China Conducts First 2026 Flights of J-35 Stealth Fighter
China’s premier aircraft manufacturer, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), announced on Wednesday that it had hosted first flights of the new year for the J-35 carrier-based stealth fighter jet among other types of aircraft, accompanied by official photos and video footage. An aviation expert characterized the move as demonstrating China’s confidence in its advanced warplane production capabilities and industrial maturity. AVIC revealed in Weibo posts on Wednesday that a J-35 conducted its maiden flight of 2026 on Tuesday at the AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corporation facility in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province. The J-35 carrier-based stealth fighter jet has drawn widespread international attention since making its dramatic debut at China’s Victory Day military parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025, showcasing China’s growing capabilities in fifth-generation naval aviation technology.
Naval Variant Designed for Carrier Operations
Compared with its Air Force counterpart, the J-35A, the J-35 naval variant is specifically designed and optimized for demanding aircraft carrier operations, incorporating strengthened landing gear, folding wings, and reinforced airframe structures necessary for catapult launches and arrested landings. The J-35 was among three aircraft types that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy announced on September 22, 2025 had successfully completed initial catapult-assisted takeoff and arrested landing training aboard the Fujian, China’s first electromagnetic catapult-equipped aircraft carrier.
The Fujian subsequently entered active service with the PLA Navy on November 5, providing China with its most advanced carrier platform equipped with systems comparable to the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carriers. This integration of advanced stealth fighters with electromagnetic launch technology represents a significant milestone in Chinese naval aviation capabilities.
Unpainted Aircraft Indicates Active Serial Production
Attached to the latest AVIC announcement, two photographs and a video clip showed an unpainted J-35 coated in distinctive green primer, lifting off from an airfield during test operations. This was not the first occasion an unpainted J-35 had appeared in official Chinese media reports. On October 5, 2025, China Central Television released footage showing unpainted J-35 and J-35A aircraft under construction at hangars of AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, providing rare glimpses into China’s fighter production processes.
Wang Ya’nan, chief editor of the Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the green primer indicates the J-35 has not yet received tactical coating, meaning the aircraft represents newly manufactured inventory. The latest flight was likely a factory acceptance or pre-delivery test flight conducted before the aircraft is formally handed over to the PLA Navy, after which it would receive complete tactical coatings optimized for operational conditions.
Comprehensive Flight Test Activities Across Multiple Programs
AVIC also announced on Wednesday that two test aircraft departed from Yanliang Airfield in Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Sunday, marking the launch of the year’s first scientific research test flight mission. The company did not disclose the specific aircraft types involved or release accompanying imagery, maintaining operational security around potentially sensitive programs.
According to AVIC, other aircraft that conducted their first flights of 2026 included the AG600 amphibious aircraft and multiple helicopter models produced by AVIC Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Co Ltd and AVIC Changhe Aircraft Industries Group. This diverse portfolio of flight test activities demonstrates the breadth of China’s aviation industrial capabilities across fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms serving military and civilian applications.
Growing Transparency Reflects Industrial Confidence
Wang Ya’nan observed that the Chinese aviation industry’s concentrated release of information regarding aircraft development and production reflects a higher level of openness and signals growing confidence in technological achievements. Now that advanced aircraft such as the J-35 have already been publicly unveiled in previous high-profile events, it is natural that the public is observing more detailed information about the aircraft’s production processes, he explained. This transparency contrasts with previous decades when Chinese military aviation programs operated under strict secrecy, suggesting that Chinese authorities now view publicizing these capabilities as strategically advantageous for demonstrating technological progress and deterrence capacity. The willingness to show unpainted aircraft in various production stages indicates confidence that potential adversaries cannot exploit this information to undermine Chinese capabilities.
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Large-Scale Production and Systematic Combat Role
Wang Yongqing, the chief designer of multiple aircraft types and chief expert of the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute under AVIC, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview in June last year that the J-35 series, developed with an innovative “air-sea twin configuration” approach and a “one aircraft, multiple variants” concept, is expected to enter large-scale production in the future. Wang characterized the aircraft as functioning as a “point guard” in systematic combat operations, delivering outstanding performance in networked warfare scenarios.
This systematic combat concept envisions the J-35 operating as part of integrated kill chains, coordinating with early warning aircraft, surface combatants, and other platforms to achieve information dominance and precision strike capabilities. The emphasis on large-scale production suggests China intends to field substantial numbers of J-35 variants across both naval and air force services, potentially rivaling US F-35 production numbers and providing China with comprehensive fifth-generation fighter coverage across all services and operational domains.
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