China's much-anticipated J-35A stealth aircraft, centerpiece of this week's Zhuhai air show, has been more than a decade in the making, but experts say little is known about its capabilities.
The first public appearance of the land-based J-35A will take place on Tuesday, a day after the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and will include a flying display. Another variant, the J-35, is designed for use with China's aircraft carriers.
Even as it takes to the skies more than 10 years after its progenitor, the J-31, made its first flight, few details are public about the J-35's performance or stealthiness, military analysts say.
"Because of the black box typically surrounding PLA miltech developments, we won’t be too certain of the J-35's performance," said Collin Koh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
"PRC scientists ... have carried out over the years various STEM and advanced studies related to fighter jet tech, including stealth, so I'll suggest not joining sceptics to dismiss the aircraft outright," Koh said.
The J-35 and J-35A are designed and built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, a unit of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China. The state-controlled People's Daily news outlet said ahead of the air show the J-35A "mainly carries out the task of seizing and maintaining air supremacy".
Both J-35 variants are considerably smaller than China's other stealth aircraft, the land-based J-20 fighter. An estimated 200 J-20s are operational with the PLAAF.
The J-35A is superficially similar to the Lockheed Martin F-35, whose shape - from fuselage to control surfaces - is designed to minimize how large it appears on radar. It is not publicly known if the J-35 models have special radar-absorbent coatings, as the F-35 does, or communications and radar systems that are difficult to detect.
China has struggled with high-performance turbofan jet engine design, relying on Russian technology for early versions of its domestic fighters.
But the J-31 used Chinese-designed WS-13 engines and the J-35A could be fitted with the more advanced WS-19, analysts say, which is potentially up to 10% more powerful.
Engine technology is critical for advanced fighters, as efficiency entails more range, the ability to carry more gear and weapons, and higher speeds.
"Never too sure about much except the shape of the airframe from these air shows," said Peter Layton, a defense and aviation expert at the Griffith Asia Institute. "The engines used are always a question."
Foreign military attaches and security analysts are closely watching the evolution of J-35 variants, given their importance to Beijing's aircraft carrier program.
Although China's three aircraft carriers remain in training and development mode and have yet to stage long-range operations beyond East Asia, a successful J-35 variant is expected to form a key part of the PLA Navy's ability to project power beyond its home waters in coming years.
The six-day China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition takes place in Zhuhai from Nov 12-17.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
6 Comments
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MilesTeg
It's widely known that China stole data to develop both their knock-offs; the J-20 and J-35. The J-20 looks a lot like the F-22 and the J-35 like the F-35. They didn't even bother changing the numbers for the latter. LOL!
How capable is it? Yet to be determined but there already questions if it's actually stealthy and how good the powerplant is. Chinese pilots also lack experience and nowhere near the amount of training that US pilots receive.
1glenn
It is interesting to observe that the Chinese and the Russians seem to be relying on stealing tech from the West for their aircraft. Doesn't mean that they are not good planes.
quercetum
Chinese pilots continue to fly under the radar.
Speed
Granted, it is a stealth fighter.
Desert Tortoise
Not even close. The J-20 has forward canards and a delta wing while the F-22 had conventional wing and elevons, and the J-20 lacks the rear and side aspect low observable features of the F-22.
Desert Tortoise
Shapes and coatings are now a small part of what makes a plane low observable. Because the F-35 was intended to be sold widely abroad one of the design briefs was that if an adversary was able to examine one in detail they would be bored by how normal it was. No big secrets in its airframe. Stealth now comes from software and only the US and UK get the full Monty during peace time. The computing power built into an F-35 is far beyond anything in any other aircraft. If you understand, say, how a Bose Wave Radio works, apply that concept to the RF spectrum. It is telling that the software labs for the US, UK and other foreign partners and FMS customers are all located in the US and operated exclusively by US citizens. The US is keeping that software a closely guarded secret. The US isn't even letting Israel have access to it.