J-35A fighter (PLAAF) + FC-31 thread

[Maikeru]

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Well there's no serial number or construction number visible so for Deino this is just a big meh...

Anyway a nice surprise on the eve of the US election. Between this and J20 China should be able to crank out well over 200 5th gen fighters per annum going forward.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Rise of the Planet of the 35s.

 

[Wrought]

I am quite surprised by this one. Still not sure why we really need to have a PLAAF version of J-35A.

The best reasoning I can come up with are:
1) Supports industrial base with Shenyang AC and keep cost down for both air force and navy
2) Helps provide support for medium sized aeroengine that would both both J-35A and UCAVs
3) Helps with export when your own air force is also buying it.

Surely the simplest explanation is that it's a newer platform which benefits from newer technology enough that lower range is not a dealbreaker for PLAAF. While it would certainly be ideal to conduct all air engagements far away from the mainland, that's not very realistic to expect so even an aircraft with shorter legs will still fulfill a necessary role.

 

[siegecrossbow]

With the high profile display of J-35A @Deino is going to get an earful from the PAF fanboys for putting down their 2026 induction date… really surprised at how mature the Air Force variant is…

 

[Schwerter_]

With the high profile display of J-35A @Deino is going to get an earful from the PAF fanboys for putting down their 2026 induction date… really surprised at how mature the Air Force variant is…

One may argue it’s not *that* surprising considering that the decade-ish long development done on the fc-31 platform probably feeds into this (maybe more so than the naval variant which has a lot of new challenges concerning carrier operations), however I’m genuinely surprised that they managed to keep this under the blanket so well, we basically had only rumors and a handful of low-res pictures of what probably possibly maybe was the airforce variant in flight before this official reveal. Impressive work by whoever was in charge of security

 

[Maikeru]

All those accusing the J35A of being an F35 copy are so wrong, it is just a development of a long line of J35s:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1853641142824280488

 

[9615]

I can't believe they really did name the Air Force variant the J-35A. They're practically inviting accusations of copying the F-35A. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the naval variant was called the J-35C.

And speaking of names, I think it may be time to change the name of this thread. Or perhaps even start a new thread with the new title.

It's sArcAstc, isn't it?

Although the Air Force variant is J35A, I guess the naval version is J35, simply because the Navy said "Yes" first, after which the Air Force was like "sure, we second".

 

[kkwan18]

J35A Zhuhai.

 

[FirebirdFan]

Congrats to SAC and an interesting side by side with F-35A, though the angles are off. I must say I enjoy the sleek look of the J-35A better. Very eager to learn and see more of the weapons bay, here's to hoping we get some open bay shots during the debut!

 

[siegecrossbow]

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Congrats to SAC and an interesting side by side with F-35A, though the angles are off. I must say I enjoy the sleek look of the J-35A better. Very eager to learn and see more of the weapons bay, here's to hoping we get some open bay shots during the debut!

J-35A appearance wise is pretty much X-35 if it had two engines.