Experts on China's military also say that generals have been lobbying for larger increases in real military spending to help fund the development of costly weapons systems including aircraft carriers, the first of which was launched last year, and stealth fighters, a prototype of which made its first test flight in 2011.

WSJ: China's Xi Courts Military

Filton Airport had been in operation for more than 100 years and saw the first UK test flight of the Concorde prototype in 1969.

BBC: Cotswold Airport, Kemble

Like Amazon, the company is secretive, but last September it revealed that it had lost an unmanned prototype vehicle during a short-hop test flight.

ECONOMIST: Brain scan

Filton was in operation for more than 100 years and was the site of the first UK test flight of the Concorde prototype in 1969.

BBC: Filton airfield

This year, China has passed several milestones in developing military technology that could be used in these areas: It conducted the first test flight of a stealth fighter prototype in January and began sea trials of its first aircraft carrier in August.

WSJ: Beijing Launches GPS Rival