China’s IJ-35A stealth fighter is a ‘black box’ despite being splashy to begin with

Written by Gerry Doyle

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s highly anticipated J-35A jet, the centerpiece of this week’s Zhuhai air show, has been more than a decade in the making, but experts say little is known about its capabilities.

The first public appearance of the ground-based J-35A will take place on Tuesday, the day after the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and will include a flying display. Another variant, the J-35, is designed for use with Chinese aircraft carriers.

Even though it took to the skies more than 10 years after its ancestor, the J-31, first flew, there is little public information about the J-35’s performance or stealth, military analysts said.

“Because of the black box that often surrounds the development of PLA miltech, we cannot be too sure about the performance of the J-35,” said Collin Koh of S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“PRC scientists … have done over the years various STEM and advanced studies related to fighter jet tech, including stealth, so I will suggest not to join the skeptics to shoot down the plane directly,” said Koh.

The J-35 and J-35A are designed and built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, a unit of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China. The state-run People’s Daily newspaper said before the air show that the J-35A “mainly performs the task of intercepting and maintaining air power”.

Both variants of the J-35 are significantly smaller than China’s other stealth aircraft, the J-20 ground fighter. There are approximately 200 J-20s in service with the PLAAF.

The IJ-35A is almost identical to the Lockheed Martin F-35, whose shape – from the fuselage to the control panel – is designed to minimize how large it appears on radar. It is not publicly known if the J-35 models have special radar-catching coatings, as the F-35 does, or communications and radar systems that are hard to find.

China has struggled with the design of a highly efficient turbofan jet engine, relying on Russian technology for early versions of its domestic fighters.

But the J-31 used Chinese-made WS-13 engines and the J-35A may be equipped with the more advanced WS-19, analysts say, which may have up to 10% more power.

Engine technology is important for advanced fighters, as efficiency includes greater range, the ability to carry more gear and weapons, and higher speed.

“You can never be too sure about much other than the shape of the airframe from these air games,” said Peter Layton, a defense and aviation expert at the Griffith Asia Institute. “Used engines are always a question.”

Foreign military insiders and security analysts have watched the emergence of the J-35 models closely, given their importance to Beijing’s air carrier system.

Although China’s three aircraft carriers remain in a state of training and development and have not yet begun long-range operations beyond East Asia, the successful diversification of the J-35 is expected to be an important part of the PLA Navy’s ability to generate power beyond domestic waters. in the coming years.

The six-day China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition will be held in Zhuhai from Nov. 12-17.

(Reporting by Gerry Doyle in Singapore; Additional reporting by Greg Torode in Hong Kong and Sophie Yu in Zhuhai; Editing by Nicholas Yong and Tom Hogue)