FC-20/J-10 multirole fighter aircraft
The Jian-10 (J-10, or F-10 in its export name) is a single-engine, all-weather, high-performance multirole fighter aircraft designed and developed by Chengdu-based 611 Aircraft Design Institute and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) for the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The aircraft was designed as an air-superiority fighter with beyond-visual-range air combat as well as surface attack capability. The J-10 is the first Chinese indigenous fighter aircraft that can match modern Western fighters in performance and capability. The aircraft entered the PLAAF service in 2003 and may soon become available to the export market.
Development of the J-10 by 611 Aircraft Designed Institute officially began in October 1986 in response to the PLAAFs demand for a new-generation fighter which could counter the fourth-generation fighters such as MiG-29 and Su-27 then being introduced by the Soviet Union. It was widely speculated that during its early years the J-10 development had benefited from the cancelled Israeli Aerospace Industry (IAI) Lavi lightweight fighter, though the allegation was strongly denied by the people involved in the J-10 project. In the 1990s, Russia also provided key assistance to the J-10 programme by providing its Lyulka-Saturn AL-31F turbofan engine as a replacement for the incapable Chinese indigenous WS-10 turbofan.
The J-10 has been developed under tight security and high secrecy. The first prototype, 1001, possibly powered by a Chinese indigenous WS-10 powerplant, made its first flight in mid-1996. However, the flight was not entirely successful and Chengdu engineers had gone through some redesign work. A modified third prototype 1003 made a successful flight on 22 March 1998the officially recognised first flight date of the J-10. Development of the two-seat fighter-trainer variant began in 2000 and the first flight took place on 26 December 2003.
The J-10 features a composite material airframe with low-mounted delta wings, front canard wings located near the cockpit, a large vertical tail, as well as two under-belly stabilising fins. The air intake located beneath the fuselage is rectangular in shape. The aircraft is the first Chinese-made fighter to be fitted with a large two-piece bubble canopy to provide 360 degrees of visual coverage for the pilot. A detachable fixed refuelling probe can be fitted on the starboard side of the nose near the cockpit.
The J-10 fighter achieves high manoeuvrability by using a large amount of composite materials in its fuselage and wing structures to reduce the its overall weight and thus increase the thrust-to-weight ratio. The aircraft design is aerodynamically unstable, to provide a high level of agility, low drag and enhanced lift. The pilot controls the aircraft through a computerised digital, quadruplex (four-channel) fly-by-wire (FBW) system, which provides artificial stabilisation and gust elevation to give good control characteristics throughout the flight envelope. The aircraft is also fitted with a digital fuel management system for fuel assumption efficiency.
The production variant J-10 is fitted with a Chinese indigenous (designation reported to be Type 1473) pulse-Doppler (PD) fire-control radar, which is capable of tracking 10 targets and attacking 4 of them simultaneously. The maximum detecting range was estimated to be around 100km. The aircraft has a glass cockpit with four multifunctional displays (MFD) and a head-up display (HUD) with 40 degree horizontal field-of-view. Other avionic systems may include GPS/INS navigations, air data computer, and ARW9101 radar warning receiver (RWR). The aircraft is not equipped with helmet-mounted sight (HMS) as many have predicted but the technology is available for integration with later variants.
The fighter has 11 external hardpoints for weapons and drop tanks. Air-to-air weapons include the Chinese indigenous PL-12 (SD-10) active radar-homing medium-range air-to-air missile and the PL-8 IR-homing short-range air-to-air missile. For the ground attack role, the aircraft can carry laser-guided bombs (LGB), free-fall bombs, and unguided rocket launcher pods.
The J-10 fighter is powered by a Russian-made AL-31FN turbofan engine rated at 17,857lb (79.43kN) dry and 27,557lb st (122.58kN) with afterburning. China has received 50 AL-31FN engines to built 40~50 fighters, and ordered an additional 100 engines in 2004 for follow-on productions. Later production variants may be fitted with a Chinese indigenous WS-10A Taihang turbofan.
J-10S Fighter-Trainer
The two-seat J-10 (reportedly designated J-10S) is identical to the single-seat J-10 in performance and avionic configuration. The forward fuselage of the aircraft was stretched to accommodate an additional pilot seat. Two pilots sit in tandem in the two-seat cockpit with one single large bubble canopy. The aircraft also has an enlarged dorsal spine to accommodate additional avionic for the second pilot.
