Jane Edwards
China has performed a flight test of the Shenyang Aircraft-built FC-31 Gyrfalcon fighter jet, Business Standard reported Monday.
The fifth-generation fighter jet, which costs approximately $70 million per aircraft, is a cheaper version of the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Lightning II aircraft and is designed to carry weapons that weigh up to 8 tons.
FC-31 is the updated version of the J-31 aircraft and is designed to lift off with a maximum weight of 28 metric tons at a speed of Mach 1.8, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
Wu Peixin, an aviation industry expert, told China Daily that the new FC-31 aircraft has modified airframe, vertical tails and wings designed to make the jet “more maneuverable.”
Sergey Kornev, chief of Russia’s air force equipment export department, said in a statement to RIA Novosti news agency that the fighter jet will run on Russian-built RD-93 aircraft engines.
