Key Points and Summary – China’s Shenyang J-35 stealth fighter, recently showcased as a scale model at the Paris Air Show, represents a strategic “one aircraft, multiple variants” approach, similar to the US F-35.
According to its chief designer, Wang Yongqing, the J-35 was designed from the outset with an “air-sea twin configuration” for both land- and carrier-based operations.
This common platform allows for shared components like sensors and avionics, reducing development time and cost.
-While bearing a strong resemblance to the F-35, a result of suspected cyber espionage, the twin-engine J-35 is intended to be a highly capable and versatile “point guard” for China’s future air combat operations.
J-35A: The PLAAF’s Answer to America’s F-35
L’aéroporte Le Bourget, Paris – One of the few “first-time” participants at this year’s Le Bourget was the Shenyang J-35 medium-weight fighter, but not actually. The original billing was that the aircraft itself, or at least a full-scale mock-up, would be shown at the air show.
One of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) main state-controlled outlets, the Global Times, had announced beforehand that the J-35 would make an appearance in model form, which had been interpreted as something other than the usual Chinese sub-scale model.
But it was that traditional 1:10 scale facsimile of the J-35 featured on the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) exhibit stand this year.
A few days before Le Bourget,Wang Yongqing, identified as “the chief designer of multiple types of aircraft as well as the chief expert of the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute (SADI),” shared insight on the J-35’s development.
According to Wang, the J-35 was developed from its origins for both land- and carrier-based roles. He told the Chinese publication that the J-35 series (meaning both the “A” and “B” models) was developed with an “air-sea twin configuration” approach.
The Shenyang facility and the co-located production plant are both under the umbrella of AVIC.
J-35: A Copy in More Ways Than One
More than one observer of the PRC’s military industry and tactical aircraft has heard that quote and then taken a first look at the J-35 and (understandably) proclaimed it to be a near-copy of the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Other than the F-35 being powered by a single F-135 engine and the J-35 being equipped with two smaller F414–sized engines, the two do bear a strong resemblance to one another in both appearance and operational concepts.
The other, more substantial rationale for asking just how much of what the J-35 is that came from the F-35 is that the Shenyang Aerospace Corporation is that facility within which the PRC’s copying of the Russian Su-27SK (which became the “J-11B”) took place. The PRC’s defense industry also has a long record of hacking into computer systems to steal design data and reverse-engineer those weapons it wants to have for its own rather than buying them “off the shelf” from the original manufacturer (OEM).
However, in addition to the two aircraft having very similar lines and dimensions, they also appear to have had their designs based on nearly parallel mission profiles. Wang had stated in his interview that he gave to the Chinese daily that the J-35 was designed so that—as with the F-35—it would be a “one aircraft, multiple variants” platform.
The J-35 appears to be only slightly smaller than the Chengdu J-20, with an estimated length of about 16.8 meters and a wingspan of around 12 meters with wings extended. The original J-35A, designed for land operations, was also modified with a wing fold installed to permit moving the aircraft below decks on the carrier elevator and to reduce the on-deck footprint. More evidence that the carrier version of the aircraft was envisioned from the beginning.
Leveraging and Synergism
This expectation is for the J-35 to be produced in large quantities in the future, with export customers being among those who will contribute to the total production run.
For any air force procuring the aircraft, it presents a platform, he said, that performs the role of what he called a “point guard” in combat operations.
Designing the aircraft with these many diversified mission requirements has permitted the PRC’s defense sector to maximize the efficiency of what Wang called “resource utilization.”
“Many of our research achievements can be applied across different variants, such as sensors, onboard equipment, and avionics systems. This development model has significantly reduced both the costs and time required for fighter jet development,” he said.
He elaborated on the “one aircraft, multiple variants” concept, stating that in the future, the aircraft could be built in large numbers and become a high-utility, multi-mission platform, replacing two, three, or more previous-generation models. “This will correspondingly reduce future maintenance costs and improve logistical efficiency of the equipment,” Wang added.
In operational use, Wang said the greatest strength of the J-35 series design lies in its superior combat capabilities. “During the design phase, combat effectiveness was one of our primary objectives.
The J-35’s distinctive features include “enhanced stealth performance and exceptional combat capabilities for coordinated operations,” Wang explained.
About the Author:
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments, and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
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