Shenyang FC-31 fighter

[Deino]

Stick a pair of F414 EPEs in it.

I'm sure, neither SAC nor the PLAAF would refuse it in case the US would deliver.

 

[Deino]

Finally two clear images of the grey FC-31V2 demonstrator.

Would be interesting to know how old or recent they are and if these latest rumors concerning the allefged V3 prototype are based on these ones.


Via: https://www.weibo.com/2642834401/IDSxwlIEm

 

[Foo Fighter]

Am I alone in thinking it looks like a mish mash of F-22 and YF-23?

 

[GARGEAN]

TBH for me it lools EXTREMELY blank. Like absolutely lacking any personality whatsoever.

 

[LowObservable]

F-35 minus STOVL.

 

[sferrin]

F-35 minus STOVL.

Pretty much. I was beginning to wonder if you were dead.

 

[totoro]

The choice to go with two engines is probably the result of not having a suitable engine for a single powerplant design which could still be within the requirements. This prototype probably enjoys some 180-200 kN of uninstalled thrust. Whereas even if the design was tailor made around a single WS15 engine, the thrust rating would have likely been some 30-ish kN less. And WS15 was also probably seen as a very risky, far away in the future choice back then, 10 years ago, when FC31 configuration was probably more-or-less frozen. It may very well still turn out to be an engine not to see serial production for another decade.

Of course, if it turns out that FC31 will be using engines totaling some 170-ish kn of thrust, while at the same time WS-15 manages to match that rating and somehow does become readily available by 2025 or so - then that's going to be an opportunity missed for the Chinese air forces.

 

[Sundog]

It's a reduced size F-22, crossed with an F-35. Which should make it the J-28.5

 

[Grey Havoc]

F-35 minus STOVL.

Yes, from the front it would remind you a bit of a twin-engined F-35.

 

[TomcatViP]

I wonder which side will suffer the most from friendly fire...
Perhaps F-35 will have to be escorted by A-10 and J31 by J6?

 

[Deino]

I wonder which side will suffer the most from friendly fire...
Perhaps F-35 will have to be escorted by A-10 and J31 by J6?

Yes for sure, esp. since the PLAAF no longer operates J-6s.

 

[TomcatViP]

Of course that we know, the joke was to emphasize airforce ressorting to escort their top-end fighters with un-stealthy & slow mudmovers.

 

[Deino]

a new image ....

 

[Deino]

Another let-down: ‍

The image posted yesterday is PS'ed since someone took an existing image of this FC-31V2 parked on the tarmac, rotated it slightly and put it against a false background to make it appear landing or at least in the air.

(via by78/SDF)

 

[stealthflanker]

OK, so there is still no Third prototype of J-31 yet.

Bit of a downer as among the Asian stealth fighters, this one is aside from J-20 is the most mature in terms of development.

 

[Deino]

What do you think?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1262041109284499460

c

 

[helmutkohl]

possibly related

via alert5

The article said its personnel was sent to Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute or 601 Institute and the 29th Research Institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) during COVID-19 to support the aircraft’s development work.


The aircraft could either be a new variant of an existing airframe or a total new design. However, it is of note that if its a new design, it would have been written as 新型 in mandarin.

 

[Grey Havoc]

The Chinese Navy Could Save The Stealth Fighter No One Else Wants

The Chinese navy reportedly is considering acquiring a new stealth fighter to replace existing carrier-launched warplanes that have proved unreliable and unsafe.

www.forbes.com

 

[Archibald]

I laughed at the comments here. You guys are great. Fact is that the Asian / Chinese stealth aircraft really look like carbon copies or hybrids of F-22 / YF-23 / F-35 - to a very troubling point.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/shenyang-fc-31-fighter.13939/page-12#post-388285

For a split second my brain said "F-22 / F-22 / F-22 / F-22" (a bit like Homer Simpson "eat the pudding" "eat the pudding" "eat the pudding").

 

[Foo Fighter]

Definitely, "Eat the pudding"..... Everyone else is.

 

[Deino]

The Chinese Navy Could Save The Stealth Fighter No One Else Wants

The Chinese navy reportedly is considering acquiring a new stealth fighter to replace existing carrier-launched warplanes that have proved unreliable and unsafe.

www.forbes.com

Oh well, a typical David Axe report ... we all know it is nothing but the second prototype now with the confirmed serial 31003 and as such indeed the third aircraft build (with no. 02 being a static airframe eventually) but there are only two flown.

 

[Archibald]

David certainly has an Axe to grind (runs for cover)

 

[Deino]

Latest image ...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1344655999488155649

View: https://twitter.com/RupprechtDeino/status/1344655999488155649

 

[TomcatViP]

Honey, I shrunk...

Elegant by the way but let's see how it flies that time (safely? ).

 

[yasotay]

I will defer to those with far more aviation history background than I, but it strikes me that the Chinese aerospace sector is where the west and Soviet Russia were in the 1950's. Plenty of "barrowed" technologies in play back then as well. As a nation China strikes me as being at a point of 'acceptable risk' with less well defined and documented aero-technology in a strategic direction to become a world leading aero-engineering nation. So I agree with @TomcatViP that while a smart looking aircraft it will be interesting to see how the design morphs, or ends, as part of the national endeavor.

clearly I need to drink more today.

 

[Archibald]

Can't help thinking

a) this is a F-35 done the "right" way - no VSTOL and lift fan to ruin the pilot rear view... even on the variants where it is not present.

b) And twin-jet like a Superbug or Tomcat...

c) Kind of "Superbug / F-35" hybrid done the right way.

d) Frack, ain't the FC-31 close from what the NATF was to be, circa 1993 ?

e)... a stealth Tomcat / A-6 replacement
...
f) And NOT the Super Bug and NOT the F-35 they got instead ?

g) Maybe the USN should take a licence ?

 

[Archibald]

F-35 minus STOVL.

Ninja'd by eight months there, damn it !

 

[GTX]

a) this is a F-35 done the "right" way - no VSTOL and lift fan to ruin the pilot rear view...

Irrelevant thanks to the AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture (DAS)

 

[NUSNA_Moebius]

Can't help thinking

a) this is a F-35 done the "right" way - no VSTOL and lift fan to ruin the pilot rear view... even on the variants where it is not present.

b) And twin-jet like a Superbug or Tomcat...

c) Kind of "Superbug / F-35" hybrid done the right way.

d) Frack, ain't the FC-31 close from what the NATF was to be, circa 1993 ?

e)... a stealth Tomcat / A-6 replacement
...
f) And NOT the Super Bug and NOT the F-35 they got instead ?

g) Maybe the USN should take a licence ?

My only qualm is it needs a bigger wing and control surfaces for carrier suitability.

 

[Mirage4000]

Can't help thinking

a) this is a F-35 done the "right" way - no VSTOL and lift fan to ruin the pilot rear view... even on the variants where it is not present.

b) And twin-jet like a Superbug or Tomcat...

c) Kind of "Superbug / F-35" hybrid done the right way.

d) Frack, ain't the FC-31 close from what the NATF was to be, circa 1993 ?

e)... a stealth Tomcat / A-6 replacement
...
f) And NOT the Super Bug and NOT the F-35 they got instead ?

g) Maybe the USN should take a licence ?

Right way? come on which has more chances of survive? One has V/STOL, so it can fly from small ships, roads and airstrips .

a single engine means also more internal space for fuel than two engines,

my veridict F-35 is far more practical in terms of military operation deployment.