Last year, when the chief of staff of the Pakistan Air Force announced that he would buy Chinese J-31** fighters, many netizens who were familiar with China's ** equipment questioned the professionalism of the Pakistani Air Force - China's J-31 fighter from **, and the "Falcon Eagle" ** fighter developed by Shen Fei only had the foreign trade number of FC-31?
Surprisingly, at the ongoing 2nd Saudi Arabia World Defense Exhibition, the nose part of the "Falcon Eagle" fighter model displayed by the Chinese aviation industry was clearly marked with "J-31"! The appearance of the "Falcon" fighter has attracted wide attention from international defense experts. This really proves that the J-31 fighter is indeed real!
There are differences in the naming rules of the export model and the self-use model of China's new generation of fighters, and usually the number of the "J" series is a sign that the PLA has already used it for its own use. Taking the "Thunder" fighter jointly developed by China and Pakistan as an example, it does not have a model exclusively for the PLA, and its export code is FC-1, while in Pakistan, its code name is JF-17 "Thunderbolt"; When the PLA exported its own J-10C fighter to Pakistan, it was designated FC-20CE; When China's self-developed "Fighter-1-2" aircraft are exported to Pakistan, they do not necessarily have their own domestically produced models, but are designated by foreign parties. Although the Falcon Eagle** fighter model has undergone several cosmetic adjustments at major defense exhibitions of the Chinese aviation industry, its designation has always been FC-31, which is consistent with the previous naming pattern.
At the recent Saudi Arabia World Defense Exhibition, China's aviation industry's WeChat *** announced relevant information:
As a representative of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, AVIC participated in the exhibition, covering combat, direct, educational, transportation, non-aviation and aviation emergency rescue products, providing key support for the exhibition of the China Pavilion in the three major regions
The first is about the system area of air operations. The third is the maritime combat system area. A variety of large amphibious aircraft platforms such as FC-31 "Falcon Eagle", J-7E, Z-9DE, L15A, Y-20, Y-9E, and AG600M were displayed in the area, fully demonstrating the advanced performance of new air equipment. The third is the air defense and anti-missile system area. This is followed by the area of unmanned systems with no equipment. Fourth, the electronic warfare system area. In the area, a variety of UAVs such as the Pterodactyl-2, Pterodactyl-10A and Pterodactyl-2H were demonstrated. In particular, the "Pterodactyl"-2 UAV, which is displayed in a 1:2 scale model, makes it unique and eye-catching among many UAV products. The fourth is the aero engine technology exhibition area. The third area is the system for air defense and anti-missile. In this exhibition, China's aviation industry and aviation defense capabilities were comprehensively and multi-dimensionally displayed.
From another point of view, this is a model of the Falcon ** fighter, the side designation of the nose of which is FC-31
The real-time release on WeChat revealed that the nose of the "Eagle Eagle" fighter had different names on both sides, with the Chinese character "J-31" on the left and the traditional "FC-31" on the right. It has been revealed that the "Falcon Eagle" fighter has been in service with India, Pakistan and other countries for many years, and its performance and combat capability have been well verified. "The Eagle fighter has now entered the production stage and has begun to be delivered to the troops. This really validates the previous opinion of the Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Air Force, Zahir Hamad Babar, that the Pakistan Air Force intends to buy J-31 multi-purpose ** fighters from China.
It is worth noting that after Babar announced the purchase of J-31 fighters, many Indian news agencies were skeptical, believing that China only had FC-31 fighters and not J-31 fighters, and therefore believed that the Pakistani Air Force was just exaggerating. Many Western news reports** have reported that Pakistan is planning to buy a fifth-generation fighter jet, while also using a mix of various titles such as FC-31, J-31, J-35, etc.
However, I personally feel that the official release of the "J-31" number by the Chinese aviation industry may bring us an additional positive message. This move may mean that China's aviation industry is gradually improving the carrier-based aircraft system while continuously advancing the field of advanced fighter aircraft. As we all know, the "Falcon Eagle" fighter is the second fighter developed by China. But unfortunately, this fighter was not adopted by the Chinese Air Force for a long time, but appeared in major defense exhibitions as an export model, so it was not awarded the number of the "J" series. It is only in recent years that there has been news that the "Falcon" ** fighter has been officially confirmed as a new type of Chinese carrier-based aircraft after several optimizations, and it is reported that its official designation in the Chinese Navy is J-35.
Now that the number of the J-31 has appeared, it gives us two options - first, the official number of the optimized "Falcon" fighter will be the J-31, not the J-35 that was circulated before; Another possibility is that the PLA has selected two different variants of the Falcon fighter, the Navy J-35 and the Air Force J-31. So, which option is more suitable for the Chinese Navy? It's possible. Because, at present, most of the most advanced models of active fighters in the world use the latter. Given the unique needs of the ship, carrier-based fighters must enhance the design of their landing gear and fuselage, and add additional equipment such as ship couplers. As a result, there is a significant difference between the F-4 series of fighters used by the U.S. Navy and Air Force; The U.S. Air Force F-35A and Navy F-35C fighters differ significantly in terms of exterior design and wing size. If all of these aircraft were to be procured, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps would need a huge amount of money. Given that most countries rely mainly on the Air Force model, it is also acceptable that the export model of the Falcon fighter is based on the J-31 fighter of the Air Force type, and not the J-35 of the sea-based fighter.
Pakistan has included the J-31 in its plans to modernize its air force.
It seems to me that the adoption by the PLA of the upgraded version of the "Falcon Eagle" fighter is already an indisputable fact. This not only marks that the PLA is officially equipped with two ** fighters, but also indicates that its sales potential in the international market will be greatly increased. If a fighter is not even used by the country that developed it, this will go a long way in changing the initial impression of other countries. However, this does not mean that China will not develop this new fighter. In the early years, the F-20 light fighter developed by Northrop failed to receive orders due to export demand, in large part because the US military lacked relevant equipment, which led other countries to have doubts about its performance. As an upgraded version of the "Gripen" and "Cheetah", the "Falcon Eagle" is a single-engine supersonic aircraft, but it has good stealth capabilities, strong penetration capabilities and low failure rate. The Thunder has not been able to enter the international market for many years, until its service in the Pakistan Air Force gradually increased, and it gradually won the trust and recognition of international users.
From a certain point of view, the export potential of the J-31 FC-31 fighter seems very optimistic. For countries seeking to break the regional military balance and improve their own defense capabilities, this advanced Chinese-made fighter offers an affordable and efficient solution. In particular, in order to maintain Israel's aviation superiority in the Middle East, the United States refused to provide F-35 series fighters to Arab countries, and the J-31 FC-31 has become the best choice for these Middle Eastern tycoons to acquire fifth-generation fighters.