China tests new jet fighter prototype

BEIJING: China has tested the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, state media reported on Monday, as it tries to end the West’s monopoly on the world’s most advanced warplanes.

The test comes as the nation flexes its military muscles, sending its sole aircraft carrier the Liaoning into the western Pacific in recent days to lead drills there for the first time.

The newest version of the J-31 -- now renamed the FC-31 Gyrfalcon -- took to the air for the first time on Friday, the China Daily reported.

The so-called “fifth-generation” twin-engine jet is China’s answer to the US F-35, the world’s most technically advanced fighter.  The new FC-31 has “better stealth capabilities, improved electronic equipment and a larger payload capacity” than the previous version which debuted in October 2012, the newspaper said, quoting aviation expert Wu Peixin.

“Changes were made to the airframe, wings and vertical tails which make it leaner, lighter and more manoeuvrable,” Wu told the paper.  The jet is manufactured by Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC).