The Shenyang J-35 (Chinese: 歼-35; pinyin: jiān-sānwǔ), also known as the Blue Shark and Cloud Dragon, is a series of Chinese single-seater, twin-engine, all-weather, stealth multirole combat aircraft manufactured by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), designed for air superiority and surface strike missions. The aircraft has two variants, a land-based variant designed for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and a carrier-based variant optimized for catapult-assisted takeoff (CATOBAR) for the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The aircraft is also promoted for export. It is the first fifth-generation fighter in the world to have been launched, in 2025, from an aircraft carrier using an electromagnetic catapult (EMALS). The aircraft was developed from the FC-31 Gyrfalcon (Chinese: 鹘鹰; pinyin: Hú yīng), a stealth aircraft prototype that served as a demonstrator aiming to secure potential export customers after SAC lost the J-XX bid to the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group's J-20. SAC, however, kept the project going via private funding, and later the People's Liberation Army, particularly the PLA Navy Air Force, took an interest in the FC-31 project, leading to the prototype being further developed with a catapult launch bar and folding wings, and the revised variant took flight on 29 October 2021. A land-based variant emerged in 2023 and was officially debuted ahead of the 2024 China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, receiving the designation J-35A. On 3 September 2025, Chinese state media China Daily announced the J-35 and the J-35A to be part of the aircraft fleet of the PLA Navy and the PLAAF. The introduction of the J-35 makes it the second Chinese fifth-generation fighter (after the Chengdu J-20), and China the second country to use two types of stealth fighters, the other being the United States, operating the F-22 and F-35.
Development
Designation The prototype of the J-35 had been referred to as J-31, F-60, J-21, Snowy Owl or Falcon Hawk in various media reports. The fighter initially did not feature the J-XX nomenclatures, as such names are reserved for programs launched and financed by the military, while the FC-31 was developed independently as a privately funded venture by SAC. The original FC-31 prototype made its maiden flight on October 31, 2012.
Origin While the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter was officially endorsed by the PLAAF after Chengdu Aerospace Corporation's proposal won the PLAAF bid for the next-generation jet fighter, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation pressed on and developed a private project aiming to secure potential export customers. In September 2011, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation presented the scale model of the FC-31, dubbed the "F-60" at an innovation competition held in Beijing. In June 2012, a partially assembled F-60 was photographed in a police-escorted road transit through a national highway atop a truck and trailer, with its airframe heavily overwrapped by camouflage covering. Initially, military observers speculated the subject in transit was the Hongdu JL-10 trainer aircraft. A few days later, pictures of a fully assembled fighter aircraft parking on an airfield emerged on the internet, with the new aircraft displaying stealth characteristics, the registration number "31001" on the front fuselage. Military observers gave temporary names to the aircraft, such as J-21, J-31, or F-60. Several features were also noted, such as the more conventional airframe design with trapezoidal wings (instead of the canard-delta configuration of the Chengdu J-20) and twin nose wheels, leading to the speculation that F-60 could become a carrier-borne aircraft in the future. On 31 October 2012, The first prototype made its maiden flight, accompanied by a J-11 serving as the chase aircraft.
Shenyang FC-31
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