Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

[Air Force Brat]

Does that mean that fuselage frames and wing spars are the one (3D printed?) piece or that fuselage/wing skins are one piece like it was/is on X-32/F-35? First makes little sense imo.

I believe that is what he is saying Eric, even the inner wing panels themselves, the benefit would be much more strength, without having to resort to bolts, rivets, glue, etc to hold things together, eliminating many of the heavy load bearing concentrations where the fuse/center section/wings are attached. It could cause lots of maintenance issues unless it was very well thought out??? but the Chinese have become the guys who can do it differently, and I think there is a great desire to get away from the stigma that some continue to try to hang on them??? we'll see? I think its a brilliant aeroplane, and I love the FC-31.

 

[Air Force Brat]

If you look at the wings there seems to be thick threads beneath the surface going from near the wing root to where the flaps are. I wonder if they are actually some sort of hydraulic system to move the wing flaps (rather than surface sensors as previously suggested). Also the J-31's flaps seems kind of simple, with only one flap per wings, whereas J-21 and many other fighter planes has two per wing.

Those are flaperons no_name, so called because they serve as flaps as well as ailerons, the fact that they are one piece tells us that the roll-rate of the J-31 is likely very high as they are nearly full span. Even when they are lowered and serve as flaps to increase the camber of the wing, they retain their roll function by reducing camber on the inside wing in relation to the direction of roll or turn. Simple does not mean less functional, nor does more complex mean greater function??? We often see full span flaps on competition aerobatic aircraft such as the Extra 300 or the Sukhoi Su-26-Su-31?

 

[siegecrossbow]

If you look at the wings there seems to be thick threads beneath the surface going from near the wing root to where the flaps are. I wonder if they are actually some sort of hydraulic system to move the wing flaps (rather than surface sensors as previously suggested). Also the J-31's flaps seems kind of simple, with only one flap per wings, whereas J-21 and many other fighter planes has two per wing.

Technically, the F-16 has one per wing as well.

 

[by78]

I remember correctly, the Boeing X-32 had a one-piece center and wing section as well. The entire assembly is made of carbon composites and cured in an industrial oven. I recall they had a hard time controlling the formation of microscopic bubbles during the curing process.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Gents I remind you I am just posting the story, not Believing or backing it and the sources are questionable.

WantChinaTimes.com
Knowing China through Taiwan
News
Politics
The J-31: not yet as stealthy as it needs to be
Staff Reporter 2014-12-13 10:01 (GMT+8)
The J-31, China's second fifth-generation stealth fighter designed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, was detected by both Russian and American aircraft radar systems during its 10-minute performance flight at the Zhuhai Air Show last month, reports our sister newspaper, Want Daily.

Lin Zuoming, the general manager of China's Aviation Industry Corporation claimed that J-31 is capable of defeating the US' F-35 stealth fighter during an television interview on Dec. 7. However, military experts from mainland China told Want Daily that the Russian Su-35 fighter and American C-17 cargo plane participating the air show could detect the J-31 in the air during its performance.

Unlike the US or Russia, China is still unable to design proper radar absorbing coating for its stealth fighter. This is the caraft's second major weakness besides problems related to the engine, reported Want Daily. If the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation is unable to fix those two issues, the J-31 can not really be counted as a fifth-generation stealth fighter. He said that the J-31 may look like an F-35, but that's where the similarities end.

Still, the expert said that the J-31 shown in Zhuhai was only an experimental aircraft. It may eventually be developed into a better fighter if solutions to its current problems. The craft, also known as the FC-31, has been developed primarily for China's security partners around the globe, and still poses a challenge to the F-35 in the oversea market. And to be fair, the expert said that China is still one of few nations in the world to put a fifth-generation stealth fighter into the sky.

The J-31 did not make a good showing at Zhuhai either. Black smoke plumed out of one of the craft's two engines immediately after it was shown to the public. During its performance, it was not allowed to conduct supersonic flight. On top of all this, Visitors to the air show were not allowed to take a closer look when it was displayed in the ground. it seems the Chinese aviation industry is not ready to let the world learn more about its stealth fighter.

Copyright © 2014 WantChinaTimes.com

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Chinese stealth fighter still can’t match US F-35
Source:Global Times Published: 2014-12-12 1:03:02

The company that developed China's J-31 stealth fighter has denied its jet could take down the US F-35 Joint Strike fighter, but admitted challenging the latter has always been its goal.

