Hobby Master Archive

The Chinese J-15 began development in 2006 code named “Flying Shark”. The idea was to develop a naval variant of the Shenyang J-11 that could operate from aircraft carriers. A Russian Su-33 was acquired from Ukraine and reverse-engineered and the first prototype completed its maiden flight on August 31, 2009. The J-15 is a large and heavy aircraft for carriers, but China now operates a new class of carrier: the Type 003 carrier will be larger than the Liaoning and will use a magnetic field catapult system.