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Originally Posted by edslunch
The J-31 could be better from a manoeuvrability perspective since my understanding is they slimmed down the fuselage and presumably weight vs the F-35 since they didn't need to accommodate the vertical lift fan from the Marine variant. That was one of the major concerns about the F-35 being a compromise platform.
There are a lot of arguments about maneuverability being over-rated due to the advanced sensors and software though. Unless the Chinese can equal or better that the J-31 would still be at a disadvantage.
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To me it was overly ambitious for the F-35 to be designed with so many different variants, it caused real confusion and some significant design compromises that can't overcome the common airframe common parts pilot interoperability.
They should have developed the F-35 and F35 Carrier and built an entirely different airframe for the marines that focused more on air to ground and close troop support operations with v/tol If they did that it would have really simplified both the design of the plane and the confusion over the issues.
At the end of the day the concept of dogfighting is going to fade into history. With the development of extreme long range capability missiles and fully integrated technology, the first shots of any battle are going to be from extreme distances where different assets can do target designation, followed by the planes either trying to keep their range or presenting a smaller radar cross section on bore in.
For air to ground, you can have as advanced of a radar as possible but they're usually defeated by ground clutter, and stealth reducing the radar signature coming in.