New Delhi: Concern in US has grown rapidly with China's push to sell its J-31 stealth fighter to international customers at the Dubai airshow as the technical specs of twin-engine jets bear striking resemblance to the single-jet F-35.
The technical specifications of China's new J-31 fighter popped up on a Chinese blog in the month of September, raising doubts that China stole the US design of F-35.
Military experts of US, over a long period of time, have accused China of stealing the US design in April 2009 when network of American defence equipment maker Lockheed Martin was hacked.
A huge amount of design and electronics data on the F-35 was stolen at the time but the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin officials had said that no classified information was taken.
In a Senate hearing in 2013, Defense acquisitions chief Frank Kendall said that he was reasonably confident that classified information related to the development of the F-35 was well-protected.
However, the suspicion has grown stronger that design of F-35 has been used in J-31 after Dubai airshow. J-31, also know as FC-31, the fifth generation multi-purpose fighter also known as "Gyrfalcon", made overseas debut at the Dubai Airshow that started Sunday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Both the aircrafts have a lot of similarity. The FC-31 uses airframe similar to that of the F-35. The FC-31 also has two internal weapons bays that can carry guided and unguided weapons, just like the F-35.
"The similarity includes the use of two tracking mirrors and a flat-facetted optical window, with bottom fuselage placement just aft the radar radome," IHS Jane's Defence Weekly said.
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is trying to sell FC-31 as an alternative to Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter. Besides Chinese Air Force, Iran and Pakistan are understood to have shown some interest in this fighter jet.
J-31 fighter made its maiden flight in late 2012 and was brought to the public in late 2014 during China's International Aviation Aerospace Exhibition.
"As a fifth-generation fighter, the FC-31 features strong stealthy performance, high agility and supersonic speeds.... Although we call it a product during pre-research period or under research, the technologies involved in it have become highly mature," said Li Yuhai, deputy general manager of AVIC.
"No matter it is in terms of the cost of a single fighter or in terms of the cost throughout a fighter's whole life cycle, the FC-31 is better than any other fighters of the same class. That is to say, the fighter's performances are not bad and it's also highly cost effective," Li said.
He also said FC-31's debut at the Dubai Airshow marked the first time China has brought a self-developed product to an international stage, while in the past China's roles are mainly in producing or offering other supportive services.
This aircraft first flew at the Zhuhai Air Show in China in 2014 and could reach full operational capability in 2024.
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