Chinese Defence Sources Reveal New Details on J-35 Fighter’s Stealth Capabilities

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics

Chinese state media has revealed new details regarding the stealth capabilities of the J-35 fifth generation fighter, which was confirmed to have been commissioned into service in serrate variants in both the Air Force and in the Navy in July. 

The fighter program has benefited from significant research and development work done for China’s first stealth fighter, the J-20, from the late 1990s, with this aircraft having seen its stealth capabilities incrementally improved since it first entered service in the Air Force in February 2017. The radar cross section of the J-35 was confirmed to be smaller than a human palm, roughly that of a sparrow, which was created to its special fuselage design and metamaterial technologies. The fighter’s stealth capabilities are thought to be comparable to those of newer production batches of the J-20 and F-35, and significantly superior to those of the older F-22 and Russian Su-57.

Alongside new details on its stealth capabilities, it was revealed that the J-35 has a maximum takeoff weight of close to 30 tons, placing it at the upper end of medium weight fighters in terms of its size, only slightly smaller than the F-22 and significantly larger than its closest foreign rival the F-35. The fighter was developed as a smaller counterpart to the J-20 with lower procurement and operational costs, although its range, sensors and weapons payload remain inferior. Commenting on the fighter’s capabilities, the chief designer of multiple types of aircraft as well as the chief expert of the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute Wang Yongqing observed: "Many of our research achievements can be applied across different variants, such as sensors, onboard equipment, and avionics systems. This development model has significantly reduced both the costs and time required for fighter jet development.” This will correspondingly reduce future sustainment costs and improve logistical efficiency, he added.