The two-seat J-10 is deployed in amalgamation with the single-seat J-10 fighter by the PLAAF. The aircraft is mainly used for training purpose, but could also be used as a standard fighter aircraft if necessary. A Chinese report suggested that the aircraft could also be modified for the airborne command & control aircraft role, with the rear-seat pilot being the commander of a small four-plane formation.
History
1985: In the early 1980s, the PLAAF required a new-generation fighter aircraft that can compete with the Soviet Unions fourth-generation fighters (i.e. Su-27 and MiG-29). The single-engine air-superiority fighter aircraft J-10 proposed by Chengdu Aircraft Company and its substituted 611 Aircraft Design Institute was finally chosen by the PLAAF in 1985.
October 1986: The new fighter development programme was officially approved by the Chinese government and PLA. The programme began under the codename project 8610. The aircraft was designated J-10. SONG Wen-Cong was appoint as the chief designer of the aircraft. To help the J-10 development, China reportedly obtained some Western technologies including an example of the Lockheed F-16 fighter and a CFM International CFM56 turbofan engine core.
1987: China obtained the cancelled Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Lavi (Lion) fighter technology. The Lavi fighter development began in October 1982 under the help of the United States, and the aircraft made the first flight in December 1986. However, the U.S. was not prepared to finance an aircraft that would compete in export market with the F-16C/D and F/A/-18C/D, and a dispute arose to the final cost. The Israeli Government was unable to finance the project along and the development programme was finally cancelled in 1987. The Lavi technologies including its aerodynamic design and software for the fly-by-wire system were later transferred to Chengdu to help the J-10 development. With the help of the Israelis, the Project 8610 entered full-scale development.
1990: As a result of the arms ban on China imposed by the U.S. and other Western countries following the June 1989 incident, China was unable to import key technologies such as turbofan engine which is crucial for the J-10 development. This has caused serious problems for the J-10 programme since neither China nor Israel was capable of developing the engine required by the J-10.
1993: Chengdu had constructed the first full-scale metal mockup of the J-10. Wind tunnel testing revealed potential problems with low-speed performance and less-than-expected maximum AOA at subsonic speeds. At the same time the main trend in fighter aircraft development was a transition from single-purpose fighters such as high-speed interceptor or low-altitude dogfighters to multirole aircraft combining good subsonic and supersonic air-to-air performance with extensive air-to-ground capabilities. Added requirements for air-to-ground operations called for an in-depth redesign of the J-10 to accommodate terrain-following radar, more and sturdier hardpoints, an entirely new targeting, flight control and navigation systems.
1996: The first prototype '1001' made its maiden flight but the design was not entirely successful.
The mid-1990s: Russia became involved in the J-10 development programme by contributing its Lyulka-Saturn AL-31F turbofan engine.
22 March 1998: After a 15-month delay, a modified second prototype '1003' made its maiden flight. The same year the aircraft received its official service designation "J-10". By then, the development programme was already two years behind the schedule.
1999: Chengdu had produced seven prototypes for flight testing. The first five were powered by an indigenous WS-10 engine while the last two were powered by a Russian-made AL-31F engine and also featured some modifications in avionics.
December 1999: Two J-10 prototypes were transferred from Chengdu to China Flight Test Establishment (CFTE) based at Yanliang, Shaanxi Province for further flight tests and service evaluations.
2000: Development of the two-seat fighter-trainer variant J-10B officially began at Chengdu, with YANG Wei appointed as the chief designer.
May 2000: Intensive flight tests of the J-10 were carried out by CFTE at Yanliang. By late 2000 the flying models accumulated over 140 flight hours.
Summer 2000: The first successful live test of the ejector seat for the J-10 fighter was carried out on a test plane.
2001: China ordered 54 specially configured AL-31FN engines from Russia to power the initial batch of the J-10 fighter. These engines were received in 2002~04.
Summer 2002: After two years of flight tests in Yanliang, the J-10 prototypes were relocated to the PLAAFs Dingxin AFB in Shuang Cheng Zi, Gansu Province for weapon and fire-control tests.
28 June 2002: The first flight of the pre-production model J-10A. Small batch production of the aircraft began shortly after.
