What's new

Pakistan Sets Eyes on China’s New J-35 Fighter Jet

But not as J-6 or J-7, they were all F-6 and F-7. I know some may call it a hypocritical nitpicking on semantics, but that's exactly the reason why the FC-31 at least for now is only a FC-31 and not the J-31. J-designations are reserved for PLA-operated types.

Then we might see J-31 for PLAAF and if there is any interest by PAF then, there will be like J-31E. Just saying.
 
Do you know what fighter jets PLAN has already?
J-20: 0
J-16: 0
J-10C: 0
J-10B: 0
Su-35: 0
PLAN will prefer J20 navy version instead of J35 if it later is going to be exported. Mostly because J20 is way more advanced than the proposed j35. It will make sense as China's most of the engagement will be in south china sea. It will be same like USA who have built F22 for their personal use only. No other country exactly knows about its true capability not even Israel or UK. Same will be the case here i suppose PLAAF might use J35 along J20 but PLAN will most probably will prefer J20.
 
Last edited:
PLAN will prefer J20 navy version instead of J35 if it later is going to be exported. Mostly because J20 is way more advanced than the proposed j35. It will make sense as China's most of the engagement will in south china sea. It will be same like USA who have built F22 for their personal use only. No other country exactly knows about its true capability not even Israel or UK. Same will be the case here i suppose PLAAF might use J35 along J20 but PLAN will most probably will prefer J20.


You simply must have missed the facts ... PLAN seems to have made their decision and even if you won't like it, it is not a larger J-20 but a smaller FC-31-based design called J-35. Period!
 
PLAN will prefer J20 navy version instead of J35 if it later is going to be exported. Mostly because J20 is way more advanced than the proposed j35. It will make sense as China's most of the engagement will in south china sea. It will be same like USA who have built F22 for their personal use only. No other country exactly knows about its true capability not even Israel or UK. Same will be the case here i suppose PLAAF might use J35 along J20 but PLAN will most probably will prefer J20.
First, there is still no information about the carrier-based J-20.
Second, the maximum take-off weight of so-called J-35 would be close to 30 tons.
Third, the production rate of J-20 still can't satisfy the needs of PLAAF.
 
PLAN will prefer J20 navy version instead of J35 if it later is going to be exported. Mostly because J20 is way more advanced than the proposed j35. It will make sense as China's most of the engagement will in south china sea. It will be same like USA who have built F22 for their personal use only. No other country exactly knows about its true capability not even Israel or UK. Same will be the case here i suppose PLAAF might use J35 along J20 but PLAN will most probably will prefer J20.

USN operating F-22 for logical reasons and the same goes of PLAN as well. There are limitations for bird of such a size being operated from carrier. This is not about technology alone and you can't have everything into every platform for all the different roles. Military does it on the basis of category and requirement. So J-20 for its size and reasons can't be operated from carrier hence, the need of a fighter like J-35 for PLAN similarly how USN saw F-35.
 
So why is India producing LCA when it is buying russian 4th generation fighters almost every other year????

Why did Britain produce Eurofights when they are purchasing F-35s????

Please share your wisdom as to why PAF cant purchase the cheapest 5th generation jets it has available while also having its own domestic 5th generation program as the successor to the JF-17?
A thing about nomenclatures.

FC-31 is Chinese 4th generation aircraft in Chinese terms.

5th generation is American term and generation, and no country has produced something on par yet. J-20 is close but still a much different design. Journalistic notions of aircraft generations are utterly rubbish.

Project Azm is a focus on true 5th generation aircraft - very ambitious at that. However, it is good that WE are aiming for something this big - WE will get something out of this in the long-term.

There is no such thing as cheap 5th generation design. It is either 5th generation in true sense, or an inferior replication.
 
First, there is still no information about the carrier-based J-20.
Second, the maximum take-off weight of so-called J-35 would be close to 30 tons.
Third, the production rate of J-20 still can't satisfy the needs of PLAAF.
China’s navy ‘set to pick J-20 stealth jets for its next generation carriers’
  • Military insiders say the aircraft appears to have beaten the FC-31 in the race to become the PLA Navy’s fighter of the future
  • A military source close said it would be almost impossible to develop both aircraft over the next few years given the risk of an economic downturn
China’s military is likely to pick the country’s first active stealth fighter, the J-20, for its next generation aircraft carriers, according to military sources and a recent report on state media.

