China Unveils New FC-31 Stealth Fighter at Air show

     This Thursday, the 13 of November, China unveiled it's newest technological achievement at an air show in China. The new "stealth fighter" is most likely created to compete with the US Air Force F-22 Raptor, if a war ever broke out. Aviation experts are actually strongly opposing the jet though. In a statement made by Reuben F. Johnson, a correspondent for Jane's Defense Weekly, he stated "it is impossible to tell just how "stealthy" it is without knowing how it was built". Johnson also said that the plane performs very poorly, it looses lots of energy in turns, and looses altitude quickly. He believes that if weapons were added, it would only perform worse. 

USAF F-22 Raptor

The FC-31 Looks Very Similar To The USAF F-22

           Many people believe that China was strictly building the FC-31 to compete with the new F-22 and F-35 USAF fighters. Since they were building them to compete, they also built it to look just like them. Many people believe that China copied Lockeed Martin's F-22 design to build the FC-31. Though they may look alike, the F-22 has technology that will last for at least 30 years and remain dominant. The FC-31 is known to fly very poorly and does not perform anywhere near as well as the F--22. Below is a video of the F-22 Raptor, the American competitor of China's new fighter.