Since the introduction of Su-27SK and its licensed built version J-11A entered People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) service under Project No. 11, the Flanker was the most advanced interceptor in PLAAF while domestic alternatives, such as J-10A and future variants of J-8II series were still under development. While the aircraft can be said as the leap-forward for the air-defense capabilities of PLAAF by mid-1990s, engineers soon started working on their ultimate goal. Ever since the licensing of Flankers to the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), the technology advancements in Mainland China made the future provision for Project No. 11 possible: upgrades on the airframe with domestic avionics, composite materials and provision for new turbofan engines with the help of the digitization of Su-27's blueprints into CAD files to evaluate means to revise structural components, as well as simplifying production from its literal tons of physical blueprints. After the steady production of J-11A and increasing rate on domestic parts, SAC began the upgrade scheme on J-11A in 1998 and eventually, took-off to the skies on December 2003 and joined PLAAF as J-11B (歼-11B; K/AJJ11B; NATO codename Flanker-L) in 2006 for evaluation units, then 1st Division at Anshan, Liaoling which was well-experienced to operate the Flankers.

The J-11B introduced in Update "Hornet's Sting" demonstrated the Chinese interpretation of the famous Flanker family with vastly upgraded avionics from the bulky and inefficient Soviet-era systems to miniaturized yet efficient domestic systems, especially the replacement of the radar systems; as well as weight reduction and new, more powerful domestic engines delivered since 2010s. While it might not have as many missiles as competing interceptors, J-11B could be said to be the Theseus-like jet for Chinese TT players wishing to experience sufficiently large payload while having improved maneuverability over any previous Flankers.