The J-20, made by the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC),
appears to have a won a head-to-head contest with the FC-31
, a fighter made by another company which is still undergoing testing.
A military insider told the South China Morning Post that the Central Military Commission, the People’s Liberation Army’s top decision-making body, now favoured adapting the J-20 for its new carriers.

“The Chengdu Aerospace Corporation will announce some new products, which will include a new version of their J-20. You can guess what type it will be,” the military insider, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said.
The FC-31 was independently developed by CAC’s sister company Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), which also produced the J-15 – the jets currently in use on the country’s only active aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

Both aerospace firms are subsidiaries of the state-owned giant Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which specialises in designing and developing military aircraft, and were set up to ensure benign competition between manufacturers.

However, the SAC has faced criticism from some military leaders and experts for being too conservative and failing to innovate because of its bureaucratic structure.
An episode of Military Documentary shown on August 16 reported how the PLA Navy was selecting candidates for pilot training and illustrated the feature with a mock-up of jets that looked like J-20s taking off from a carrier.

Ground-based J-20s – also known as Powerful Dragons – entered service with the PLA Air Force in 2017.
Mass production of the stealth fighters began late last year
as China stepped up its efforts to counter the deployment of American F-22s and F-35s in the Asia-Pacific region.
If the selection of the J-20 is confirmed it will mark the end of a lengthy debate between its supporters and advocates of the FC-31 as to which would make a better carrier-based fighter.

Those who favoured the J-20 said it was more advanced and reliable than the FC-31, but its supporters said it was more light and nimble.

“Both the J-20 and FC-31 have their advantages. The size of the J-20 is similar to the J-15 since both are powerful heavy fighters,” Song Zhongping, a military commentator for Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, said.
Song said the lighter FC-31 could be developed into a medium-sized carrier fighter that would complement the J-20 in future.

But another military source close to the PLA Navy said it would be almost impossible to develop both aircraft over the next few years given the risk of an economic downturn as the trade war with the US continues to escalate.
The source said China’s next generation aircraft carriers would be with equipped electromagnetic catapults similar to those used on the US Navy’s Ford-class supercarriers.

These enable the use of heavier fighters because they are more powerful than the older diesel systems used on older carriers.

“The key problem of the J-20 is not weight, but length. If it wants to be a carrier-based fighter jet, it needs to be made shorter.”

Military insiders have previously said that CAC engineers are working to produce a shorter version of the J-20 that will work with the new launch system.
At present both the J-20 and F-31 still rely on Russian engines. The WS-15 engine that has been purpose built for the J-20 has undergone hundreds of hours of testing b
ut has yet to meet reliability targets
while the F-31 prototype does not have a purpose-built engine.
China’s navy plans to build at least four carrier battle groups by 2030, three of which will be active at any given time.

Miliary analysts say China will need at least a decade to develop its new generation carrier-based fighters, so the J-15 will remain in service for at least a decade, if not two.

The J-15 made its maiden flight in 2009 and has been in service since 2012. They are the only fighters based on the Liaoning and will be used by its sister ship the
Type 001A when it enters service
, probably later this year.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mil...et-pick-j-20-stealth-jets-its-next-generation
 
According to the history, "5th generation" was Russian term only, while American chose "4th generation".
Hmm. That is interesting.

Well, I am considering official Lockheed Martin classification here. Now numerous journalists mistakenly use it for describing global generations - creating much confusion.
 
We gave china access to American stealth helicopter crashed in abbotabad. Some part Chinese stealth technology is reverse engineered from there as well.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/pakistan-returns-stealth-us-chopper/story?id=13676083
So I don't think there is problem in getting j35 from China.

The American stealth helicopter was a bigger stunt and a proof that Pakistan had some degree of involvement in the OBL raid. How come that helicopter has not seen light day in US even to this day. It was placed there to give Pakistani a fig leaf that we did not pick up the radar signature as it was a Stealth chopper. If you look at its picture the quality of construction is so shoddy as if made in someone’s backyard.
 
FC-1/JF-17 doesn't have the designation J-xx from PLA.

I am talking about J-6 and J-7 which became F-6 & F-7, respectively in PAF.

But not as J-6 or J-7, they were all F-6 and F-7. I know some may call it a hypocritical nitpicking on semantics, but that's exactly the reason why the FC-31 at least for now is only a FC-31 and not the J-31. J-designations are reserved for PLA-operated types.

Interesting perspective. You could very well be right. Btw, isn’t the J-10 now cleared for export?
 
China’s navy ‘set to pick J-20 stealth jets for its next generation carriers’
  • Military insiders say the aircraft appears to have beaten the FC-31 in the race to become the PLA Navy’s fighter of the future
  • A military source close said it would be almost impossible to develop both aircraft over the next few years given the risk of an economic downturn
China’s military is likely to pick the country’s first active stealth fighter, the J-20, for its next generation aircraft carriers, according to military sources and a recent report on state media.

The J-20, made by the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC),
appears to have a won a head-to-head contest with the FC-31
, a fighter made by another company which is still undergoing testing.
A military insider told the South China Morning Post that the Central Military Commission, the People’s Liberation Army’s top decision-making body, now favoured adapting the J-20 for its new carriers.

“The Chengdu Aerospace Corporation will announce some new products, which will include a new version of their J-20. You can guess what type it will be,” the military insider, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said.
The FC-31 was independently developed by CAC’s sister company Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), which also produced the J-15 – the jets currently in use on the country’s only active aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

Both aerospace firms are subsidiaries of the state-owned giant Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which specialises in designing and developing military aircraft, and were set up to ensure benign competition between manufacturers.

However, the SAC has faced criticism from some military leaders and experts for being too conservative and failing to innovate because of its bureaucratic structure.
An episode of Military Documentary shown on August 16 reported how the PLA Navy was selecting candidates for pilot training and illustrated the feature with a mock-up of jets that looked like J-20s taking off from a carrier.

Ground-based J-20s – also known as Powerful Dragons – entered service with the PLA Air Force in 2017.
Mass production of the stealth fighters began late last year
as China stepped up its efforts to counter the deployment of American F-22s and F-35s in the Asia-Pacific region.
If the selection of the J-20 is confirmed it will mark the end of a lengthy debate between its supporters and advocates of the FC-31 as to which would make a better carrier-based fighter.

Those who favoured the J-20 said it was more advanced and reliable than the FC-31, but its supporters said it was more light and nimble.

“Both the J-20 and FC-31 have their advantages. The size of the J-20 is similar to the J-15 since both are powerful heavy fighters,” Song Zhongping, a military commentator for Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, said.
Song said the lighter FC-31 could be developed into a medium-sized carrier fighter that would complement the J-20 in future.

But another military source close to the PLA Navy said it would be almost impossible to develop both aircraft over the next few years given the risk of an economic downturn as the trade war with the US continues to escalate.
The source said China’s next generation aircraft carriers would be with equipped electromagnetic catapults similar to those used on the US Navy’s Ford-class supercarriers.

These enable the use of heavier fighters because they are more powerful than the older diesel systems used on older carriers.

“The key problem of the J-20 is not weight, but length. If it wants to be a carrier-based fighter jet, it needs to be made shorter.”

Military insiders have previously said that CAC engineers are working to produce a shorter version of the J-20 that will work with the new launch system.
At present both the J-20 and F-31 still rely on Russian engines. The WS-15 engine that has been purpose built for the J-20 has undergone hundreds of hours of testing b
ut has yet to meet reliability targets
while the F-31 prototype does not have a purpose-built engine.
China’s navy plans to build at least four carrier battle groups by 2030, three of which will be active at any given time.

Miliary analysts say China will need at least a decade to develop its new generation carrier-based fighters, so the J-15 will remain in service for at least a decade, if not two.

The J-15 made its maiden flight in 2009 and has been in service since 2012. They are the only fighters based on the Liaoning and will be used by its sister ship the
Type 001A when it enters service
, probably later this year.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mil...et-pick-j-20-stealth-jets-its-next-generation

I wouldnt take this article at its face value... for one the J-20 is a HUGE jet, IDK how theyd be able to fit on Chinese aircraft carriers currently under development. J-20 for carriers would be like putting F22 on carriers... wouldnt make much sense since a land launch J-20 would be able to have enough range within the pacific already.

A variant of the FC-31 ie J-35 will be developed for carrier uses. Chinese have a tendency to give their carrier based jets a whole different name classification (J-11 Land launched= J-15 carrier launched). The J-31/FC-31 will take a similar route with J-35 being its carrier version.
 
I am talking about J-6 and J-7 which became F-6 & F-7, respectively in PAF.



Interesting perspective. You could very well be right. Btw, isn’t the J-10 now cleared for export?
A fighter jet that is made in China and also services in PLA would get the designation J-xx from PLA.
 

Pakistan Affairs Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom