By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
A Chinese government backed newspaper is announcing that now, with the arrival of the J-35, China is the second country to have “two” 5th-generation aircraft and, perhaps of greatest concern to the Pentagon, the PRC plans to “mass produce” its new J-35. Well known for its massive military production capacity, enabled to a large degree by its civil-military fusion, the PLA may indeed be well positioned to fast-track large-quantities of the J-35. China has been building J-20s at a fast pace and has hit staggering and unprecedented production capacity building warships, in part by opening additional shipyards throughout the country.
China’s Global Times newspaper says the PRC can quickly “mass” produce its J-35.
“The heavy J-20 and the medium-sized J-35A could perform complementary roles in joint missions…..the medium-sized J-35A is likely to be less costly than the heavy J-20, so it can be produced in large numbers in a short period of time,” the Global Times states.
Should China truly have an ability to quickly mass produce J-35s, that would likely be something of concern to the Pentagon. At the moment, the US and its allies enjoy a significant air-power advantage over China in the Pacific, given that US Navy amphibs can travel with up to 20 F-35Bs, US Navy carriers can travel with up to 90 F-35Cs and Japan is fast adding F-35s through its own multi-billion F-35 buy. However, should China be able to close this substantial 5th-generation fighter “numbers gap” with the West, US and allied air superiority in the Pacific could very much be threatened.
Read Warrior’s previous report on PLA AF J-20 HERE
The US Air Force, for instance, already operates more than 300 F-35A and the Navy and Marine Corps respectively have sizeable operational F-35 fleets as well. China is already experienced with mass producing its J-20 and has made many adjustments to the aircraft itself, such as adding a domestically-build WS-15 engine. For years now, the PLA has been working to surge production of its J-20, so it seems conceivable that Chinese engineers have the experience and expertise to do something similar or greater for the J-35.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
