies have helped the story go viral. WSJ has video of the original report and provided a frame-by-frame comparison of the explosion in question.

It’s not the first time that Chinese news outlets have used fictional material as real events in their stories, using such sources as the spoof-laden newspaper The Onion and the Fox cartoon The Simpsons. Beijing has recently been trying to crack down on this practice within the Chinese press, but may not have expected to have to admonish its own news service. CCTV has so far not responded to inquiries about the broadcast.