AVIC Offers Low-cost Alternative to the F-35

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is heavily promoting the J-35 stealthy multirole fighter at the Singapore Airshow, with a large-scale mockup dominating its hall exhibition and J-35 branding to the fore on its chalet. The aircraft is being offered as a low-cost alternative to the Lockheed Martin F-35.

Beginning life as the FC-31, a privately funded demonstrator for potential export customers that first flew in October 2012, the aircraft underwent a considerable redesign that led to the J-35, a carrier-capable aircraft with twin nosewheels. A naval prototype first flew in October 2021, and the type is now in production at Shenyang for the People’s Liberation Navy. Last September, a prototype became the first fifth-generation fighter to launch from a carrier using an electromagnetic launch system during trials aboard Fujian.

Production is also underway for the J-35A, a derivative version for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). This has a single nosewheel and smaller wings that lack folding capability. The first PLAAF J-35As entered service late last year, ahead of the navy’s J-35s, although operational capability for both the aircraft and the carrier Fujian is imminent.

The J-35A forms the basis for the principal export version now being marketed internationally. Its stealthy characteristics, distributed aperture system, and electro-optical targeting system are broadly similar to those installed in the F-35. Having used various other engines in earlier prototypes and trials aircraft, power for the J-35 now comes in its definitive form with a pair of Guizhou WS-19s, each rated at around 25,000 to 26,000 pounds thrust. In June 2025, Pakistan announced plans to acquire 40 aircraft with the FC-31 designation.