translation:
With everyone's discussion for many years, the "Baolong" Block Ⅲ fighter aircraft finally ushered in its first flight recently, although the actual KLJ-7A active phased array airborne radar used on this aircraft is still LKF601E air-cooled active phased array radar Up to now, it is impossible to see the details from a very few photos, but for the Pakistan Air Force, the phased array radar dream of the National Air Force fighter. Now it seems to be coming true.
For the upgrade of the "Jiaolong" fighter aircraft, the replacement of the source phased array radar was an unexpected choice. As the "Jiaolong" is a light fighter, there are many restrictions on the phased array radar. First, the take-off weight of the aircraft itself and the small radar installation position of the nose determine the overall size and weight of this type of radar must be limited; second, based on the thrust and power generation of an RD-93 thrust engine, relative The power that an array-controlled radar can use is strictly limited, and the complexity and energy consumption of the radar's cooling system cannot be too high. In short, it is not easy to use an active phased-array radar on a light fighter, so it is important to solve the problem. In addition, other things are not good too much.
Of course, in the selection of the "Nine Dragons" Block 3, from the beginning, there were two products from different industrial systems in China to choose from-KLJ-7A of China Electronics Technology and LKF601E of AVIC. Both types of radar have been installed before, but the difference is that the LKF601E is directly equipped with the earlier "Liaolong", while the KLJ-7A was previously installed on a Yun-7 test platform of the test flight academy. ——According to the private statements of some relevant personnel, it can be mounted on the "Baolong" closer to the Block 3 aircraft for testing. This can be regarded as an advantage of the LKF601E radar from the "own family" treatment.
However, for the test of airborne radar, no matter what aircraft is used in the test phase, there will be some differences between the state of the target aircraft and the current test flight of the first "Dragon" Block 3 using aluminum skin and large airspeed The nose of the tube indicates that although the selection of the radar may not be over, at least in the current test flight phase of the 3000 aircraft, the performance test flight of the aircraft platform itself after various equipment adjustments is mainly performed. Therefore, we can see the obvious changes in avionics equipment other than radar-such as the unusually large diffraction display in a cockpit such as "Jiaolong", and new radar warning equipment behind the air intake.
For the work of upgrading the fourth-generation aircraft (that is, the traditional third-generation aircraft) to the fourth-and-a-half generation, most of the major changes have focused on avionics equipment. Compared with the previous products, the new generation of avionics equipment The weight has increased, and the other side uses active phased array technology, the system consumes more power, increases heat, increases heat dissipation requirements, and consumes more power from the heat dissipation system, so we return to us What was talked about at the beginning was the engine. Theoretically, a higher-thrust engine and a stronger power generation function are undoubtedly something that must be taken care of in the improvement.
For the Chinese aviation industry, although the imitation turbofan-13 engine based on the RD-93 engine has not been put into production in large quantities, the additional models developed on the basis of this aircraft have already reached practical status long ago, and are completely available for upgrade. Model of "Liaolong" used. But at this time, it must be acknowledged that as a configuration of a foreign trade fighter, the user's own needs must be more important than the technical ability itself. As a cooperative developer, the minibus has little money. It is not a day or two, so it is being developed. China has tried to change the design as little as possible, while at the same time using the existing equipment support system of the Pakistani Army as much as possible. The Pakistan Air Force, which saves money, naturally insists.
In this way, the "Nine Dragons" Block 3's eye-changing design is to a certain extent the same as the Taiwan Army ’s current upgraded F-16V (not the F-16V Block 70/72 ordered in the future). , Is a design that pays much attention to economy. Of course, focusing on economics will affect the actual performance. Whether it is the power advantage that the J-11 / 16 series demonstrated in the electronic countermeasures in the actual combat of the PLA Air Force before, or the J-20 currently using three-generation engines in the electronic warfare field due to power constraints All fully demonstrate the extreme importance of abundant energy supply in the performance of avionics systems.
Of course, from another perspective, even if the "Baolong" Block 3 can use a better engine, the aircraft is still in a disadvantage when facing the larger and medium-sized and heavy fighters of the same generation. Although this can be regarded as an inevitable result to some extent, it is true that for the development of light fighters, in this era of technological frontiers from the fourth-generation aircraft to the fifth-generation aircraft, the survival space of light fighters seems to be about to follow Evolution has completely disappeared.
Originally, in the era when the models such as "Gripen" and "Jiaolong" appeared, the survival space of light fighters has been quite narrow. It is difficult to make up for the performance disadvantages of light fighters simply by cheap or simple quantities. To obtain balance or even advantage in the performance field, you must have at least half a generation of technical difference (just like the case of Thailand ’s JAS-39C before the PLA ’s Su-27SK fighters). Su-30MKI-class fighters will not be inferior, but after all, the latter is the overall technology of more than ten years ago. When facing contemporary technology fighters, the performance of light fighters is not enough.
As for the next-generation fifth-generation aircraft, the difficulty for light fighters is even greater. After all, the performance requirements of the 4S are here, and the crucial stealth requires that the fighters at least have all of the commonly used air combat weapons mounted inside. This requires that the fighter must have a bomb bay capable of accommodating these weapons, and the appearance of this structure naturally requires a significant increase in the cross-sectional area of the aircraft, especially considering the contemporary air-to-air missiles in order to increase the range and length of the bomb. , And the basic "2 in 2" requirement for air combat mounts, so that the five generations of fighters could not lose weight anyway. In this way, under the current level of technology, the traditionally defined "light fighter" wants to rely on a single medium-thrust engine and achieve a high maneuverability and super Sonic maneuverability is undoubtedly more difficult, and the difficulty of bridging this technological gap means to a certain extent the embarrassing situation of light fighters in the future.
Sorry for long long translation.
