China’s J-35A Has 1 Mission: Kill America’s F-22 and F-35 Stealth Fighters

Key Points – China’s Shenyang J-35A stealth fighter, a significantly revamped evolution of the earlier underpowered FC-31 export concept (first seen 2014), has been elevated to a high-priority platform for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

-Its chief researcher, Wang Yongqing, recently detailed its new primary role as a “kill chain coordinator” or “systems organizer” within China’s air defense network, designed to neutralize high-level threats, particularly hostile stealth aircraft. That would mean the F-22 and F-35 fighters from America.

-Now featuring new Chinese WS-21 engines, a new wing design, and AESA radar, the J-35A’s prominent discussion in state media signals its importance in China’s military modernization.

J-35A: F-35 Fighter Killer?

One of the early demonstrator models for the Shenyang Aerospace Corporation’s J-35 fighter, which flies regularly today, first appeared in 2014. This prototype came in the form of an aircraft designated “FC-31,” which bore little resemblance to the J-35 as it is now known.

The first public showing of this FC-31 fighter concept took place at the biennial Air Show China, held in the Special Economic Zone city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province. This city borders the former Portuguese enclave of Macau and is one of the signature showcases of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) one-time juggernaut of economic development.

But progress on the J-35 has been slower and steadier by comparison.   Its debut in the form of the FC-31 was disappointing. The aircraft appeared underpowered, a consequence of its use of two Russian-made Klimov RD-93 engines, which produced inadequate thrust and lacked the acceleration push that the aircraft required.

The RD-93 design is actually a variant of the Mikoyan MiG-29’s RD-33 engine. This version of the RD-33 was originally adapted for a single-engine installation in the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation’s JF-17 joint fighter project with Pakistan.

Latest Version: The J-35A

Eleven years, numerous design changes, and the introduction of a new engine later, the J-35 is now being marketed to prospective customers as a “real 5th-generation fighter aircraft.” However, the program also now has what appears to be a previously unanticipated mission.

The PRC military aircraft industry is known for producing one tier, or level, of aircraft to be flown by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) with the highest priority function of defending the Mainland. Then, a second, lower tier of less-capable air combat models is offered to export customers.

When the FC-31 first appeared, Chengdu and other PRC defense industry officials intimated that this design would be relegated to that second category. It was destined to be a platform primarily for export, while the much larger Chengdu J-20 would be the front-line defender of the Chinese Mainland.

But in November 2024, at the Air Show China event again, the Shenyang team rolled out a new, revamped, redesigned, and more capable fighter developed from the FC-31 years ago: the J-35A.

The aircraft now features a new wing configuration, a new Chinese-made pair of WS-21 engines, a new inlet design, and an Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) radar. Overall, it bears little resemblance to the original FC-31 of the previous decade.

J-35’s New Role in the Defense of the PRC

Shenyang recently took the unusual step of bringing one of the chief designers of the J-35 out from under wraps to discuss the mission roles and functionality of the aircraft. Wang Yongqing, who is described as the “chief researcher at the Aviation Industry Corp of China’s (AVIC) Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, discussed the “systems coordination” or “multi-domain”—a battle space management platform instead of just being a fighter aircraft.

His comments were reported as part of a profile on the J-35 that was run in the 13 May issue of the state-controlled China Daily newspaper, which is frequently used as a propaganda platform for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

“It [the J-35A] can lock on the targets, share the targets’ position with other weapon systems, such as surface-to-air missiles, and even use its own radar to guide other weapons to bring the targets down,” he told the state-run newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

According to the state-controlled outlet, this was the first time Wang had ever “elaborated on” the J-35A’s role in air defense. He detailed how the aircraft enables the network of air defense systems used in the PRC “to detect, track, and intercept targets, while coordinating with other assets within the system.”

Wang’s comments indicate a virtual seachange in the role that the J-35 will now perform. When the FC-31 was first introduced in 2012-2014, it was presented as a project that Shenyang was financing on its own, which is why it was an “export only” program that had no role in the PLAAF’s future plans.

Today, Wang stated, the J-35A is part of the Chinese force’s planned structure and is optimized to neutralize “high-level threats,” which includes taking out the enemy’s stealth aircraft.

“Our adversaries will definitely use their stealth aircraft or low-observable cruise missiles to penetrate our air defense networks,” he elaborated, but without calling out the US as the target of this Chinese air power defense planning.

Specialists on the PLA that we consulted with pointed out two aspects of the reporting on the J-35 that show this is a high-priority issue now for Beijing’s military leadership.

“One point that the PLA are anxious to make with these articles are that the PRC has two major stealthy aircraft it its inventory—J-20 and the J-35—just like the US has the F-22 and F-35,” said a retired senior US military intelligence officer. “So the message is that they are just as clever as us.”

“The other point that is less-mentioned is that the PRC also have two next-generation models already flying in one stage or another of development—the Shenyang J-50/XDS and the Chengdu J-36—but the US has only one: the Boeing F-47. We are behind in that no design has been selected for the Navy’s F/A-XX project.”

He continued to explain that another curious aspect of this story is that it was carried out in a Chinese government-controlled media outlet.

“In the past, stories with this level of detail about Chinese military affairs and defense industry have been carried in the Hong Kong South China Morning Post or some other publication with less direct links to the powers-that-be in Beijing. For this story to be carried in China Daily and with this level of detail—implies that J-35 is now a very high priority weapon system.”

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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