Take a look at the J-15 fighter jet, the $61 million copy of a Soviet plane picked to wage war from China's aircraft carriers (2024)

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The Shenyang J-15 is China's carrier-borne fighter jet. There are several dozen units of the jet in service.

The jet, nicknamed the Flying Shark, entered service with China's People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force in 2014. It was manufactured by the Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of the state-owned defense conglomerate Aviation Industry Corp. of China.

The Diplomat reported in May 2021 that about 50 of jets were in operation. The J-15 is China's first carrier-borne fighter jet, meaning it was primarily designed for China's growing fleet of aircraft carriers.

In December, China unveiled an upgraded version of the jet featuring updates to its missile pylons, radar, wings, and infrared search and track system. The Chinese state-affiliated media outlet Global Times reported the upgraded version of the J-15 could be capable of carrying a short-range combat missile.

These improvements led a Chinese military expert to suggest in discussions with the Global Times that the fourth-generation J-15 could be considered a "fourth-generation-plus" fighter jet.

Military 4.5-generation jets feature active electronically scanned array radar, high-capacity data links, and the ability to deploy advanced armaments, according to the science and technology publication Phys.org, which cited definitions by the 2020 US Defense Authorization Act. It's unclear whether the J-15 meets these conditions.

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The J-15 is modeled after the Soviet-made Su-33 jet, according to The National Interest.

China purchased an unfinished prototype of the Su-33 and built the J-15 based on the Soviet jet's airframe, The National Interest reported. The Su-33 was first produced in 1987, according to United Aircraft Corp.

China copied several Russian weapons systems without permission, according to a 2017 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

As the J-15 is essentially an unlicensed copy of the Su-33, the jets have basically identical dimensions. The J-15 measures 21.9 meters in length, is 5.9 meters in height, and has a wingspan of 14.7 meters, according to Military Today.

One point of difference between the J-15 and Su-33 is the engines. While the J-15 jet operates with the Chinese-made WS-10, the Su-33 uses the Saturn AL-31.

The WS-10 engine has been described as underdeveloped compared with the Russian engines China has traditionally relied on, according to The National Interest. Several other Chinese jets use the WS-10, including the J-20and J-16 jets.

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In September, Chinese state media released a video that military experts said appeared to show a J-15 warning off a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, according to the South China Morning Post.

Yue Gang, a former Chinese colonel, said the features of the warship in the video matched the characteristics of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, citing its large four-sided phased-array radar antenna, double funnel, and anti-submarine torpedoes, SCMP reported.

The Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times that he also identified the warship in the video as a US destroyer. Other observers noted that Japan and South Korea had ships based on the Arleigh Burke-class design.

The US and Chinese militaries routinely find themselves in close proximity in the Indo-Pacific region, sometimes with tense interactions.

China is trying to build a stronger military that can hold its own against the US armed forces. A December report by the Harvard Kennedy School said China had strived to modernize its military since President Xi Jinping's reforms in 2015 to "shift the balance of power" in the growing military rivalry between China and the US.

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While the J-15 has been compared to several US jets, like the F-35, it's been said to be no match for its US counterparts.

The National Interest's Kris Osborn, who has served as an expert at the Pentagon, said the J-15 couldn't compete with the F-35C and F-35B jets even with upgrades, mainly because the J-15 is only a fourth-generation jet, while the F-35 is a fifth-generation aircraft.

Osborn said that even an upgraded J-15 would have difficulties with regard to air supremacy against the F-35s, the C and B variants of which serve aboard US carriers and amphibious assault ships.

Unlike these fifth-generation aircraft, the J-15 lacks advanced radar-evading capabilities, The Diplomat reported. The F-35's very-low-observable stealth enables it to "evade enemy detection and enter contested airspace," according to Lockheed Martin.

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The J-15 "would likely get slaughtered" if it went head-to-head with even fourth-generation aircraft like the F/A-18, experts previously told Insider, pointing to weaknesses in Chinese carrier designs.

While the J-15 has underpowered engines, it can carry more weapons and fuel, so it's capable of flying higher and faster than the F/A-18, Insider previously reported.

But China's aircraft carriers limit the advantages of the J-15. The Liaoning and Shandong, which carry complements of J-15 jets, use ski-jump-assisted short-takeoff launch systems over catapults.

According to the RAND Corp. senior defense researcher Timothy Heath, a ski-slope configuration makes it difficult for the J-15 to take off with a full payload. In comparison, the F/A-18 can launch with a full load of fuel and weaponry because US carriers use catapult-assisted takeoff.

"If you're talking about the J-15 going up against the F/A-18 at sea, then the F/A-18 is going to destroy the J-15," Heath told Insider two years ago.

China has since launched an aircraft carrier with catapults that could allow the J-15 to better compete with the F/A-18.

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The unit cost of the J-15 is at least $61 million, SCMP reported, citing the Chinese military commentator Zhou Chenming.

While much pricier than other locally made counterparts like the JL-9 — which Zhou, a Beijing military expert, estimated cost about $10 million — the J-15 is far from China's most expensive fighter jet. The fifth-generation J-20, which entered service in March 2017, costs between $100 million and $120 million a unit, according to SCMP.

"The J-15 is expensive because it is an attack fighter jet and needs to be fitted with sophisticated devices and weapons," Zhou told SCMP in 2020.

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There are at least five variations of the J-15, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence.

The initial model of the J-15 is a single-seat variant of the jet, The National Interest reported. There's also a twin-seat variant, the J-15S.

Another variant of the jet is theJ-15T, which is coated with an anticorrosion material.

The J-15B, the jet's latest variant, has an improved avionics suite that enhances air superiority and strike capability, The Diplomat reported.

Correction: This article initially misstated the height of the J-15, which is 5.9 meters.