SAC FC-31 Stealth Fighter: News & Discussions

[Deino]

I think it is not a good news to FC-31.

You mean the fact of its eventual "attending the show" or the sentence in this thread "It itself is an export product. I"??

 

[LKJ86]

You mean the fact of its eventual "attending the show" or the sentence in this thread "It itself is an export product. I"??

If PLAN is interested in FC-31 V2, I don't think it would be showed at Zhuhai Airshow-2018.

 

[serenity]

PLAN hasn't bought it yet and may never. Even though SAC is at the moment probably more familiar with PLAN carrier requirements just because they have been working on J-15, doesn't mean their J-31 is designed for PLAN future carriers. Until we know whether SAC is testing J-31 prototypes for carrier take off and landing, it is only for export.

Next gen fighter for carriers are long way away. Wait for Type 003 and further carriers to appear first. The fighter will be designed around the carrier rather than other way around and type 001 and 002 are more suited for familiarisation and operational training since they are nowhere near optimal for J-15. I have yet to see J-15 take off with full missile load. Many claims have also suggested that full fuel is also not possible with STOBAR. PLAN will get there eventually though and once they do, they will pump out EM CATOBAR carriers with pace and numbers. The nuclear engine tech is still being worked on. So all this will take time.

By the time Type 003 and onwards are out, J-15 will have also received various MLUs. We will see electronic attack versions and hopefully a carrier based AWACs too. By then, J-31 may not be worth the time if better technologies are available for a more modern 5th gen or 6th gen design. Will make little sense for China to purchase naval J-31 in 15 years time when they will have hundreds of better and more familiar J-20s, and hopefully better manufacturing techniques for a better airframe than J-31. Unfortunately it seems like SAC's gamble isn't paying off yet and may never pay off because they were half-arsed about the whole J-31 gamble. They are still leaving it as a half-finished, unpolished product at this point.

 

[Akasa]

PLAN hasn't bought it yet and may never. Even though SAC is at the moment probably more familiar with PLAN carrier requirements just because they have been working on J-15, doesn't mean their J-31 is designed for PLAN future carriers. Until we know whether SAC is testing J-31 prototypes for carrier take off and landing, it is only for export.

Next gen fighter for carriers are long way away. Wait for Type 003 and further carriers to appear first. The fighter will be designed around the carrier rather than other way around and type 001 and 002 are more suited for familiarisation and operational training since they are nowhere near optimal for J-15. I have yet to see J-15 take off with full missile load. Many claims have also suggested that full fuel is also not possible with STOBAR. PLAN will get there eventually though and once they do, they will pump out EM CATOBAR carriers with pace and numbers. The nuclear engine tech is still being worked on. So all this will take time.

By the time Type 003 and onwards are out, J-15 will have also received various MLUs. We will see electronic attack versions and hopefully a carrier based AWACs too. By then, J-31 may not be worth the time if better technologies are available for a more modern 5th gen or 6th gen design. Will make little sense for China to purchase naval J-31 in 15 years time when they will have hundreds of better and more familiar J-20s, and hopefully better manufacturing techniques for a better airframe than J-31. Unfortunately it seems like SAC's gamble isn't paying off yet and may never pay off because they were half-arsed about the whole J-31 gamble. They are still leaving it as a half-finished, unpolished product at this point.

The FC-31's size, landing gear, and overall configuration make it far more suitable for carrier operations than the J-20 is. Seeing that the Type 003 CV is roughly ~7 years away from induction, this gives SAC ample time to develop the existing FC-31 design into a capable carrier-borne jet. This isn't mutually exclusive with the development of an upgraded J-15B and certainly doesn't preclude research into far-future 6th generation fighters.

Additionally the FC-31 isn't "half-arsed"; it simply needs a paying customer to complete its development cycle.

 

[cirr]

What's going on?

 

[Akasa]

What's going on?

A few possibilities:

1. Model for amusement park/museum
2. Prototype #31001 for museum/airshow

 

[Maxpane]

What are they doing?

 

[LKJ86]

What's going on?

Just a model.

 

[python-000]

What's going on?

Its look like a Pakistani truck...

 

[TOTUU]

Its look like a Pakistani truck...

you are right , this proved china and paksitan are brothers .

 

[khanasifm]

The guy from tirshul shoot out lot of pic from various events but most of the time his analysis on China pak are off and biased so nothing new

 

[Maxpane]

Any news ?

 

[Awan68]

9 photos of the J-31, China's copycat version of the F-35 stealth fighter — here's how it stacks up

DANIEL BROWN
OCT 6, 2018, 11:00 PM

• 

After China’s J-31 stealth fighter made its first full-scale public appearance in 2014, observers noted its striking resemblance to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

And many weren’t surprised: China was thought to have stolen unclassified F-35 design information five years earlier.

But recently, there’s been little reporting and discussion about the J-31.

“Part of that, to my knowledge, is that the [PLA] Air Force still hasn’t bought any of them,” Matthew P. Funaiole, a fellow with the China Power Project at CSIS, told Business Insider.


“It was supposed to be introduced in 2018 [or] 2019 … but there hasn’t been much chatter on it,” Funaiole added.

Here’s how the J-31 stacks up against the F-35, and what China might do with the new fighter.

The J-31 had already resembled the F-35 — both are multirole strike fighters — when a scaled model of it was unveiled in 2012.
Although the J-31’s full specifications are not yet known, the J-31 and F-35 have roughly the same weight, height and wingspan.
Public DomainA side-by-side comparison of the F-35 (top), and the J-31 (bottom).
Source: Popular Science

But the J-31 has a maximum takeoff weight of 56,000 pounds and a maximum range of 775 miles, making it lighter than the 70,000-pound F-35, and with roughly half the range.
wc/Wikimedia CommonsThe J-31 takes off during the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in November 2014.
Source: Popular Science

The J-31 has the reported edge in speed, as it can max out at Mach 1.8 while the F-35’s can only reach Mach 1.6.
Source: Popular Science

The J-31 is a twin-engine aircraft, and the F-35 is a single engine aircraft.
In fact, the slightly improved J-31 prototype (there are only two known to exist), which first flew in December 2016, was equipped with a cleaner burning WS-13 engine, among other improvements.

Beijing has even claimed that the J-31 will eventually have supercruise-capable WS-19 engines, giving it a leg up on the F-35.

Source: Popular Science, The Aviationist

The J-31 might also one day be able to carry 12 air-to-air missiles, double the F-35’s armament.
Source: WarIsBoring

But unlike the J-31, the F-35 has a sensor suite giving the pilot greater awareness of the battlefield and is basically a flying data hub that shares target tracking information.
Tonkatsu298/YouTubeThe J-31 deploys drogue parachutes to rapidly slow upon landing at the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in 2014.
“There is no indication that China’s J-31 has been able to fuse such a large variety of feeds into a singular manageable interface,” Popular Science recently wrote. “That means the F-35’s ability to fight from beyond the horizon won’t be found in its Chinese knock-off.”

As for how the J-31 will be used? Chinese military analysts have said that it will probably replace the J-15 as Beijing’s primary carrier fighter.
The AviationistOne of the first known pictures of the J-31 right before or after making its maiden flight in 2012.
Source: Popular Science

Many believe the J-15 is too heavy and too unreliable for carrier operations – a big hurdle as China tries to build a formidable aircraft carrier fleet.

 

[FuturePAF]

Any Specs on the planned WS-19 engine? Presumably it would be a supercruising engine that could fit the JF-17.

Also, The Chinese purportedly lag behind in sensor fusion (according to this article, but they are probably catching up behind the scenes). Any chance Pakistan can seek that capability from our other suppliers. Sweden maybe one source, but Turkey maybe able to help develop something like that for the JF-17 (They are working with Saab on the TFX, Saab is great at Sensor Fusion), and the experience with the Turkish upgraded JF-17s could give hints to the Chinese companies on how to catch up there as well.

 

[Awan68]

Any Specs on the planned WS-19 engine? Presumably it would be a supercruising engine that could fit the JF-17.

Also, The Chinese purportedly lag behind in sensor fusion (according to this article, but they are probably catching up behind the scenes). Any chance Pakistan can seek that capability from our other suppliers. Sweden maybe one source, but Turkey maybe able to help develop something like that for the JF-17 (They are working with Saab on the TFX, Saab is great at Sensor Fusion), and the experience with the Turkish upgraded JF-17s could give hints to the Chinese companies on how to catch up there as well.

No way Turkey can match China's r&d capacity alone and in case of collaboration with europe in tfx, they will never allow turkey to transfer sensitive tech to other countries. Our best best for 5th gen is and always will be China and its better this way, western products have too many strings attached. China must already be working on that full throttle for the J 20, no reason substantial tech for the J20 cannot trickle down to J 31.