China has now publically unveiled its new Shenyang J-35A fighter jet and offered another glimpse into the Chinese combat aircraft of tomorrow . The jet stems from the J-31/FC-31 Gyrfalcon, which lost the competition to be the stealth fighter of the Chinese Air Force to the J-20 "Mighty Dragon." Undeterred, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) continued to develop the jet as a low-end fifth generation fighter for export and to build a naval variant for China's growing fleet of aircraft carriers .
China unveils the J-35A variant of FC-31 The Shenyang J-35A fighter jet is known to have been under development for some time, but previously there was only unofficial and often poor-quality imagery. Now, the world gets a good look at the J-35A. Not only is the jet seemingly named after the F-35A , but it also closely resembles America's flagship fighter.
The first official photo of the J-35A was released ahead of the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition (better known as Airshow China). J-35A/FC-31 Manufacturer: Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) First flight: 2012 (FC-31), 2021 (J-35A) Type: Stealth multirole fighter Names/Variants: J-35 / J-31 / FC-31 / F-60 / J-21 Country of origin: China The first FC-31 prototype flew in October 2012 (before making its debut at Airshow China in 2014). After that, the FC-31 was thoroughly reworked and greatly refined.
It's unclear if the J-35A is a final iteration of the jet that will see serial production or if more reworkings are t.