On the contrary, I've been hoping for Shenyang's lines to assist with 5th gen for a long time. The arrival of J-35 is earlier than I dared to hope, but absolutely vital to counter a threat environment characterised by a sharp rise in foreign revanchism. China must not permit itself to fall behind on the quantity game.
CAC has 3x or 4x its factory size based on satellite photos. It can produce 300 J-20s a year if it wants to.
I believe it's for ramping up production for future carriers. It's probably not worth it just to make an entirely new production line just for 3 carriers China has right now but who knows how many carriers China is going to build in the future.
So I had calculated 10-12 carriers eventually requiring probably 400-500 J-35s over life time. But I guess that's a small number.
One other benefit is that this would make it easier for air force to operate from naval bases and also from certain allied countries (like Pakistan) that would be operating J-35s in the future.
I'm pretty sure J35A and J20 would be the 5th gen version of J10 and J11. From what can be collected from the big shrimps words so far, it should be cheaper, easier to produce (as shown by the articles on 3D printing parts and etc) and easier to maintain (not really a surprise as the program was designed to have a carrier version to begin with). I'm just kind of curious what kind of speed they'll be pumping these out, given they are already producing the "heavy weight" J20 at such a high pace.
Tho I've being hating on the name since the rumors came out several years ago (what kind of troll would choose this name), I gotta say this is my favorite 5th gen aesthetically so far.
I don't see how J-35A can still be easier to produce now that they've ramped up J-20 to 100 a year and is clearly still increasing the number.
J-20A production process likely would've incorporated all the latest production advancement ideas.
You actually do lose some obvious things when you add J-35As. Now, your J-35A bases don't support WS-10/15 series of engines. They also don't support the predominant aircraft type J-20. That just makes operation out of other bases harder.
Its also an essential diplomatic tool. The US basically owns the countries that it sells the F-35 to, so China urgently needs a counter to that.
right, that's one major reason for ordering it. Harder to get other countries to buy something that your own air force doesn't use.
