Should India be concerned about China's J-31 stealth fighter ?

China had recently showcased its latest twin engine stealth fighter jet the J-31 or FC-31 at an Airshow in Zhuhai last week. It came under heavy criticism from home and abroad after making its first flight demonstration at the airshow.

One of the main critic of the J-31 was China's very own Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong who took pot shots at the stealth fighter program that the country was pursuing. He said that the J-31 stealth fighter was never built for the Chinese Air Force and also dismissed romours that the Chinese Navy was considering development and deployment of an aircraft carrier verision of the J-31. He said the primary objective of the fighter was to position China as a low cost exporter of high-tech weaponry in the international market. It is meant to compete with the American F-35 Lightning Strike Fighter and the Indo-Russian PAK-FA stealth fighter.


Zhang criticised the figter by by revealing that the J-31 fighter jet was too heavy when compared to other fighter jets in its class and also questioned use of the Russian RD-93 engine that are also used on Mig-29's. The overall weight of the fighter frame was too heavy for the RD-93 engines that are powering the jet.

China has been unable to develop a fighter jet engine inspite of years of research and development. It severely lacks the technical know-how to develop a powerful engine that can burn jet fuel with optimal performance. The same Russian RD-93 engines are used on the JF-17 which are also inducted into the Pakistani Air Force.

China's which is know to reverse engineer western military hardware still has its own limitations. The idea of pitching a Chinese stealth fighter against far superior American and Russian stealth fighters is not going down well with Chinese top Generals. Countries that buy Chinese military hardware are extremely poor with Pakistan being the largest customer of unreliable Made in China military hardware.

The Pakistanis will buy anything that comes with a Cheap Price Tag or with long term soft loans. When China had offered the J-10 to Pakistan, it did not even have the funds to buy the jets. China had to literally make an excuse that the J-10 had an export ban and was not cleared by the Chinese government for export to Pakistan.

Unlike India, Pakistan has never operated twin engine fighter jets since the jets require more manpower and increase in operating and maintenance cost. Even if somehow Pakistan goes ahead and buys the twin engine J-31 stealth fighter with financial assistance from China, it will not be able to induct more than 35 to 40 jets will will be a little over two squadrons.

Pakistan with such small numbers will not be able to match India's Unmatched Air Superiority in South Asia. India in the next few years will be inducting more than 150 PAK-FA stealth fighters which are jointly developed by India and Russia.

Western analyst believe that the prospects of the J-31 in the export market is not as positive as many Chinese media have described. Countries with strong economies and high defence budgets would not buy the unproven Chinese J-31 stealth fighter. The US Air Force and Navy have already formulated plans of developing the next generation fighter to replace the F-22 and the F-35.