Video of China’s Stealthy J-31 aircraft’s (quite smoky) flight display practice at Zhuhai airshow

November 6, 2014 China, Military Aviation, Troubled Areas
David Cenciotti

The Shenyang J-31 “Falcon Eagle” to debut at Zhuhai airshow, China’s biggest commercial and defense air show, near Hong Kong.

The first prototype of Shenyang J-31 Falcon Eagle, China’s second stealth fighter jet, is going to be one of the highlights  of China’s most important commercial and defense airshow held next week at Zhuhai, in the southern province of Guangdong, not far from Hong Kong.

The new aircraft, that performed its maiden flight on Oct 31, 2012, which is smaller than the J-20, from which it differs for the grey paint job and the presence of a colored emblem on the tails (in place of the typical red star) with the text 鹘鹰, Chinese for “Falcon Eagle”, embeds several features of the F-22 Raptor, and the F-35 Lightning II, respectively the current and future most advanced multi-role jets in the U.S. Air Force inventory: along with the distinctive lines of the Lockheed Martin’s stealth designs, the Chinese jet has a nose section which reminds that of the Joint Strike Fighter, same twin tails and trapezoidal wings.

Still, unlike the F-35, it is equipped with two engines (like the F-22, even though without Thrust Vectoring capability, at least, not yet).

The following footage shows the video of the J-31 practicing its demo flight at Zhuhai on Nov. 6. Pretty simple stuff (but let’s not forget it is just a prototype at its first public appearance). Noteworthy, the engines that currently equip the aircraft are a bit smoky: the Chinese jet may evade radars and one day equal F-22 and F-35s but for the moment they can be spotted from far away because of its engines pluming black smoke.

Top image credit: Alert5.com

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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7 Comments

  1. It is smoky because it is powered by a pair of RD-93’s, engines developed for the MiG-29 and everyone knows how much that bad boy smokes.

  4. Looks impressive in pictures, but the J-31`s dynamic and electronic capabilities are unknown. The Russian T-50 is much more impressive, and it’s stealth capabilities are suspect. Were the Chinese able to hack enough information from Lockheed and other US defense contractors to cobble together a competitive 5th Gen fighter?

    • Quite ironic for you to call the T-50 a “much more impressive” aircraft despite the earlier emphasis on the lack of information regarding this jet’s specifications.

    • I doubt India is reassured, remember they’re paying a chunk of the PAK’s development & what they’ve seen so far has been reportedly unimpressive & concerning to the IAF… Given their knowledge the T50 and seeing the PLAF get this stealth fighter to fly, India will be watching nervously

      Combine the J31 with a CATOBAR equipped carrier and India/Chinese tensions will rise higher

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