In everyone's previous impression, the side magazine is a very "tall" equipment, which is the standard configuration of the relatively large twin-engine heavy fifth-generation aircraft, such as the J-20 and F-22 are set up with side magazines, and the Su-57's "cocoon magazine" can also be regarded as a kind of side magazine. The only medium-sized fifth-generation aircraft in service in the world, the F-35, does not have a side magazine. So, does our J-35 fighter in the development process have side magazines?
Whether it is from the promotional materials of the J-35 previously released by relevant parties, or from the test screen of this type of fighter that has been released, the J-35 has not set up a side magazine. In addition, the foreign trade version of this type of fighter FC-31 fighter has not seen the design of side magazines on the public model. However, what is very surprising is that in a promotional material released by Shen Fei not long ago, we saw a picture showing a J-31 fighter with a side magazine. And we know that the J-31 fighter and the J-35 fighter can actually be said to be "from the same source", both from the Eagle fighter of the year, so in this case, why does the J-35 fighter have no side magazines and the J-31 fighter has a side magazine?
The author believes that this is likely to be based on the original Falcon, and we will have two medium-sized stealth fighters, the Navy version of the J-35 and the Air Force version of the J-31, although there are certain similarities between the two fighters, but the differences between the two are not small, and the side magazine is an example. After having a side bomb magazine, there is no doubt that the future Air Force version of the J-31 fighter will inevitably have stronger combat effectiveness than the F-35A in service with the US military, that is, the Air Force version of the F-35.
This starts with the role and advantages of the side magazine. Generally speaking, whether it is J-20 or F-22, in the configuration of the magazine, the missile for ground strike will be installed in the main magazine with a larger size, and the air-to-air missile used for air combat will be installed in the side magazine, that is to say, for stealth fighters, the main role of the side magazine is to carry out air combat on the premise of ensuring stealth capability.
However, the F-35 fighter did not set up a side bomb magazine, this is because, on the one hand, the US military's positioning of the F-35 is a "joint strike aircraft", that is, a fighter mainly with ground-to-sea functions, and air combat is handed over to the air superiority fighter F-22. As a result, if the F-35 has to conduct air combat at the same time under the condition of ensuring ground strikes, then it can only take the form of a payload, which will make the F-35 lose its stealth capability, which is obvious to its constraints.
Of course, the F-35's main magazine can also carry air-to-air missiles, but it is clear that the F-35's air combat disadvantages are very obvious compared to stealth fighters with main and side magazines. Therefore, we have reason to believe that in front of the J-31, which has the advantage of the main magazine + side magazine, it is difficult for the F-35 to win in air combat.
What's more, in addition to the advantage of the magazine, the J-31 has other advantages. For example, in the field of air-to-air missiles, this is the traditional area of superiority of our military. At present, our military has developed quite a number of advanced ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, and the performance of the latest version of the Thunderbolt series of missiles has surpassed that of the air-to-air missiles currently in service with the US military. And it is worth noting that although the AIM-260 long-range air-to-air missile being developed by the US military has good performance, its size is also very large, and it is very likely that it cannot be installed in the built-in bomb bay of the F-35, which is smaller in size.
In addition, the J-31 also uses an advanced gallium nitride radar phased array radar, which is at least half a generation more advanced than the F-35's gallium arsenide radar, and its detection and perception capabilities on the battlefield are much higher than those of the F-35.
At present, the biggest advantage of the US military in the field of fifth-generation aircraft is no longer a performance advantage, but a numerical advantage, and the total number of US F-35 + F-22 is as high as hundreds of aircraft, which is the world's largest stealth fighter fleet. However, through the above, we can see that although the J-31 fighter has not yet been officially put into service, it is stronger than the F-35 in various technologies, so in the future, after our army's J-31 fighter is fully put into service, the US military is likely to face an embarrassing situation of "losing lose" in the field of stealth fighters in terms of quantity and quality.