not necessarily, remember how fc-31 was spotted in the first place? Been packaged transportation on highway to Yanliang
Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
- Thread starter RedSky
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But this was not the flight test base but the static test laboratory.
Anyway, I'm confused... Point is, the number confirms there is a third prototype and this seems to be that one. The question is - and so far I haven't got an answer - is this third airframe now the same aircraft we formerly knew as the second one (aka second flying one or V2) since the true second prototype is the statec test specimen or is this the third flying one and we haven't seen any images confirming a no. 31002 and the static test frames simply have no numbers?
why is suddenly so much hype around FC-31 ?
Yes, 31003 is always the 2.0 or V2 one we talked about... And this cause a lot of confusion in Chinese forums too XD. 31002 never went into the air AFAIK.
And the new images are taken in Xian I believe... There's several people saw it in Xian yesterday, and took pictures of it (but almost all of them got deleted... both on 微博 and 贴吧). I'm also confused about why it went to Xian, cause that's the place for the big birds XD
This is the FC-31V2 we all know and love, merely painted in grey colours and with its serial number visible, so no, we don't expect a PLA insignia.
The fact that it is "31003" suggests to me that:
31001 = FC-31V1 flying frame
31002 = a static test frame?
31003 = FC-31V2 flying frame
This "31003" isn't the "J-35"/J-XY/carrier derived FC-31 variant that we've all been anticipating.
To quote a paraphrase mr highground; "this is not the stealth fighter you're looking for"
by78
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Stop! Please, just, stop!! Sinodefence Forum is not a fanboy website.
That's a photoshopped image. Someone took an existing image of a J-31 parked on the tarmac, rotated it slightly counter-clockwise, and then put it against a false background to make it appear that it's landing.
Here's the photoshopped image (uncropped):
Stop! Please, just, stop!! Sinodefence Forum is not a fanboy website.
That's a photoshopped image. Someone took an existing image of a J-31 parked on the tarmac, rotated it slightly counter-clockwise, and then put it against a false background to make it appear that it's landing.
Here's the photoshopped image (uncropped):
Even if I agree with you, we mast be patient with him; at least he is new and he was the one who posted this first clear image of 31003 "in the air". I must admit I was fooled too yesterday.
I'm sure he will be more careful next time.
by78
General
We'll see if he improves, although those with Dunning-Kruger usually won't, at least not in the short-to-medium term.
Hey Deino, I've seen some confusion regarding the number painted on the "new" prototype above and think I may have seen an answer on Chinese forums (namely CJDBY). Yes this plane is numbered 31001 and yes it looks identical to the yellow-skined 2.0 version that has been around since 2016. This is because the two are the same plane. According to some people on that forum two version 2.0 prototypes were produced: 31002 and 31003. 31002 was used for static testing and have never flown, while 31003 is the one that has been out and about since 2016, the recent pictures are merely the same plane with new paint. I haven't seen any concrete evidence to back this up (for example pictures of the 31002 during testing), but neither have anyone on CJDBY opposed this statement.
I'll just put this here, hope it'll be of help
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