Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
9 photos of the J-31, China's copycat version of the F-35 stealth fighter - here's how it stacks up
9 photos of the J-31, China's copycat version of the F-35 stealth fighter - here's how it stacks up
Daniel BrownOct 6, 2018, 18:30 IST
Advertisement
Reuters
After China's J-31 stealth fighter made its first full-scale public appearance in 2014, observers noted its striking resemblance to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
And many weren't surprised: China was thought to have stolen unclassified F-35 design information five years earlier.
But recently, there's been little reporting and discussion about the J-31.
"Part of that, to my knowledge, is that the [PLA] Air Force still hasn't bought any of them," Matthew P. Funaiole, a fellow with the China Power Project at CSIS, told Business Insider.
Advertisement
"It was supposed to be introduced in 2018 [or] 2019 ... but there hasn't been much chatter on it," Funaiole added.
Here's how the J-31 stacks up against the F-35, and what China might do with the new fighter.
But the J-31 has a maximum takeoff weight of 56,000 pounds and a maximum range of 775 miles, making it lighter than the 70,000-pound F-35, and with roughly half the range.
The J-31 is a twin-engine aircraft, and the F-35 is a single engine aircraft.
In fact, the slightly improved J-31 prototype (there are only two known to exist), which first flew in December 2016, was equipped with a cleaner burning WS-13 engine, among other improvements.
Beijing has even claimed that the J-31 will eventually have supercruise-capable WS-19 engines, giving it a leg up on the F-35.
But unlike the J-31, the F-35 has a sensor suite giving the pilot greater awareness of the battlefield and is basically a flying data hub that shares target tracking information.
"There is no indication that China’s J-31 has been able to fuse such a large variety of feeds into a singular manageable interface," Popular Science recently wrote. "That means the F-35’s ability to fight from beyond the horizon won’t be found in its Chinese knock-off."
As for how the J-31 will be used? Chinese military analysts have said that it will probably replace the J-15 as Beijing's primary carrier fighter.
