BEIJING: China’s next-generation carrier-borne fighter jet, dubbed the J-35 by military observers, has started trial operations on CNS Liaoning, an aircraft carrier of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, according to China Central Television.
In a video clip published by the State broadcaster on Friday, Zhang Naigang, a senior noncommissioned officer on the Liaoning, said that “the new combat aircraft landed on the carrier as my service career has approached its end”.
He told CCTV the new plane is “very beautiful”, adding that the day was fine and clear when the jet arrived for its first landing and takeoff test on the Liaoning.
“It was basically like the day when the J-15 performed its first takeoff from the ship,” Zhang recalled, referring to the Navy’s current carrier-borne fighter jet.
He said that he witnessed the new jet’s first takeoff from the Liaoning with excitement and pride. Zhang is the head of the takeoff section of the aircraft operations support department on the Liaoning.
While he did not mention any details about the new type of fighter jet and the tests that have been done on the carrier, his remarks confirmed the new aircraft’s trial deployment on the Liaoning. The J-15 entered service more than a decade ago. In February last year, the Navy released a video of a young naval pilot recruit from a carrier-borne aviation unit being ordered to undertake a new, challenging task and walking toward what appeared to be a stealth fighter jet. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
