China Airshow will Unveil J-31

DefenseNews

03 November 2014

TAIPEI — A Chinese airshow official has confirmed that China will unveil its stealthy J-31 fighter aircraft at China’s biggest commercial and defense airshow next week in Zhuhai, in the southern province of Guangdong near Hong Kong.

Known officially as the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the event will be held from Nov. 11-14. About 700 aviation companies and 120 aircraft will participate.

Built by Shenyang Aircraft, this will be the first public demonstration of the twin-engine J-31. The fighter is similar in configuration to the single-engine Lockheed F-35 stealth fighter. Chinese-language military blogs posted photographs of the J-31 practicing demonstration flights at Zhuhai last week.

…Richard Bitzinger, a defense industry specialist at Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said Russia will “sell the engines that go into Chinese aircraft, but not the production technology.” He said it is unlikely Russia would transfer the technology to build these types of engines in China.

Categories:

RSIS / IDSS / GPO / Online