Key Points and Summary – China’s naval air arm staged an “elephant walk” with J-35 stealth fighters ahead of the 80th V-J Day parade—a classic mass-taxi show meant to signal readiness, scale, and momentum.
-The display showcased both the PLANAF carrier-borne J-35 and PLAAF J-35A land variant.
J-35B Government Handout Photo.
-While firm specs remain sparse, open sources peg the type with long legs, high speed, internal bays, and WS-21 engines—suggesting on-paper range/speed edges over some U.S. benchmarks.
-The bigger takeaway: carriers plus stealth fighters are arriving in numbers, accelerating timelines and pressure on the U.S. to keep upgrading F-22/F-35 fleets and field sixth-gen F/A-XX and B-47 sooner.
China’s J-35 Fighter ‘Arrives’ With Big Elephant Walk
Great power military competition, in addition to being a constant race for superior technology, very much relies on one-upmanship via shows of force.
A prime example of such shows of force long associated with the U.S. Air Force is the elephant walk. China’s People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) recently decided that two could play at that game, and carried out an elephant walk of its own involving the PLANAF’s J-35 stealth fighters.
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
The basics come to us from a Sept. 6 Air Power post on X:
“Shenyang J-35s rolled out in an elephant walk ahead of China’s 80th VJ Victory Parade flypast. The public saw PLAN’s first operational J-35 alongside PLAAF’s J-35A. China’s naval stealth arm is young, but with carriers and stealth fighters rolling out at speed, the gap with the US may close sooner than expected.”
A total of four J-35s appear in the accompanying photograph. It cannot be ascertained whether that was the total number of J-35s that participated in the elephant walk, or what other warbirds might have joined the parade.
Elephant Walk (Military Aviation Context) Defined
A useful definition of “elephant walk” in the military aviation context is provided by Simple Flying reporter Joe Kunzler, whose article in 2024 cites a 2006 statement from Gary Boyd, 305th Air Mobility Wing Historian:
“‘Elephant walk’ is a uniquely Air Force term that grew out of World War II and became institutional memory in the new Air Force. The Army Air Forces had the luxury of large amounts of bombers by 1944, and would regularly generate attacks in excess of 1,000 aircraft from its Numbered Air Forces. Observers commented that the nose-to-tail, single-file taxi movements of the heavily-laden bombers paralleled the nose-to-tail trail of lumbering elephants on their way to the next watering hole. The term stuck and was even used to define maximum sortie surge operations in Air Force regulations.’”
Nowadays the term doesn’t apply only to heavy bombers, but to fighter planes and choppers as well. Elephant walks are very much aimed at drawing maximum media visibility. Various U.S. Air Force units conduct surge response to either show strength or to test capabilities to ensure military or weather crisis preparedness.
It’s not just so-called great powers such as the United States and China that stage elephant walks; smaller nations use them, too.
For example, as covered in The Aviationist, the Egyptian Air Force in 2020 proudly elephant-walked their upgraded MiG-29M Fulcrums.
J-35 Basics
The Shenyang J-35 is China’s second fifth-generation stealth fighter, following in the footsteps of the J-20 Mighty Dragon. There are two variants, one with the plain J-35 designation flown by the PLANAF, while the land-based variant used by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is designated J-35A.
Exact specifications of the J-35 are speculative at this point, but they presumably include the following:
–Maximum takeoff weight of 35 tons and an 8-ton weapons payload, including a carrying capacity of up to eight missiles in its bays and on the hardpoints under its wings.
-A powerplant employing the WS-21 engine, which in turn is a heavily improved version of the earlier Guizhou WS-13 “Taishan.” The engine generates 93.2 kilonewtons (21,000 pounds-force) of thrust.
-An estimated operational radius of 728 nautical miles.
-Max airspeed of Mach 2.2 (1,687 miles per hour).
How Does America’s Stealth Fighters Stack Up?
Let’s see how it stacks up in those last two categories with the United States’ two operational fifth-generation fighters, namely the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II (both products of Lockheed Martin’s prestigious Skunk Works division):
-F-22: operational radius of 460 nautical miles; max airspeed of Mach 2.25.
-F-35: combat radius of 669 nautical miles; max airspeed of Mach 1.6.
In other words, it looks like the J-35 has at least a few on-paper advantages over America’s stealth fighters.
This is more than a trifle concerning. It underscores the sense of urgency both for continual upgrades to the current U.S. fighter fleet – perhaps by developing proposals such as the F-22 “Super Raptor” and the “Ferrari” F-35 – and getting future sixth-generation fighters such as the B-47 and the F/A-XX operational sooner rather than later.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
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