Background	The J-15 was developed by Shenyang based on the J-11 (Su-27) and a Su-33 ‘Flanker-D’ prototype (T-10K-3) obtained from Ukraine.
Mission	Carrier-based twin-engine multirole fighter
Contractor	Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC)
Current status	Flight tests / Initial batch production
Development history	The aircraft made its maiden flight in August 2009. The first take-off from a land-based ski-jump took place in May 2010. At least three examples of the prototype aircraft have been produced for Chinese naval pilots to practice take-off and landing from a land-based simulated carrier deck in northern China. In August 2012, the Chinese military announced that its pilots had successfully taken off and landed on its aircraft carrier Liaoning.
Initial operating capability (IOC)	-
Inventory	PLA Naval Aviation Corps
Comparable rivals	Sukhoi Su-33 ‘Flanker-D’ Boeing F/A-18/E/F Super Hornet
Design features	Conventional layout with forward canards, mid-mounted semi-delta wings and twin swept-back tail fins. Two large square air intakes are mounted under the wings alongside the fuselage. The tail fins are mounted outside the engines. Landing arresting hook is located underneath the fuselage. The tail boom has been shortened to avoid tail strike during take-off on the carrier. The landing gears have been strengthened with twin nose wheels.
Power Plant	Two Russian Lyulka-Saturn AL-31F turbofan, or two Chinese Liming WS-10A Taihang turbofan
Thrust	(AL-31F) 149.06kN (33,510 lb) dry and 245.18kN (55,116 lb) with afterburning
In-flight refuelling	Yes, with retractable probe. Like the Su-33, the J-15 is also capable of ‘buddy refuelling’ using an externally carried refuelling pod.
Length	21.94m (71.92 ft)
Height	5.92m (19.42 ft)
Wingspan	(Deployed) 14.70m (48.17 ft); (Folded) 7.4m (24.25 ft);
Weight	(Empty) 17,500kg (38,580 lb); (Loaded 27,000kg) (60,000 lb)
Takeoff weight	(Maximum) 33,000kg (72,752 lb)
Fuel capacity	(Internal) 9,400kg (20,725 lb)
Payload	4,000kg (8,820 lb) normal load 8,000kg (17,640 lb) maximum allowable load
Speed	Mach 2.0
Range	3,500km (2,050 nm)
Service ceiling	20,000m (65,700 ft)
Armament	One internal 30mm cannon with 150 rounds; Twelve external hard points (2 tandem under the fuselage centreline; 2 under the air ducts; 6 under the wings; 2 on the wingtips); PL-8 IR-homing SRAAM; PL-12 active radar-homing MRAAM; Air-to-surface missile; Anti-radiation missile; Anti-ship missile; Low-drag general-purpose bombs; Unguided rocket launcher pods;
Avionics	Chinese (Type 1493?) Pulse-Doppler fire-control radar; Infrared search and tracking (IRST); Missile approach warning system (MAWS); RW/ECM suite; Helmet-mounted sight (HMS);
Crew	One

J-15 taking off from the training center

Canada’s “Kanwa Defense Review” reported on March 24 that according to the pictures provided by Chinese official sources, China has built a training center for carrier-based aircraft pilots on HuluIsland. There is a picture of a J-15 taking off from a ski-jump deck built on land there.
There are two sets of arresting cables for two aircrafts to land at the same time and decks built on land for two aircrafts to take off at the same time.
Kanwa says the training center is the largest in the world built to speed up training of Chinese carrier-based aircraft pilots for the new aircraft carriers China is building.
There has been much speculation that China’s new homegrown aircraft carriers will use electromagnetic catapults that will enable J-15 to carry more weapons and fuel, but that is perhaps not the case as there is no catapult whether steam or electromagnetic one in the training center.
Source: qianzhan.com “China has built world largest training center for carrier-based aircraft pilots where there is no catapult” (summary by Chan Kai Yee)