Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

janjak desalin said:

You mean as they did the T-10/Su-27 platform?

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yeah.

Okay!
Back to the J-31, specifically!
Which nations may be considered likely candidates to purchase, after the previously mentioned and obvious candidates?

janjak desalin said:

Okay!
Back to the J-31, specifically!
Which nations may be considered likely candidates to purchase, after the previously mentioned and obvious candidates?

Click to expand...

There are none, that's the problem. At this point if the PLA doesn't step in then this project is doomed.

janjak desalin said:

Okay!
Back to the J-31, specifically!
Which nations may be considered likely candidates to purchase, after the previously mentioned and obvious candidates?

Click to expand...

Pakistan.

Assorted ME states like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt if they can't get the F-35/J-31 turns out to be a superior A2A fighter.

Some of the SE Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand, for the same reasons as the ME nations.

Maybe Kazakhstan, if things with the Russians get worse (though they might buy the TFX or KFX).

Those model makers are fast, model of modified J-31 mock up is already out:

Pictures of these models came out literally the same time pictures of that mock-up at Zhuhai showed up for the first time. So did the producers of these models have some insider knowledge and was okayed by SAC? I mentioned before I saw some CGI images of this version months earlier that I thought were from some fan boy. There were some fan boy art where someone put F-22 tailfins on the J-20 and I thought that was ugly. I thought the F-35 tailfins were ugly on it but the model looks better. Now I think those earlier CGI pics were from SAC and they've been leaking this out for a while.

xiabonan said:

Not trying to play down the Russians but I seriously doubt they have the money to do it.

They're already having problem funding the PAKFA programme that they need to bring in the Indians for a "joint-venture" a.k.a "use Indian money to fund the programme".

Now that Russia is having such a bad time in terms of politics and economy, I really doubt they can continue this programme. Russians talk big a lot, but only a mere fraction of the talks materialise.

Not saying that they don't have the technological know-how,but they simply aren't that rich.

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That's why the Russians want to sell those SU-35s to China, to recapitalize their defense industry, for starters, building the PAK-FA,,, I do believe its very likely the Indians are unhappy with the Russian export version, HAL Sukhoi PMF/FGFA, and the lack of firm progress to date???? I have been wrong before, but this time, I don't think so?

no_name said:

Maybe they can PAKFA the Mig-29/35.

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That is a very long shot, and I just don't see that happening anytime soon?

Skywatcher said:

Pakistan.

Assorted ME states like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Egypt if they can't get the F-35/J-31 turns out to be a superior A2A fighter.

Some of the SE Asian countries like Malaysia and Thailand, for the same reasons as the ME nations.

Maybe Kazakhstan, if things with the Russians get worse (though they might buy the TFX or KFX).

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The question is does Pakistan have the money? Sure it could be part of a loan package, but has there been much news on the preciously touted J-10C sales to Pakistan lately?

However, I do think the J-31 was designed as a natural upgrade to J-17. Engine is one clue.

Air Force Brat said:

That's why the Russians want to sell those SU-35s to China, to recapitalize their defense industry, for starters, building the PAK-FA,,, I do believe its very likely the Indians are unhappy with the Russian export version, HAL Sukhoi PMF/FGFA, and the lack of firm progress to date???? I have been wrong before, but this time, I don't think so?

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Yup I've heard from Chinese forums such news. The Indians were apparently unhappy with the progress and the amount of access they have to core technologies. After all they're not stupid, they know the Russians do not genuinely want to share technologies with them, but to simply make use of their funds to proceed with their own project.