JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - DECEMBER 07, 2005
Sino-Pakistani fighter improved
ROBERT HEWSON Editor, Jane's Air Launched Weapons
Dubai
* The redesigned FC-1 light fighter aircraft is now back in developmental flying
* Pakistan hopes to start building aircraft in 2006
The joint Sino-Pakistani FC-1/JF-17 light multirole fighter aircraft has undergone a major redesign, including changes to its air intakes as well as the wing-fuselage join and rear fuselage section. The fourth prototype with the modifications has completed three months of trials.
The Chengdu FC-1, which will also be manufactured by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) as the JF-17, is an export-orientated programme under joint development by the two countries. The fourth prototype (TP4) with new features is well into its test programme while a fifth aircraft is being used for static testing (along with the second prototype).
The PAC is establishing its own facility to build the aircraft and has been importing specialist machine tools from suppliers in Sweden, and elsewhere, to set up a better production line than the one already established at Chengdu. Work on the first PAC aircraft is expected to begin in 2006.
According to a PAC official the original FC-1 design was found to be Mach-limited, forcing a revision of its engine intake design.
The conventional intake with splitter plates found on the first three aircraft has now been replaced with convex diverterless supersonic inlets (DSIs), similar to those found on Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The rounded 'bump' of the DSI compresses and redirects the oncoming boundary layer airflow that can otherwise cause airflow disruptions in the engine. The revised FC-1 now has a maximum speed of M1.8, powered by a Russian-built Klimov RD-93 engine.
Along with these major fixes to the inlet design and the surrounding fuselage area has come a redesign of the wing-fuselage join and the rear fuselage section. The FC-1's fin-tip has also gained a new fairing, understood to be an electronic counter- measure housing. It remains to be seen if such changes to the FC-1's design can be easily accommodated.
The FC-1 is planned to be a fully fly-by-wire (FBW) aircraft. However, the flight control system (FCS) has FBW in the yaw axis only, with conventional controls for pitch and roll.
According to the PAC, Pakistani test pilots are flying with the Chinese test team, with FCS development as a major focus. However, PAC officials have also indicated that the current FCS configuration is an optimised low-cost solution and not one that is expected to be revised in the near future.
The PAC said that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plans to qualify the JF-17 with all current PAF weapons. This increases the possibility that the FC-1/JF-17 will become the first Chinese aircraft to be integrated with US weapons.
At Dubai, FC-1 models were displayed both by CATIC (China National Aero-Technology Import Export Corp) and PAC showing the aircraft armed with short- and medium range air-to-air missiles.
The JF-17 has long been touted as a platform for China's SD-10 active radar beyond-visual-range missile, for which Pakistan is expected to be the launch customer.
The JF-17 may yet find itself armed with a less capable Chinese weapon, such as the semi-active radar homing FD-60 (PL-11), or other weapons sourced away from China entirely.
An initial production contract for 16 aircraft (eight from the Chengdu line, eight from PAC) is expected to be signed in 2006, with deliveries proposed for 2007.(To mean_bird) These aircraft will be used for further test and development flying. Full-rate production, is not expected until the end of the decade.
only remaining issue is their compatibility and development. 
