Get a glimpse of China’s 1st generation fighter jet in action

BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:30 A.M.) – China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency released exclusive footage of the Chinese Air Force’s first generation multi-purpose fighter jet in action.

In the short video, the Chinese J-15 can be seen taking off from an aircraft carrier and conducting flights over the Pacific Ocean.

Exclusive! Get a glimpse of China’s J-15 fighter jets in action, the country’s first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet pic.twitter.com/nfAmGVfOa0

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) April 12, 2019

“The Shenyang J-15 Fēishā (“Flying Shark”) multirole fighter jet entered service in 2015 and was immediately compared to U.S. Navy’s two-seat FA-18 Super Hornet fighter. In truth, it is very much derived from the single-seat Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter, a large but highly agile twin-engine jet comparable to the F-15 Eagle,” the National Interest reported about the Chinese aircraft.

“J-15 prototype Number 551 was flying by 2009, and the following year it was tested taking off from a simulated carrier deck. The J-15 retained the Su-33’s folding wings for more efficient stowage in a carrier deck, and tailhook and strengthened landing gear for carrier-landing. However, it uses a higher proportion of composite materials than the Su-33 to save weight, and has a lower landing speed of 150 miles per hour (compared to 168) to make carrier landing easier. It was also outfitted to be more versatile multirole platform than the air-superiority oriented Su-33,” they added.