Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

I know this post will not be too popular in this forum, but I found a need to say it anyway. True, we are seeing quite a bit of technology innovation or breakthrough from the Chinese these recent years... the creation of the J-20, J-31/J-21/F-60, J-10A/ 10B, J-11B etc. However I still believe that engines are one of the areas that the Chinese are still not quite on par with the West (they might be catching up though).

As to talks of China overtaking US or many of the European countries in term of technology... well... in my opinion, the Chinese are still not there yet. They might or they might not be better than the US and European countries are still a question mark, we did see great GDP in recent years (except now due to financial crisis that had also affect China). Maybe in a few more decades could China actually reach what the US was now or in future.

We are proud of what China had achieved in this period of time, but let pride not blind us from the fact that China still had some distance to cover.

NikeX said:

As other non-Chinese manufactures see what is going on in China they will increase their efforts to maintain their lead over China. The target China is trying to hit is a moving one.

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Very true, and I agree.

It's important to add that nations or whole regions have been hitting, surpassing, or yes, failing to hit, that sort of "moving target" throughout history. The fact that the world is currently imbalanced at all is proof of that.

NikeX said:

Since you sidestepped my original question let me ask you the question this way: Do you think China can overtake those aircraft manufactures who currently hold a sizable lead of Chinese aerospace?

And if your answer is yes then how can China do it?

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I do not think that was your original claim or question, but with time, yes. China will do it how any country does it. Assuming good finance and continuing R&D the time it takes to develop and mature new technologies goes at a slower pace than the time it takes to adopt and learn old ones. South Korea went from no silicon fabrication abilities to one of the world's best in less than 30 years time. China's own aviation industry was practically non existent, and now they've closed a roughly 30 year gap in their development. It's always slower to push the margins than to catch up to it. This is simply a property of development and modernization. Trying to catch up to the most advanced technologies is indeed chasing a moving target, but you just have to move faster than the target moves to eventually catch it.

It's not like China's not doing their own independent research either. What they research does not have to tread old water. It can simply build off prior research.

Dizasta1 said:

All the chatter about the new Chinese stealth fighter and no talk of power plants!! Is it possible to conceive that the Gen-5 stealth fighter (J-31) would be powered by a Gen-3+ engine? Really? That is just wrong!

Where is the WS-13? What happened to the WS-10A? And is there any factual proof that the J-20s would be powered by the WS-15?

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The WS-10A is being tested on the J-10B and being flown on the J-11B. It took longer than planned, but the WS-10A is indicative that China can deliver on indigenous turbofans. What's more dubious is if they can meet their own deadlines.

MiG-29 said:

I am Cristian too, and i have jewish family in Israel, what you say is true values are very important, part of the decadence of Russia was the political system destroyed many spiritual values of the old orthodox christianity.

Science and religion are not enemies, when in a society there is caos, industries also decay.

This is reflected in Russia`s aerospace decay in the 1990s.

However now we live a globalize world, no aerospace industry is nowadays purely national, today all fighters are international programs not even PAKFA or F-22 are exception.

China is no exception, however some countries try to reduce dependance in foreign sources, so China is trying to build its fleet of stealth fighters with the less foreign participation, but this day we are mostly living in a global village

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PAKFA is actually quite interesting, as both f22 and j20 are purely domestic elite projects, that rather have 'lesser' siblings as international partnerships. Now obviously j31 won't contain foreign parts (would future export versions?) I must say too that SAC's publicity stunt is kinda weird. CAC kinda went along with tests and let things just play out online by itself. SAC pretty much paraded the plane around before locking everything down again...

I'm proud to live in one of the most peaceful, stable and well-governed , and -least- religious countries in the world. As with most Scandinavians I consider religion a -purely- private matter. Frankly I find the use of religion in public discourse appalling. To think that expounding one's religious views would have anything but a negative effect on the debate is naive. As such, I say we keep our religious views and manners censored from view in the same way j31 is.

Maggern said:

Now obviously j31 won't contain foreign parts (would future export versions?) I must say too that SAC's publicity stunt is kinda weird.

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Well... we wouldn't know for sure. So far only 1 prototype was seen, and it seemed like they might use the Russian engines or WS-13. Maybe this aircraft was for export purpose only and SAC might want to look for international partners to join the program.

rhino123 said:

Well... we wouldn't know for sure. So far only 1 prototype was seen, and it seemed like they might use the Russian engines or WS-13. Maybe this aircraft was for export purpose only and SAC might want to look for international partners to join the program.

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Shoot I forgot about the engines...

It's being two days at least, still no new pics. Now wondering if that was just a digital fake or legit spy shot.

Vini_Vidi_Vici said:

It's being two days at least, still no new pics. Now wondering if that was just a digital fake or legit spy shot.

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Here we go again, we haven't seen new pics of the 052D for a week now, maybe that's a fake too?

NikeX said:

Since you sidestepped my original question let me ask you the question this way: Do you think China can overtake those aircraft manufactures who currently hold a sizable lead of Chinese aerospace?

And if your answer is yes then how can China do it?

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Yes, with one engineering class at a time and plenty of money to support research and development, with discipline and creative thoughts to solve any problems. In high tech competition there is no absolute finish line, but an endless marathon to advance further and farther than any one else for the lead, and the lead changes all the time.

Such a sizable lead yet no one from the Western areo space manufacturer still couldn't make a copy of China's Df-21D ASBM?

I love how some think the Chinese government has to report to them personally or whatever is not legitimate. It's like the saying if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Like a tree can only fall when they're around to hear it?