More details have emerged about the role of the AVIC/Shenyang J-35A in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
The twin-engined fighter is optimised to deal with “high-level” threats, particularly stealth aircraft, according to Wang Yongqing, a prominent aircraft designer at AVIC.
Wang’s remarks about the J-35A were carried by China Daily, an official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. The report says that the J-35A will act as the “backbone” of the PLAAF.
He indicates that the J-35A will play a key role in Chinese kill chains, countering stealth aircraft and low-observable cruise missiles attempting to breach Chinese air defences. The type made its public debut at China’s Zhuhai air show in November 2024.
“It 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,” Wang is quoted as saying.
He suggests that the J-35A can be produced affordably, allowing its deployment in “considerable scale.”
The report clarifies the importance of the J-35A as a primary PLAAF fighter type, and not an aircraft mainly aimed at the export market.
The jet is descended from the J-31/FC-31 Gyrfalcon family. Another descendent of these early types is the J-35, which is in development for service aboard Chinese aircraft carriers.
“Our adversaries will definitely use their stealth aircraft or low-observable cruise missiles to penetrate our air defence networks,” adds Wang.
“And if those hostile craft succeed in infiltrating our defence lines, they will outperform our conventional countermeasures in terms of detection capability and range, which means they can spot us from hundreds of kilometres away but at the same time we can’t find them. That means our defence units will not be able to survive such an encounter.”
The USA and its allies are developing a new range of low-observable manned and unmanned aircraft to deter an increasingly aggressive China and its militaristic partner, Russia.
The developmental Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber is designed to penetrate enemy air defence networks, as are new sixth-generation fighters such as the Boeing F-47, and the Global Combat Air Programme, an effort by Italy, Japan, and the UK.
In addition, extensive resources are going into collaborative combat aircraft that can support manned assets.