10 March 2003: J-10 fighter officially entered PLAAF service. Six J-10A fighter were delivered to the PLAAF Flight Test & Training Centre at Cangzhou AFB, Hebei Province for operational trial and evaluation. During the handover ceremony, two J-10 fighters made demonstration flights to senior PLA officials.
Spring 2003: The test of the J-10s fire-control radar was carried out onboard a modified Y-8 radar testbed in Shandong Province.
Summer 2003: The J-10 conducted its first successful aerial refuelling simulation.
26 December 2003: The two-seat J-10B fighter-trainer variant made its first flight.
December 2003: The first successful air-to-air missile test launch from the J-10.
Early 2004: The J-10 fighter received its design certificate, marking the ending of the 18-year development programme.
August 2004: The first J-10 regiment was formed in the PLAAF 44th Air Division based at Mengzi AFB, Yunnan Province.
2005: The J-10B fighter-trainer variant completed its flight test and received its design certificate.
July 2005: China reportedly ordered an additional 100 modified AL-31FN engines worth US$300 million from Russia for more J-10 fighters. Production continues at a rate of 2~3 units per month at the moment.
Weapons
The fixed weapon on the J-10 includes a single-barrel 23mm internal cannon.
The aircraft has 11 stores stations six under the wing and five under the fuselage. The inner wing and centre fuselage stations are plumped to carry external fuel tanks.
The aircraft carries a range of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons for different mission profiles. For a typical interception/air-superiority mission, the aircraft carries four PL-12 active radar-homing medium-range air-to-air missile and two PL-8 infrared-homing short-range air-to-air missiles.
For ground attack roles, the J-10 can carry up to six 500kg laser-guided bombs (LGB), free-fall bombs, and 90mm unguided rocket launcher pods.
The two front hardpoints under the fuselage can be used to carry target acquisition and navigation pods.
Powerplant
The J-10 prototypes were reportedly powered by a Chinese indigenous WS-10 turbofan engine, but its performance was not fully satisfactory. Later prototypes and the production variant were powered by a Russian Lyulka-Saturn AL-31F turbofan rated at 17,857lb (79.43kN) dry and 27,557lb st (122.58kN) with afterburning. The same powerplant is also being used by the PLAAF's Su-27 and Su-30 fighters. The AL-31FN model used by the J-10 has been specially modified to fit the aircrafts fuselage. Lyulka-Saturn delivered 54 AL-31F turbofan engines to China between 2002 and 2004 for the initial batch of the J-10.
In July 2005, China ordered an additional 100 AL-31FN engines for more J-10 productions. Some reports suggested that these could be the improved model with increased thrust and possibly a fully variable, all-aspect thrust vector control (TVC) nozzle. Lyulka-Saturn demonstrated a TVC-equipped AL-31FN during the 2002 Zhuhai Air Show. The TVC capability would further enhance the aircraft's manoeuvrability.
Shenyang-based AVIC1 Aviation Engine Institute has been developing the indigenous WS-10A turbofan engine, which is also known as Taihang in its commercial name. Reportedly based on some AL-31F technologies, the engine is rated at 73.5kN dry and 110kN with afterburning.
The WS-10A development was completed in December 2005 and the engines may be ready for batch production soon. It was reported that the later variants of the J-10 and J-11 fighters will be powered by the WS-10A.
Specifications
HISTORY
First flight: 22 March 1998
Initial operational capability: 2003
Operator: PLA Air Force
Variants: J-10 (prototype)
J-10A (single-seat fighter)
J-10B (two-seat fighter-trainer)
CREW
J-10A: One
J-10B: Two
DESIGN
Role: Air-superiority, ground attack
Manufacturer: Chengdu Aircraft Company
DIMENSIONS
Length: 15.50m
Wingspan: 9.70m
WEIGHTS
Empty: 8,300kg
Typical Air-to-Air Combat: 13,200kg
PERFORMANCE
Max level speed: Mach 1.2 (sea-level) or Mach 2.2 (high altitude)
G limit: +9/-3g
AVIONICS
Fire-control radar: Type 1473 (?) pulse-Doppler radar, ~100km detecting range, tracking 10 targets and attacking 2 of them simultaneously
Other: A glass cockpit with four multifunctional displays (MFD), head-up display (HUD), GPS/INS navigations, air data computer, ARW9101 radar warning receiver (RWR), Type 634 digital quadruplex fly-by-wire (FBW) system, and digital fuel management system