J31, Fc31, J35s are not so much different planes, just like F35s, is it not possible China is fully concentrating on the J35s with 6 prototypes already build and China is also like you mentioned possibly building a land version from the J35s, so the final production plane is nearly ready.
OK. Since this latest news on the J35 code issue is the latest I've released, I'll go into more detail about it.
FC-31
SAC designed this aircraft for the export market and did not receive any PLA support at the time. It used FC-31 as the code for this aircraft.
In the development of the FC-31, it has undergone several major upgrades. We usually refer to it as “FC-31 Ver 1.0”, “FC-31 Ver 2.0”, “FC-31 Ver 3.0”. ......
Since there has been no official word from PLA about it, we can't use the “J” prefix to refer to it. However, at an airshow, a model of a "歼-31" aircraft appeared (corporate behavior). Although there was still no official news about PLA, people started to use the code “J-31”.
Later, some military commentators started to use the new codes (J-31 = FC-31 Air Force version, J-35 = FC-31 Navy version) to express it in some civilian TV programs. These codes were widely disseminated among Chinese civilians.SAC and PLA did not issue any official statement on this. ------ These codes are also widely used internationally, including PDFs.
Some time ago, I purposely sought answers from insiders in the military industrial system, and got a reply.The official codes currently used by the FC-31 in the military industrial system are:
J35 (WS21). Foreign trade export version
J35A(WS19). PLAAF own-use version
J35x (WS21): PLA Navy shipboard version. The PLA Navy has named it, and it still uses the “J35” series, but the last letter is unknown to us. Our guess is that it will be one of “H”, “T”, or “J”.
Note: These are the codes used in the military production system, which is still not officially published by PLA.
Since I first posted this message in the PDF, and not in Chinese social media, no one in Chinese social media knows about this message, unless they quote me from the PDF.
People can use the previous way of describing it, or they can use the latest news I provided. Until the official naming news comes out, all changes are possible.
This is about the evolution of the FC-31 family of codes.
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“FC” meaning “Fighter China”. The Chinese code for the JF-17 was FC-1.
When China exported their fighter jets in the very early days, they didn't use a special export code, they exported them directly using the original code. For example: J6, J7 ......
Later on, in order to cater to the international market, China started to use “FC” as the special prefix code for fighter export. FC-1, FC-31, etc. The J10 used to use “FC-20” as the export code as well. But, in practice, “FC” is very misleading, and people doubt whether it is the weapon used by PLA, and thus doubt the capability of these weapons.
Now, China began to use “PLA code + E” to name the export weapon code.
