Fanart or not, this layout does make a certain amount of sense. If V-tail provide elevon input then this would be like a tri-plane design like Su-30SM/MKI, should be pretty maneuverable. V-tail completely aft of main wing should also provide great high-alpha stability. I believe Saab is going for a similar design.
The difference with J-20 would be its close couple canards versus J-20 canards+LERX. Aspect ratio is also greater than J-20, suggesting a trade-off in speed for more maneuverability.
I believe there is a possibility this fan art is made by people who may actually know something. Similar to the hints that are dropped via abstract art in Chinese milavia.
Either way, thank you for your post. That was the sane analysis I was looking for. Here are the facts, as I see them:
1. Pakistan will work with Chengdu on the Azm project similar to the JF-17 project, except it won't be "joint" but a Pakistan specific project.
2. Chengdu is known for delta canards and probably already had a basic design to compete with the J-31.
3. Pakistan has never liked the AL-31 series because of the long spool-up time. The size of a twin AL-31 class engines may not be appropriate for Pakistan's limited area.
4. An RD-93 class engine makes a lot more sense and could have the potential for commonality. A twin on this account would fit in perfectly with Pakistan's needs and what Chengdu has to offer as a competition to J-31.
5. Pakistan has never liked trading range and speed for maneuverability. It never bought the J-8s or the JH-7s. So by the looks of this plane, it fits exactly that - a more maneuverable, smaller J-20 with minor design improvements.
6. With the V-tail and what looks like thrust vectoring, a small, close-coupled canard can do the job. The close-coupling also means that an LERX is redundant, as such a configuration essentially does the same thing for as a LERX.
7. A small canard has the possibility of being dielectric. i.e. invisible to radar if made with a tempered glass - plastic - epoxy substrate. This can have tensile strengths of about 120 - 140. Enough for a small canard but nothing too big. Close coupling would also lower the structural stress on such a design.
8. The front look is almost a copy of the J-20. That is a very interesting design choice - essentially it seems to say - why mess with something that works?
9. It seems to be a traditional stealth 5th gen. I was batting for recessed and conformally located weapons carriage. What this implies is that the engines aren't RD-93 based. As an RD-93 does not have enough power to take on such an airframe, you'd end up with horrid performance.
10. It makes no sense for it to be a twin steater as suggested in the diagram. But abstract fan art was never meant to be a perfect duplication effort.
