As the Pakistani Air Force said that it would import and equip the J-31 stealth fighter from China, not only the Indian side could not sit still, but the Russian side also began to get anxious. According to India's Eurasian Times,Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Ministry of Industry of the Russian Federation, publicly stated that Russia's Su-75 stealth fighter will compete with China's J-31 stealth fighter for international market orders for fifth-generation fighters.
However, Denis Manturov also admitted. At present, in the progress of the project, the Russian Su-75 stealth fighter is behind the Chinese J-31 stealth fighter. Russia is expected to launch a prototype of the Su-75 by the end of 2025, and by that time, the small batch production models of the J-31 are estimated to have begun to officially enter service in the form of squadrons, which has a very big impact on the Su-75 project.
The Su-75 stealth fighter was officially unveiled in 2021, and its purpose is to produce a fifth-generation medium fighter capable of competing with the F-35 stealth fighter. Sukhoi did not even set Russia as its main sales target at first, but directly announced cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, which will also become the first international user of the Su-75 stealth fighter.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict in 2022, the UAE announced its withdrawal from investment, and the Sukhoi side can only rely on its own strength to promote the development of the Su-75 stealth fighter project. Although Russia continued to sell its own Su-75 to India at the Bangalore Air Show in India, India did not seem to be willing to be fooled.
From the point of view of design, the Russian Su-75 stealth fighter is more like the ATF concept aircraft of the American Boeing company and the "stitching monster" of the Russian Su-57 heavy stealth fighter. This design layout will be more free in the choice of slenderness ratio and volume, and the built-in main magazine and side magazines on both sides can also provide certain structural reinforcement for the body, which is much better than the Su-57.
In terms of ammunition carrying capacity, the Sukhoi side said that the Su-75 is capable of carrying up to five air-to-air missiles in a pure air superiority combat configuration. From this point of view, it is very likely that the main magazine in the belly of the aircraft carries three medium-range air-to-air missiles, and the side magazines on both sides each carry one combat air-to-air missile. This amount of ammunition is actually on the low side.
In terms of avionics system, because Russia's most advanced avionics system is used in the Su-57 stealth fighter, the avionics specifications of the Su-75 stealth fighter are at most the same as those of the Su-57. In other words, the Su-75, like the Su-57, is most likely not equipped with an optoelectronic distributed aperture system.
This is very fatal for the Su-75, which means that China's J-31 and the American F-35 can still rely on the optoelectronic distributed aperture system to detect targets and continue to fight after the fire control radar is turned off. The Russian Su-75 stealth fighter must always turn on multiple radars on the fuselage to have situational awareness, once it encounters the J-31 or F-35 in actual combat, it is equivalent to hanging flashlights on his body in the dark night.
The J-31 is different, albeit a medium-sized stealth fighter. However, its twin-engine design layout gives it a stronger upgrade potential than the Su-75. At the same time, the aerodynamic layout design similar to the F-22 also makes the overall ammunition carrying capacity of the J-31 far exceed that of the Su-75 stealth fighter.
In fact, the biggest advantage of the J-31 over the Su-75 is that the J-31 has been tested for many years and has also launched a number of different improved versions. The combat performance of the J-31 stealth fighter is real. Its carrier-based aircraft model was selected by the China Navy's first-class aircraft-carrying unit and became one of the main carrier-based aircraft of the "Fujian" electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier. With the quality endorsement of the PLA for the J-31 stealth fighter, Pakistan is of course confident in the performance of the J-31 stealth fighter.
And the Russian Su-75 stealth fighter has not had a prototype that can be tested until now. To put it more bluntly, the data currently disclosed by the Su-75 stealth fighter is still on paper. Whether the Russian side can finally achieve these paper figures is still a big question.
In this way, how can there be strength and China's J-31 stealth fighter to snatch orders for international fifth-generation stealth fighters?