An article in The National Interest, a U.S. diplomatic and security journal, compares the Chinese Communist Party’s J-31 to the U.S. F-35.
The saying “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” is true or not, but in the world of military hardware, there is certainly a lot of imitation, especially when it comes to aircraft. In this case, the People’s Republic of China is arguably one of the most “sincere” countries when it comes to military flattery.
For example, the “influence” of Lockheed Martin’s F-22 on the CCP’s J-20, or the “influence” of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-33 on the CCP’s J-15.
It is now clear that Beijing’s fifth-generation J-31 is essentially just a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter with “Made in China” on it.
As Kris Osborn wrote for Fox News this week, “Virtually all photos and renderings of the J-31 since its debut reveal striking similarities to the U.S. F-35. This does not surprise many in the U.S., given China’s well-known and documented cyber espionage efforts.”
It’s likely that Beijing stole a lot of data from the U.S. to build the J-31, but that doesn’t mean this copy can actually compete with the F-35. While Chinese Communist Party officials have compared the J-31 to the F-35, it is unclear whether the J-31 will have the same stealth capabilities of the U.S. fifth-generation fighter.
The J-31 has a stealthy aerodynamic design and may have stealth coatings – but there are other factors to consider, including radar-absorbing coating materials and the use of internal weapons bays.
It is too early to tell if the J-31 can really go head-to-head with U.S. and allied F-35 fighters, and the Communist Chinese fighter reportedly received a lot of negative reviews when it was unveiled at the air show.
Nonetheless, it still has the potential to challenge the U.S. fourth-generation non-stealth fighter, but the question is how it will perform against the F-35 is what really matters.
What is even less clear is whether the J-31 will be inducted as a carrier-based fighter. If so, whether it could operate on the Communist Party of China Navy’s (PLAN) two aircraft carriers, both of which use sliding jump takeoff decks, or whether it is intended for foreign customers to compete with the F-35.
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