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In late 1990s, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force
launched the stealth fighters program, Western intelligence applied the
codename J-XX. The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation was selected to be
the contractor for one of the development. In June 2012, photos and
camera video clips about a heavily
overwrapped possible J-31 prototype
being road-transferred on a highway started to emerge on internet . No any imagery's of the J-31
prototype came out until it made it maiden flight in November 2012. The
J-31 is a middle sized fighter using Russian middle-thrust engines,
although it will later be equipped with Chinese-made WS-13 engines. Just
like the US F-22 and F-35 fifth-generation fighters, the J-20 and J-31
will complement each other during future operations. The J-31 is almost
certainly designed with the intention to have the potential of operating
on aircraft carriers, judging from its enhanced double-wheel nose landing
gear and two big tail wings, which help increase vertical stability.
Although both the J-31 and J-20 prototypes feature stealth designs,
Western military observers say, their actual capabilites as radar-evading
stealth aircraft are unknown.
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