aircraft carrier attacks without being detected

After having made significant advances in the design and development of warplanes in recent years, China is delving into a key area if it wants to significantly increase its weapons potential: embarked aviation. In addition to the helicopters it already has, the industry is now focusing on creating fighters capable of operating from the decks of aircraft carriers – such as the Spanish Navy’s Harriers – and which will allow them a previously unpublished projection in the east of the country.

The last linked movement comes from the fifth generation J-31 fighter (popularly known as J-35 and previously as FC-31) and the start of its flight tests aboard the aircraft carrier Liaoning. “The new fighter jet landed on the aircraft carrier just as my military career was ending,” Zhang Naigang, a senior non-commissioned officer on the Liaoning ship, said in a video released by state television. Video surveillance.

Although Zhang Naigang does not specify the exact model, analysts suggest that the only new candidate to appear on Chinese aircraft carriers is the aforementioned fighter model. In fact, this is not the first time that the J-31 has been publicly linked to the Liaoning aircraft carrier. Last February, A model of the plane was seen on board the ship as part of a series of tests in which the crew participated.

This particular ship served the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy as a test bed for new aircraft prototypes and its subsequent expansion to the rest of the three ships which make up the aircraft carrier fleet. Among them is the famous Fujian, the first of its kind in the country with an electromagnetic catapult, while the other two use a launch pad.

Concerning the development of the aircraft, the company Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (known by its acronym SAC) “may have strengthened its military aviation capabilities two more generations where most Chinese war planners thought their carrier-based fighter jets would be installed,” security analyst Brandon J. Weichert said in The national interest.

The fighter’s appearance in state media comes in a context moment of tense calm in the Formosa Strait which separates China and Taiwan. In early September, several branches of Beijing’s military carried out “joint landing exercises off the southeastern province of Fujian, the Chinese region closest to Taiwan,” according to the Taipei Defense Ministry.

The radars detected “several types of main and auxiliary combat aircraft, helicopters and drones” flying nearby and “cooperate with amphibious ships and cargo ships with troops.”

The copy of the American F-35

Since the first appearances in the early 2010s, The J-35 was seen as an attempt to copy the F-35 manufactured by the American Lockheed Martin.. In addition to their fifth generation capabilities, to which both aircraft belong, the similarities in appearance are also evident with a practically traced fuselage and even with some parts that appear taken from the F-22 Raptor.

In 2013, just under three years after his appointment, SAC chief designer Sun Cong told Chinese state media that he intended to develop a replacement for the J-15, China’s only aircraft capable of operating on aircraft carriers. Information that the state news agency China confirmed in 2015, emphasizing that the new aircraft is intended to complement the J-20 fighter and serve as a substitute in aircraft carrier operations for the technological veteran J-15supposedly based on the Soviet Sukhoi Su-27 platform.

Last July, the FC-31 program experienced a key moment when it was renamed the J-31. This transformation “indicates that he met the formal requirements of military service and that he had received an official designation”, he then underlined. Fu Quianshao, military analyst, SCMP. In addition, The designation J-31B was issued for the naval version of the device, exactly the same as that used by Lockheed Martin for the F-35B, the model modified for use from boats.

This question of the names and designations of the fifth generation Chinese fighter This also opens the door to the possible creation of other versionsas is the case with the F-35. This term, at the moment, is not confirmed and perhaps more data will be revealed in the coming months when the production of the different variants of the aircraft is expanded and the usage scenarios are published.

However, beyond the aesthetic similarities between Chinese and American fighters, there are some key differences from a technical perspective. The American F-35B can take off and land vertically thanks to an engine specially designed for this purpose; while Chinese J-31B makes do with conventional takeoff and landingwhich significantly reduces operational and export flexibility to third countries.

At the moment, only the specifications of the FC-31 prototype are released – even before it is the J-31 – and The final version that will enter service remains to be known. in times to come. Something that China keeps under maximum secrecy. Preliminaries show the aircraft can accommodate a single occupant, is 17.3 meters long, 11.5 meters wide and has a maximum takeoff weight of 28 tonnes.

For propulsion, it uses a pair of WS-13 engines which provide a maximum supersonic speed of around 2,000 km/h at high altitude with a combat range of up to 1,200 km. In the images seen from the naval version – with two wheels on the front axle – no difference is visible in the power plant, so it may only have the ability to take off and land horizontally.

As for weapons, the J-31 is a fighter of medium size and weight and primarily focused on carrying out incursions into rival airspace without detection. This largely limits the ability to carry bombs or missiles on board, as the stealth it boasts is incompatible with carrying any of this equipment attached under the wings due to radar detection issues.

Former aircraft carrier

The Liaoning ship joined Chinese ranks in the early 2000s and was the first aircraft carrier of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s surface force. Her The origin dates back to the 80s in the Soviet Union and more particularly at the Mykolaiv South shipyard located in Ukraine.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ship remained half-built in shipyards and in 1998 China acquired it. After four years on Ukrainian territory, the ship was finally transferred to a Chinese shipyard where It was completed and commissioned in 2012.

Liaoning lacks catapult for plane takeoff, reports show The national interestbut China has decided to test the J-31B which does not have a vertical take-off and landing system. This can be a trial by fire for the hunter, who will have to use the ramp for his ascent and thus test his power for his entry into service on board the ship. Likewise, China has a ship with similar characteristics called Shandong.

The aircraft carrier is 306 meters long and 74.4 meters wide at its widest part. The displacement reaches 60,900 tons when fully loaded and can reach 57 kilometers per hour with a range of 7,130 kilometers. He also has specially equipped weapons. designed for self-protection tasks.