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’.
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