ZHUHAI, Guangdong Province, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China, opened on Tuesday with the star attraction of the home debut of China's home-built J-10 fighter in an aerobatic show.
A model of the Jian-10 (Fighter-10), China's own fighter aircraft, was exhibited during the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province.
Some 600 aviation businesses from 35 countries and regions attended the largest show of its kind in China, with more than 60 aircraft being exhibited.
History
The Jian-10 (J-10) is a multi role, all-weather fighter aircraft designed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. The aircraft was designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute (611 Institute) and built by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of AVIC. The aircraft has been operational with the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) since 2003. A further improved single-seat fighter variant designated J-10B reportedly made its maiden flight in February 2009.
The program to develop the J-10, known as Project 8610, started in the mid-1980s. The aircraft was originally intended to be a high-performance air-superiority fighter to counter the then emerging fourth-generation fighters such as F-16 and MiG-29, but the end of the Cold War and changing requirements shifted the development towards a multi role fighter with both air-to-air and ground attack mission capabilities.
Links to Isreal
The development of the J-10 was reportedly assisted by Israel, which provided the technologies of its canceled IAI Lavi lightweight fighter including the aerodynamic design and the software for the “fly-by-wire” flight control system. The development program faced enormous difficulty in the early 1990s when China faced arms embargo imposed by the United States and European Union. In the mid-1990s Russian became involved in the J-10 development and supplied its AL-31F turbofan jet engine to power the aircraft.
However, there have been conflicting reports about a possible relationship between the J-10 and the Israeli IAI Lavi fighter program, the latter having a similar canard-configuration. The J-9 program predated both of the other aircraft. In an interview, the general designer of J-10, Mr. Song Wencong (
宋文骢) said, "Our nation's new fighter's external design and aerodynamics configuration are completely made by us and did not receive foreign assistance, this made me very proud. . . So, those statements that said J-10 is a copy of Israeli Lavi are just laughable."
The strongest admission of Israeli involvement in the J-10's development by Israeli authorities appeared in a statement made by an official as American authorities investigated alleged Lavi technology transfers to China. The Director General of Israel's Ministry of Defense David Lari admitted "that 'some technology on aircraft' had been sold to China and that some Israeli companies may not have 'clean hands'".
In May 2008, Jane's Information Group reported several interviews with Russian sources claiming to be involved with various Chengdu military projects. A number of engineers, designers and technical specialists described their visits to Chengdu and other areas of China in the 1980s. A source alleged that high-level Chengdu officials described the possession of a single Lavi prototype at one of Chengdu's facilities.
Flight tests
The J-10 was first flown on 22 March 1998, with six prototypes produced for flight tests. Six production examples in the single-seat fighter variant were delivered to the PLAAF Flight Test & Training Base / 13th Test Regiment at Cangzhou Airbase for operational test and evaluation in March 2003. The aircraft was certified for design finalization in early 2004. The first operational J-10 fighter unit was activated in the PLAAF in July 2004. The two-seater J-10S first flew in December 2003 and was certified in 2005.
The initial batch of 100 included both single-seat and two-seater variants. It was estimated that a total of 300 aircraft may be required by the PLAAF and PLA Navy. A number of countries including Pakistan, Iran, and Thailand have also shown strong interest in the aircraft. In March 2007, the Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistani Air Force told the press that the country was finalizing a deal with China to purchase up to 40 J-10 fighters, with the delivery expected to take place in 2009.
Design
The J-10 adopts a “tailless delta-canard” aerodynamic layout, which was originally developed for the canceled J-9 fighter. The aircraft has the horizontal control surfaces moved forward to become a canard in front of the wing. When the aircraft pitches up, instead of forcing the tail down decreasing overall lift, the canard lifts the nose, increasing the overall lift.
The aircraft employs an adjustable, chin-mounted air intake that supplies air to the single Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FN after burning turbofan jet engine.
The tailless delta-canard configuration is inherently aerodynamically unstable, which provides a high level of agility, particularly at supersonic speeds. However, this requires a sophisticated computerized control system, or “fly-by-wire” (FBW), to provide artificial stabilization and gust elevation to give good control characteristics throughout the flight envelope.
Cockpit
The pilot sits in the cockpit located above the air intake and in front of the canard. The two-piece bubble canopy gives the pilot great vision at all directions, a vital feature during air-to-air combat. The onboard digital flight control computer ‘flies’ the aircraft for the pilot, providing automatic flight coordination and keeping the aircraft from entering potentially dangerous situations such as unintentional slops or skids.
