China’s Highly Evolved FC-31 Stealth Fighter Makes Its First Flight


                                                                          FC-31

 The War Zone reported on the existence of a second rendition of China’s Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter when pictures of the design under construction surfaced during the Zhuhai Air Show in early November. Now that aircraft—which features substantial upgrades in its low observable shaping and manufacturing quality—has flown for the first time, as evidenced by the photos and video below. 

 Not only could an operational FC-31 help fill the ranks of PLAAF medium and light fighter squadrons, but it could also be adapted for China’s emerging CATOBAR aircraft carrier program. This would give China a stealthy fighter that can project power far from the Chinese mainland. If this redesign proves fruitful, it’s all but guaranteed China will move to export the FC-31 to anyone with the cash to buy it. Many countries either can’t afford, or are not allowed to buy, the Lockheed Martin F-35 from the US.


 These nations could turn to China and the FC-31 to provide them with a “poor man’s” Joint Strike Fighter. Pakistan, in particular, is a very ripe candidate to join the FC-31 program early on–especially as new aircraft join the Indian Air Force’s fleet, including the PAK-FA based on Russia’s stealthy T-50 fighter. 

 The FC-31 appeared for the first time over four years ago, and the fact that already moved from “YF” configuration to a near production configuration is telling. It shows how committed China is to developing multiple stealth fighters as part of a high-low capability mix, and to take a larger share of the fighter export market abroad.

  The FC-31 is one of three light to medium-weight stealthy fighters being developed indigenously in the region—Japan and Korea are the other two countries taking on such endeavours, and both are also F-35 customers.

  They will likely end up with designs that will be similar to what the F-35 would have been like without the F-35B’s damning STOVL requirements that mired the jet’s design and specifically its aerodynamics. 

 How stealthy an airframe and how advanced China’s FC-31’s sensor fusion and avionics suite will be is unknown. But even an 70% solution alternative to the F-35 that costs 40% of Lockheed Martin’s price is an enticing proposition, as quantity has a quality all its own.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Network Centric Warfare Capabilities & INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Image
By: Next Generation Weapons Technology Network Centric Warfare and Indian Navy & IAF and land based units. More satellites will be launched as grid as launched previously. In addition to making platforms and infrastructure for network centricity, the Navy has also made organizational changes to create and efficiently manage the transition to seamless Network Centric capabilities. The creation of a new post of Assistant Chief of Naval S taff (Communications Space and Network Centric Operations) is step in the process to migrate from a ‘Platform Centric Navy’ to a ‘Network Enabled Navy’. During various exercises, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has been one of the crucial aspects being validated. During the various coordinated exercises conducted by the Army with the Air Force, the endeavor has been to validate and integrate the use of all available assets, including satellites, UAVs and HUMINT (Human intelligence) to assist commanders at all levels in taking dynamic and pr
Read more

The Heat is on!! for INDIA as China Unveils its 5th Gen Stealth J20 Fighter Jet ; Pakistan expresses interest to buy

Image
China on Tuesday unveiled its J-20 stealth fighter jet at its biggest air show which will have major implications for India as it is the first indigenously-made fifth-generation Chinese aircraft which Pakistan has shown interest in acquiring. Two J-20 aircraft which made waves in the Chinese media in the last few years flew at the Zhuhai city air show where the Pakistan Air Force is also taking part flying with its J-17 Thunder jets which are jointly manufactured with China. This is the first, public show of the J-20 warplane. Pakistan, the largest importer of Chinese arms has said earlier that it is in talks with China to buy the FC-31 - an export variant of the same aircraft. The FC-31 was briefly flown in the 2014 Zhuhai airshow. The stealth aircraft is regarded as major breakthrough for China which is otherwise mostly reliant on Russian aircraft including advanced versions of Sukhois. India is yet to make stealth aircraft which can penetrate through enemy radars. The J
Read more

Where Is Article 370 Now!!!!, That Rohingyas And Bangladeshis Are Being Settled In Jammu And Ladakh ???

Image
Jammu is up in arms against the authorities. This time, it is not against discriminatory policies being pursued by the successive Kashmir-dominated and Valley-centric governments in Jammu & Kashmir since 1947, but against the settlement of Rohingyas from Myanmar in Jammu and Ladakh, both strategically vital for national security. According to the late Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the number of Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of Jammu city and around it, was 5,107 in 2010 (AINS, 10 October 2015). And, as per Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s June 2016 Assembly statement, there were 13,400 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis living in camps in Jammu. She said “Bathindi Ka Plot is home to the highest number of Rohingya Muslims” (The Hindustan Times, 5 December 2016). The break-up of Rohingyas settled in the state is as follows: Jammu – 5,086, Jammu’s Samba district – 634 and Ladakh – 7,664. The total number is 13, 334. The Jammu Chamber of C
Read more