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

[Shadowdancer]

View attachment 141083

I don't know what to believe.

none of them are true, they won't tell you the real RCS, the only way to find it out is to hijack one and test it in your own facility.

 

[Deino]

Who knows, this is a "Just In!" news.
...

Cross-post from the naval-thread:

By the way, an interesting news via the friend I formerly mentioned. He just added ...

Sometime this fall (basically confirmed to be September 3, 2025), the J-35A will be coated with an official PLAAF number and formally appear in the public eye flying in fleet formation. The agencies involved are currently ramping up production of these J-35A.

So, you'll probably see a lot of test flight photos of the J-35A in the future. But they are not for Pakistan.

 

[Alfa_Particle]

Cross-post from the naval-thread:

By the way, an interesting news via the friend I formerly mentioned. He just added ...

Well, it couldn't come sooner? /jk

But pictured here is definitely the J-35.

Why not August 1st? /s

We know the 35A is extremely close to finishing development and testing (in fact it might've finished already, and now it's just up to the top brasses to decide the grand service reveal). So it's expected. Hell, if Changchun Airshow is on this year I'd expect it to appear and do some more crowd-pleasing.

That's all he said ... both variants are in LRIP at the moment, but

SAC's original plan was to deliver a batch of J-35A to PLAAF for training purposes within this year.
Now, PLAAF has given notice that this batch of J-35A will be delivered earlier. They will participate in this year's parade and pilots will need to train on them well in advance.

Just LRIP? I mean, in the sense of serial production LRIP instead of developmental LRIP I guess.

Ah, so the PLAAF have tasted it and decided that they really like it, eh?

(@Deino I've decided to reply here since it's more about the 35A)

 

[Deino]

Actually I don't know

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Cross-post from the naval-thread:

By the way, an interesting news via the friend I formerly mentioned. He just added ...

3rd of September 2025 is one day after the 80th anniversary of the Surrender of Japan that concluded the Second World War in 1945. Could also be hinting at China Victory Day Parade at Tiananmen Square at that day, if the claim is true.

 

[ismellcopium]

He's a very credible fellow. Close with Orca IIRC?

Is he? Only 8 of my following are following him, with the only one notable being Ayi. Would be nice to get some confirmation on this from others.

 

[Alfa_Particle]

Is he? Only 8 of my following are following him, with the only one notable being Ayi. Would be nice to get some confirmation on this from others.

He's fairly low-profile, same with a notable few whom I consider very credible.

 

[EmoBirb]

Interesting, since a friend I know from another forum told me so far only the PLAAF J-35A would be in production yet, the J-35 at best in LRIP.

Makes sense though. There will still be plenty of months before 'Fujian' will enter service and running smoothly. So the naval version has time until it's "needed". While the PLAAF probably would like to have as many stealth aircraft in it's fleet, preferably already yesterday. Obviously land operations are also less complex and the PLAAF J-35 is probably in some regards a simplified version, the landing gear certainly is. But given that the PLAAF has with the J-20 a proper, heavy, top of the line stealth fighter I wouldn't be surprised if the PLAAF J-35 is a bit "lesser" in some aspects compared to it's naval cousin, which would be the apex of chinese naval aviation.

All in all it would just be logical if the land based version would be operational much sooner in my opinion.

 

[Alfa_Particle]

But given that the PLAAF has with the J-20 a proper, heavy, top of the line stealth fighter I wouldn't be surprised if the PLAAF J-35 is a bit "lesser" in some aspects compared to it's naval cousin, which would be the apex of chinese naval aviation.

I find that assumption highly unlikely. As established multiple times before, the J-35A and J-20 are intended for different roles - there's absolutely no reason to assume that the J-35A would be less capable than the J-35 aside from CTOL/CV differences, just because "the J-20 exists." The IRST/EOTS will likely differ. An EODAS suite provides an advantage over legacy fighters. Etc. You don't need to strip parts and push out a less capable product for the sake of "being operational sooner" as the 35A is also a very mature product.