The two-seater J-10S fighter-trainer is identical to the single-seater variant in performance and avionic configuration, but has its forward fuselage stretched to accommodate a second pilot seat. Two pilots sit in tandem in the two-seat cockpit with one single large bubble canopy. An enlarged dorsal spine accommodates additional avionic for the second pilot. This aircraft can be used for pilot training or as a standard fighter.
CAC revealed that the J-10 is equipped with an indigenous fire-control radar featuring a mechanically slewed planar array antenna, capable of tracking 10 targets and engaging two (using semi-active radar-homing AAM) or four (using active radar-homing AAM) of them simultaneously. Possibly based on Russian or Israeli technologies, the radar is believed to be comparable to the early 1990s-era Western fighter radar designs.
The cockpit of the J-10 features a “Hands On Throttle And Stick” (HOTAS) controls that enable operation of weapon systems while hands remain on these critical aircraft controls. There is one color and two monochrome liquid crystal multi-functional display (MFD) that allow pilot to view flight data, weapon status, and target information by pressing a button; a wide field of view head-up display (HUD) that displays flight data and target information in front of the pilot.
Armament and Roles
The fixed armament of the J-10 includes an internally-mounted Type 23-3 twin-barrel 23mm cannon, located on the port side of the front landing gear. The gas-operated cannon has a combat weight of 50.5kg, a length of 1,530mm, and a maximum rate of fire of 3,000~3,4000 rounds/minute. The cannon fires 320g, 23X200mm high-explosive/incendiary with tracer round and armor-piercing round, with a muzzle velocity of 715m/s. The cannon is electric-driven using 27V 8A DC.
The aircraft has 11 external stores stations for weapon carriage, three under each wing and five under the fuselage. The centerline under-fuselage station and the two inbound wing stations are pumped to carry drop tanks, with a 800 liter tank for the centerline station and a 1,700 liter tanks for each of the wing stations. The two under-fuselage stations at front (under air intake) could be used to carry various targeting or navigation pods for operations at night and in complex weather conditions.
For air-superiority and interception missions, the J-10 could carry a mix of medium-range air-to-air missiles (MRAAM), short-range air-to-air missiles (SRAAM) and drop tanks.
The J-10 was the first Chinese-made fighter to have surface attack capability from the design stage. The fighter is fully capable of all-weather offensive strikes, and could be fitted with a forward looking infrared and laser target designator pod. The AVIC I has displayed a model of the J-10 carrying what were believed to be targeting and navigation pods, which would provide the capability of the J-10 to deploy laser and satellite navigation guided weapons.
In a typical surface attack mission, the fighter carries up to eight 250kg bombs, along with two drop tanks and two PL-8/9 SRAAMs. Although the PLAAF has already developed the pylon integrated dispenser system (PIDS) that can carry up to six 250kg LDGP bombs for the J-8B fighter and JH-7 fighter-bomber, the similar system has not been seen being equipped by the J-10.
Russian Engine
The J-10 was fitted with a Russian Salyut (Saturn) AL-31F turbofan engine rated at 76.2kN (7,770kg, 17,130 lb) dry and 122.55kN (12,500kg, 27,557 lb) with after-burning. The AL-31F is a high-performance jet engine originally developed for the Russian Su-27, Su-30MK and Su-33 fighters and the Su-34 bomber. The version used by the J-10 is the AL-31FN, a modified variant specially tailored for the J-10. In order to fit the engine into the J-10 airframe,
The AL-31FN is built by Moscow-based Salyut Machine Building Enterprise. The development of the AL-31FN was completed in 2000. Between 2002 and 2004, Salyut delivered 54 AL-31FN engines to China, with a unit price of US$3 million. A Russian source also confirmed to Interfax that China was seeking to maintain and repair these engines locally in a Chinese plant.
In July 2005, Russian media reported that the state-owned arms trading company Rosoboroneksport has concluded a US$300 million deal with China for the export of an additional 100 units of the AL-31FN engine to be delivered within the next three years. China also reserved the right to order a further 150 units by 2010.
Salyut has also introduced an improved version of the AL-31FN, featuring a fully variable, all-aspect thrust vector control (TVC) nozzle and an increased after-burning thrust of 124.54kN (12,700kg, 27,998lb).
sources:
PAF to seek more Chinese aircraft, says air chief, The News International, 29 Mar 07
