The latest AVIC promotional video at 2016 Zhuhai Airshow indicated the 02 prototype has been built and is preparing for the maiden flight. The latest images suggested that the high-speed taxi test of the 02 prototype started on December 18, 2016. Its first flight took place on December 23, 2016, powered by two smokeless WS-13E engines.
The second prototype of the Chinese stealth fighter FC-3, aimed at foreign buyers, has been tested. Neither the Department of Defense nor the company that produced the aircraft provided details.
The second prototype of the fifth-generation Chinese fighter fighter FC-31, also known as J-31 Shenyang, made its first flight. The hunter was seen near the factory of the Shenyang Aircraft Company, located in Sichuan Province.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense and the press service of Shenyang Aircraft have not yet given details on the new fighter, but several Chinese media have already published his photos.
This aircraft was presented to the general public for the first time in 2014 during the Airshow China 2014 exhibition. The first test flight of the first prototype of FC-31 was made in 2012. Sergey Kornev, spokesman for the Forces Had previously declared that this fighter would use the Russian RD-93 engine.
The FC-31 is intended for foreign buyers, unlike the Chinese fighter J-20 presented on 1 November to be supplied to the Chinese Air Force. However, the company Shenyang Aircraft hopes that FC-31 will interest the Chinese Air Force.
The FC-31 was presented as a cheaper analogue of the American fighter F-35, designed by Lockheed Martin. The Chinese company AVIC, of which Shenyang Aircraft is a member, said the commercial version of the FC-31 will be presented in 2019 when it is ready for commissioning in 2022.
The Chinese fighter J-31, complete copy of the US F-35?
The German weekly newspaper Der Spiegel refers to the information revealed by Edward Snowden to report that China has stolen a lot of information about the construction of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter in the US for use in its J aircraft -31.
According to the experts of the Center of Strategic and Technological Analysis, this publication brings little news to the already known information. Moreover, according to a Russian expert, it is inappropriate to speak of a complete copy in the present case. Theft by Chinese intelligence of a terabyte of information on the computer networks of several F-35 companies was reported in 2009. The US authorities then announced that the stolen information was mainly concerned with the general construction of the F-35. The aircraft and its aerodynamics. The Chinese had failed to capture data from the F-35's key subsystems such as the engine, radar, or control system.
From the information available on the Chinese project J-31, it can not be said that it is a "copy" of the F-35. It is a completely different device that only resembles outside the American craft. Judging by earlier statements by Chinese designers, the J-31 is perceived as a low-tech project, unlike the more complex J-20. The main aircraft and systems of the J-31 were not designed from scratch but borrowed from the latest models of fourth-generation Chinese hunters (third in Chinese terminology). Unlike the F-35, this fighter is equipped with two engines.
The success of the J-31 project would mean the entry into the market of the first fighter built using stealth technologies, while being affordable. It will be difficult to relate it to a concrete generation. It is planned to install Russian RD-93 engines and eventually modernized Chinese WS-13 engines. Thus, its propulsion system will be similar to that of the MiG-29. This device should not be expected to be supersonic or hyper-manoeuvrable.
At the same time, it will show the performance of the latest Chinese series hunters, such as the J-10B, and will feature an active antenna radar, state-of-the-art cockpit equipment and new electronic warfare systems. These features will be coupled with radar stealth. Anyway, this device will be a big step forward compared to the existing fourth generation fighter. And it will be affordable.
Fifth-generation fighters such as the F-35, the T-50 or J-20 will probably be so expensive that they will be impossible to acquire for underdeveloped countries and emerging economies. Even the greatest armies of the air will have but a small number of them. On their merits, the J-31 will be a reliable and cheap "workhorse". This device could succeed where the FC-1 had failed to become a large exported hunter and could be delivered not only to the isolated market of Pakistan but also to the world.
According to Fu Qianshao, expert of the Chinese Air Force; The sale price of the aircraft would be estimated at 70 million dollars, which is cheaper than the 4th generation European fighter planes.
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