By Zhao Lei | China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-20 06:51
China is determined to tap the military aircraft market
of developed nations with the domestically developed FC-31 stealth fighter jet,
the plane's chief designer said on Monday.
Lin Peng of the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research
Institute under Aviation Industry Corp of China told China Daily in an
exclusive interview the FC-31 has received a lot of attention from potential
foreign buyers.
AVIC has a model of the FC-31 on display at the 52nd
International Paris Air Show, which opened on Monday at Paris-Le Bourget
Airport. This has been the first time the State-owned aircraft giant brought
its latest stealth fighter jet to a Western air show and the second time for
the FC-31 to be shown at a foreign exhibition. The first was at the 14th Dubai
Airshow in the United Arab Emirates in November 2015.
"We will strive to use the fifth-generation combat
plane to seize some share in the military aircraft market of developed
nations," he said.
Lin said FC-31's appearance in Paris is intended to
showoff China's capabilities in the research and development of advanced
military aircraft and to enable potential buyers to know more about the plane
so they can communicate "in-depth" with AVIC about the fighter jet.
The FC-31 is not yet in production, but these appearances
are intended to generate interest that could lead to sales.
The air show, which is believed to be the largest and
most influential of its kind in the world, is also a good occasion for the
Chinese stealth fighter jet to compete with its counterparts, the designer
added.
The FC-31 was unveiled in October 2012 as a twin-engine,
radar-evading fighter jet. At that time, the first prototype had made its
maiden flight, becoming the country's second fifth-generation fighter jet
following the J-20, which made its first flight in January 2011. The People's
Liberation Army Air Force has begun to receive deliveries of the J-20.
Lin said the FC-31 features high survivability, a low
radar signature, supreme electronic countermeasures, strong information
capacity, outstanding situation awareness and beyond-visual-range combat
capability.
The aircraft has a large weapon bay and several external
hard points that are capable of carrying Chinese-or foreign-made air-to-air
missiles and air-to-surface weapons, he said.
Specifications from AVIC show the FC-31 has a maximum
takeoff weight of 25 metric tons, a combat range of 1,200 km and a top speed of
Mach 1.8, or 2,205 kilometers per hour. It can carry 8 metric tons of weapons
and has a designed service life of up to 30 years.
Fu Qianshao, an aircraft expert with the PLA Air Force,
expected that the plane's price will be around $70 million, about half that of
the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II from the United States, which is the only
fifth-generation fighter jet available on the market from the US. The US only
sells it to allies.
Li Yuhai, deputy general manager of AVIC, previously told
reporters that AVIC plans to use the FC-31 to "put an end to some nations'
monopolies on the fifth-generation fighter jet" and this plane "is
able to compete with any other aircraft of its kind".
Source: chinadaily.com.cn
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