Article Summary: China’s J-35A and J-35 are its latest attempts to join the exclusive club of nations with stealth fighters. The J-35A is a land-based multirole aircraft with electronic warfare, missile interception, and dogfighting capabilities, while the J-35 is a carrier-based variant with reinforced landing gear and folding wings for naval operations.
Key Points #1 – Despite China’s claims of advanced stealth, these fighters heavily resemble the U.S. F-35, likely due to cyber espionage.
Key Points #2 – While the J-35 family enhances China’s power projection and grey zone tactics against Taiwan, analysts question whether these aircraft truly rival the F-35 or remain technologically inferior copies of Western designs.
The J-35A Stealth Fighter: How China Plans to Challenge the U.S.
China has two stealth fighter jets: the J-35A (there’s a naval version called the J-35) and the J-20.
It should be clarified that many analysts in the United States intelligence community do not know just how stealthy these airplanes are, and they likely have different levels of radar evasion attributes. The
The Chinese love to brag and consider themselves to be the only country besides America to have two airplanes with stealth characteristics.
It is important to remember these fighters when analyzing the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Let’s take a deeper dive into the J-35A program to examine its history.
You will be hearing a significant amount of chatter about this airplane in the coming months, and it is important to get a download about its past to understand it better.
The J-35A is yet to enter active duty and it greeted the world at the Zhuhai Airshow in China last fall. This was the first public unveiling of the warbird.
The J-35A is a medium-sized twin-engine fighter. Not much is known about all of its specs.
History of the J-35 and J-35A Fighters
The J-35 started off as an airplane called the FC-31 Gyrlfalcon (also known as the J-31). Since the FC-31 was smaller than the J-20, Western military analysts assumed this was to be a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) carrier-borne jet.
The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation produced the FC-31. At first glance, the FC-31 looked similar to the F-35, but with two powerplants instead of one.
The FC-31 was more significant than the F-35 but was thought to have better speed and thrust. It was also smaller than the J-20.
The FC-31 first flew in 2012, but only a mockup was publicly displayed with trapezoidal wings. In 2014, the FC-31 was featured at the Zhuhai Air Show and the following year at the Dubai expo.
The FC-31 had Russian-built Klimov RD-33 engines, but eventually, the J-35 and J-35A would have WS-13E powerplants – Chinese engines that they reverse-engineered from the Russians. The J-35A now has WS-21 turbofan engines.
China Plans to “Annihilate” with These Airplanes
After this expo, observers began calling it the J-35 as Chinese fighters have the “J” designation that stands for “Jian” or to annihilate.
A second J-35 (what was thought to be the carrier version) flew in 2016. The J-35 has taken off from the Liaoning, China’s earliest carrier, in test flights.
The J-35 has folding wings and more sturdy landing gear for catapult launches and arrestor gear landings to allow for rapid decelerations when landing on a carrier.
The J-35A Can Take On Different Types of Missions
The J-35A is a land-based model with multi-role features for eliminating enemy airplanes in dogfighting actions and performing ground strikes. The J-35A can also take out ballistic and cruise missiles, making it a formidable fighter.
The J-35A has intelligence-gathering characteristics and electronic warfare methods to jam and spoof incoming air defense interceptors.
“The J-35A is a medium-sized fighter with a twin divert less supersonic intake, twin-engine layout, and a single ventral internal weapons bay (IWB). It possesses a conventional wing and tail configuration, with the usual hallmarks of a stealthy fifth-generation aircraft such as edge alignment, chines, serrated paneling and doors, and a relatively smooth external finish,” according to the Diplomat.
Can They Rival the F-35 and F-22?
The J-35 and the J-35A are meant to be a family of fighters, much like the American F-35 program of “A, B, and C” designations.
Both airplanes will be worthy adversaries for the F-35 and the F-22. China is proud that the PLAAF and PLAN joined the two stealth fighter clubs with the United States.
Perfect for the Current Level of “Grey Zone” Tactics Against Taiwan
China has many options with the J-35 and J-35A. The carrier version will populate naval aviation in the coming years and give the PLAN stealth capabilities and the type of range needed to patrol the First Island Chain.
The PLAAF can use the land-based fighter to encroach on Taiwan’s air space or its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) without being discovered when engaging in “grey zone” tactics (actions that are between a shooting war and peace).
Beijing should be credited for attempting to produce these airplanes with stealth characteristics. I don’t believe they are fully stealthy, and these are simply Chinese boasts about their airplanes.
The J-35 and J-35A give the Chinese a one-two punch, and the designers and engineers puff out their chests even though they have copied many features from the F-35 due to cyber espionage.
You will be reading more about the PLAN and the PLAAF’s use of J-35s and J-35As in the future.
J-35 Photo Collage
J-35A Fighter from China. Image Credit: Chinese Military
China J-35 Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
J-35 flying at Zhuhai Airshow 2024.
J-35 Stealth Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
J-35 vs. F-35 Comparison. Image by Twitter User RupprechtDeino.
J-35 Fighter. Image: Creative Commons.
About the Author
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
