Maiden flight of China’s carrier-based stealth fighter spotted, “aircraft to rival F-35”

China’s next-generation aircraft carrier-based fighter jet made its long-expected maiden flight recently, foreign media outlets reported, with unverified photos of the prototype warplane in the sky circulating on social media platforms.

If true, this would mean a tremendous step for China’s aircraft carrier program, observers said.

The photos show the carrier version of the FC-31 stealth fighter flying. It is painted with a blue-green primer, and it has the same twin canted tailfins, twin engines and high-mounted cockpit of the FC-31. But it adds a catapult launch bar and a wing-fold mechanism, confirming it is intended for carrier operations, US media outlet thedrive.com reported on Friday.

Other notable features are a chin-mounted sensor turret, apparently analogous to the F-35’s Electro-Optical Targeting System, and what seems to be a remodeled cockpit canopy profile, with a shorter main transparency, the report said.