By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
The world will get a first official look at China’s second stealth fighter at an air show next week.
At a briefing for reporters on Tuesday, a Chinese PLA Air Force official said that the J-35A fighter jet will make its debut at the Zhuhai Air Show, which runs from Nov. 12 to 17. The military released a still photo of the fighter. And it shows a lot of similarities between the Chinese plane and the US F-35A, the biggest difference being that the American plane uses one engine while the J-35 has two.
And according to The Aviationist, the F-35 comes out on top when it comes to stealth coating, radar evading materials and sensor fusion and data processing technologies. Still, the publication notes, “the real characteristics of the J-35 are still not known.”
Chinese military aviation expert Fu Qianshao calls the J-35A the world’s most stealthy fighter jet. “(It’s) fully capable of rivaling and suppressing its opponents,” he told the Global Times, the English-language publication of China’s Communist Party.
The government-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China says the plane’s mission is to seize air superiority, eliminate enemy fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft and air defense forces, and intercept other hostile targets including bombers and cruise missiles.
Observers say the version to be displayed at Zhuhai will be flown by China’s air force. China’s navy will get its own version of the J-35, one with a different nose gear and larger vertical stabilizers. That would “greatly improve the overall strength of China’s sea and air combat,” Chinese military expert Li Li told China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV.
It’s believed that the carrier-borne version of the J-35 was tested earlier this year on the PLA Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning.
Almost a decade ago, China denied claims published by a German magazine that it stole designs for the F-35 in order to build its own stealth aircraft. The J-35 was privately developed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, which hoped to sell it overseas. By 2018, the Chinese military had begun funding the plane’s production.
Meanwhile, China’s J-20 stealth fighter was put into service in 2017. The PLA Air Force now has 195 operational J-20’s, according to a report from Janes earlier this year.
The J-35A will be joined at the Zhuhai air show by a Russian Su-57 stealth fighter, which made it inaugural trip to China earlier this week. China also will display its H-19 surface-to-air missile system and what are described as new reconnaissance and strike drones.