The denial came after Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) president Lin Zuoming said in an interview with China Central Television on Sunday that "[our model] should be able to take [the opponent model] down when it takes to the sky."

Lin added that he is "fully confident" the company's chief designer has taken "the opponent model" into consideration when the J-31 was designed.

An anonymous source with AVIC told the Global Times that there was some kind of misunderstanding and that Lin was merely stating the goal of the J-31.

The J-31 fighter's chief designer, Sun Cong, said in the same interview that the assumed potential opponent of J-31 was F-35.

While boasting better performance than its US counterpart in some aspects, Sun admitted that the J-31 has some flaws, but said "basically the model has met our expectations."

Lin also expressed the company's desire to change the global warplane market paradigm, which the US claims to dominate since it unveiled F-35 fighter in 2007. "The world should be balanced. Good products cannot be owned by one group," Lin said.

The J-31 is the second domestically manufactured stealth fighter. Compared with the J-20 stealth fighter, the J-31 is a smaller twin-engine version.

The highly-anticipated fighter jet began to draw greater public attention after it made its debut in November at an aviation and aerospace exhibit in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

"Both the J-31 and J-20 are products of China's move to develop stealth fighters … It is unrealistic for the two models to surpass their US counterparts in a short period of time," Wang Yanan, the deputy chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times.

Wang added that the US, which is the forerunner in stealth fighter development, has also experienced challenges in its stealth fighter development program and the F-35 still faced problems, including engine problems.

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Take it as you will.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Gents I remind you I am just posting the story, not Believing or backing it and the sources are questionable.

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Take it as you will.

So this should surprise no one as the J-31 is a tech-demonstrator, basically an airframe with engines used as a proof of concept aircraft to flesh out the lay-out and planform of the aircraft, the coatings are likely just that?? a paint to display the aircraft, no one would have or should have expected anything otherwise? these articles are fun, and give us something to talk about, and sell news? Thank you Terran for reminding us that you understand that, these articles are more than slightly misleading, as they should "clearly" state the above parameters, rather than attempting to draw some conclusions from them???

 

[plawolf]

Gents I remind you I am just posting the story, not Believing or backing it and the sources are questionable.

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Take it as you will.

Can't believe I'm wasting time on a wantchinatimes article, but that story is so full of holes its unreal.

The most obvious problem is that the C17 has only weather radar and station keeping radar. So how it was able to detect the J31 is a mystery only the person who made that story up could tell you. Even if they did pick up the J31, they sure as hell isn't going to tell an 'unnamed Chinese military official', not even a nice try.

The Su35 was on the ground during the display, so I doubt it would have had line of sight to get a look even if the pilot was reckless and stupid enough to break all the basic radar ground rules and etiquette but turning on his radar on the ground, so close to people on the ground and big reflective metal objects.

I cannot be bothered to look up the figures, but even the venerable Mig25's radar put out upwards of a million watts of energy and can fry small woodland animals out to 500 meters or so, and cause serious radiation injury to ground crew or anyone else who get hit by the beam.

They don't stick radiation warning stickers on radomes just for poops and giggles.

The Su35 might have tracked the J31 with its IRST if it was parked in a place where it might have line of sight, but no way would it have used its main radar.

I mean, what would even be the point? Everyone with the most basic understanding of the subject should know full well that stealth planes are not invisible to radar, they only vastly reduce the detection range.

The Su35's radar is probably powerful enough to detect the F35, F22 and B2 at 20-30km, so its no surprise if it can detect the J31 at 200-300 meters. Big whoop.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

you can dismiss the want china but what of the Global Times?

 

[A Bar Brother]

you can dismiss the want china but what of the Global Times?

One is the source, the other simply re-worked and disseminated the source article, regardless of authenticity.

 

[Dizasta1]

The Su35's radar is probably powerful enough to detect the F35, F22 and B2 at 20-30km, so its no surprise if it can detect the J31 at 200-300 meters. Big whoop.

Just to add to your assessment. Lets say if the Russians had their radar switched on to detect the J-31s. Then why would they do such a thing in the first place. Especially when they are in the same vicinity as the Americans?

The indians were so careful as to not to switch on their radars during the Red-Flag participation. So that the Americans would not be able to learn of it's capabilities.

Then why would the Russians be stupid enough to do such a thing?

Also, this is an Air Show, where individual or groups of aircraft perform. Surely, there wasn't an instance that there were other American or Russian aircraft in the sky at the same time as the J-31, when it was performing it's routine.

It's a load'a'crock, nothing more!