Meet the J-15: For decades, the U.S. military has greatly benefited from maintaining air superiority over its adversaries across the globe.
American officials have invested billions of dollars into the programs that produced fifth-generation fighters, stealth bombers, and cutting-edge airframes across the board.
Since the post-World War II era, achieving superior air power has undoubtedly monopolized America’s global projection of military might.
The Air Force is continuing to sink its resources into a Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems; however, U.S. competitors are catching up and arguably surpassing what was once considered American-dominated skies.
Over the last ten years, the People’s Republic of China has poured a large portion of its investments into a modernized air force. The Shenyang J-15 carrier-based fourth-generation fighter represents one of Beijing’s more advanced airframes.
The J-15 – a copycat version of the Russian Su-33 fighter?
On multiple occasions, the PRC attempted to procure Russia’s carrier-capable Su-33 fighter jet in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Moscow ultimately declined to deliver its then-prominent Su-33 airframes to Beijing after the Kremlin discovered that the PRC had violated intellectual property agreements regarding its Su-27SK.
Initially, Moscow authorized the delivery of its solid Sukhoi “Flanker” multirole fighter. However, the China-based Shenyang Aircraft Corporation reverse-engineered parts of the platform without authorization from Moscow. China incorporated its own homegrown engines and avionics instead of using Russian-made models, which soured the relationship between the two countries.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Air Force (PLAAF) utilized similar tactics in order to produce an Su-33 copycat. Unable to purchase Russia’s new fighter legally, China procured a single Su-33 prototype airframe from Ukraine dubbed T-10K-3 and began to reverse engineer its components.
Nicknamed the “Flying Shark” by the PLAAF and the “Flanker-X2” by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the J-15 entered service with the PLA in 2014. The same company that is believed to have reverse-engineered the Su-27SK, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, manufactured the J-15.
Russian media outlets have ripped apart the Flying Shark
Similar to its Su-33 counterpart, the J-15 features a folding wing design. The Flying Shark can travel at much faster speeds and at a higher service ceiling than the Su-33, however. Despite this fact, Moscow has not been shy in its slander of China’s copycat fighter.
As detailed in a Business Insider piece, the Russian news outlet Sputnik reported that “The J-15 is too heavy to operate efficiently from carriers, has problems with its flight control systems, which has led to several crashes, and more,” adding that “Beijing doesn’t even have enough J-15s to outfit both of its carriers.”
China debuted an enhanced variant of the J-15 fighter in 2021, which featured improvements to its radar, wings, missile pylons, and infrared search and track systems. The newer variant could be capable of carrying a short-range combat missile, according to the Chinese-affiliated news outlet Global Times. Within the last year, China’s J-15 fighters have been reoutfitted with locally-made WS-10 engines.
The PLAAF’s decision to do away with the original Russian AL-31F engines indicates that Beijing is confident in its new domestic product. Analysts and industry experts have argued that China’s WS-10 engines are falling short and could be described as “underdeveloped.”
Regardless of the true capabilities of the J-15’s newly installed engines, the fighter can carry more weapons and fuel than some of its near-peers. However, China’s additional newer generation fighters, including the Chengdu J-20, more than makes up for the Flying Shark’s flaws.
Maya Carlin is a Senior Editor with 19FortyFive. She is also an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel.
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