A New Stealth Fighter Unveiled in China

A front view of the new Chinese stealth fighter. Note the trapezoidal canted tails. and flat wing-body blending (different from the J-20 and similar to the US F-22)

China has unofficially unveiled another stealth fighter. This aircraft, externally resembling the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, could be the F-60, an export version of a AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corporation developed ’fourth generation’ fighter. By painting the marking ’31001′, Shenyang may be hinting about the design’s goal aspiring to be an alternative for the Chengdu J-20, toward a future selection by People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Alternatively, the J-31/F60 could be positioned for a future option for the People’s republic Army Navy (PLAN), for its future aircraft carrier force. In the near future, PLAN is to use the Russian Su-33 and its domestically designed Su-33 copycat dubbed J-15, also built by Shenyang.

The new stealth fighter was spotted yesterday at the Shenyang aircraft factory, bearing the marking ’31001′. The first and second prototypes of the J-20 carried the markings ’2001′ and ’2002′.