China tests next-gen fighter jet on carrier

China's next-generation carrier-borne fighter jet, dubbed the J-35 by military observers, has started trial operations on CNS Liaoning, an aircraft carrier of the People's Liberation Army Navy, according to China Central Television. "It was basically like the day when the J-15 performed its first takeoff from the ship," Zhang recalled, referring to the Navy's current carrier-borne fighter jet. Song Zhongping, a military affairs commentator and retired PLA officer, said that while the J-15, the first and only carrier-borne fighter jet deployed in China's carrier force, has good capabilities comparable to those of Russia's Su-33 and the United States' F/A-18 Hornet, it is not good enough to confront stealth aircraft, which will become a pillar of carrier fleets in the future. Wang Yanan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said it is widely believed among observers that the new carrier-borne jet must have been modeled on the FC-31, the nation's second type of stealth combat aircraft designed by Aviation Industry Corp of China's Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute.