Bismillah ir Rahman ar Raheem
Our analysis of the more likely JF-17 combat mission profiles has concluded. However, before MK posts pictures such as for the following payload validation flights and asks questions on them, we will for exercise's sake, calculate mission radii for them:
View attachment 356273JF-17 with two C-802/803 class air-to-surface missiles, centerline tank, and four air-to-air missiles
View attachment 356274
JF-17 with two CM-400 class air-to-surface missiles
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Mission Profile X - Anti-Shipping Mission:
Internal Fuel + 800 Liter Drop Tank + Two CM-400AKG Anti-Shipping Missiles + Two SD-10A + Two PL-5EII
27,500 pounds Takeoff Weight [TOW]
6,300 pounds [4,600 liters] fuel
- 500 pounds taxi & takeoff
- 800 pounds climbout covering 50 nautical miles
- 1,200 pounds cruise 190 nautical miles to target
- 1,600 pounds reserves for five minutes combat (including two minutes afterburner use)
- 1,400 pounds bring back all drop tanks and missiles, climbout & cruise up to 240 nautical miles
- 800 pounds reserves for 20 minutes Sea Level Loiter or 200 nautical miles Divert
@
240 nautical miles mission radius (@ 250 nautical miles with C-802s)
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Mission Profile XI - Short-Range Strike:
Internal Fuel + 800 Liter Drop Tank + Two 2,000 Pound Bombs + Two SD-10A + Two PL-5EII
27,500 pounds Takeoff Weight [TOW]
6,300 pounds [4,600 liters] fuel
- 500 pounds taxi & takeoff
- 800 pounds climbout covering 50 nautical miles
- 1,200 pounds cruise 190 nautical miles to target
- 1,600 pounds reserves for five minutes combat (including two minutes afterburner use)
- 1,400 pounds bring back all drop tanks and missiles, climbout & cruise up to 240 nautical miles
- 800 pounds reserves for 20 minutes Sea Level Loiter or 200 nautical miles Divert
@
240 nautical miles mission radius
Internal Fuel + Targeting Pod + Two 2,400 Pound Precision Guided Bombs + Two SD-10A + Two PL-5EII
27,000 pounds Takeoff Weight [TOW]
5,000 pounds [4,600 liters] fuel
- 500 pounds taxi & takeoff
- 800 pounds climbout covering 50 nautical miles
- 500 pounds cruise 80 nautical miles to target
- 1,600 pounds reserves for five minutes combat (including two minutes afterburner use)
- 800 pounds bring back all drop tanks and missiles, climbout & cruise up to 130 nautical miles
- 800 pounds reserves for 20 minutes Sea Level Loiter or 200 nautical miles Divert
@
130 nautical miles mission radius
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All notes as for previous strike mission examples.
You can see the effect of heavy payloads on a light airframe here. Of course, you can go slightly farther by being tighter with your combat allowances, or more likely the strike weapons can be carried on a two-ship (two aircraft formation) and a two-ship fighter escort can accompany them.
Still, the reality is that even if you have exact target location data and fighter escort, you might need a couple of minutes afterburner use in evading enemy defenses and disengaging from the attack while the escort take care of the defenses. As clarified in the notes for the previous posts, the actual mission radius is further reduced by takeoff afterburner use; atmospheric conditions; and routes, speeds, and altitudes adopted.
So all in all, the mission ranges we have calculated should be taken as optimum ranges and a considerable allowance should be made for all foreseeable (calculate-able as shown previously) and some unforeseen obstacles (maybe an arbitrary figure such as 25% of optimum range).
Alternatively, while having to operate at the limits of your range in order to strike long-range high-value targets, if you run into obstacles and don't have enough fuel left to reach the target and make it back to base, the mission will need to be aborted.
While martyrdom is a worthy ambition indeed, it is also the responsibility of the pilot to bring back his valuable assets so that both he and the plane can fly again to wreak more damage on the enemy. You have to make sure that your life and damage to your force's assets come at a far greater cost to the enemy. The only way to achieve this is to fly as many sorties (aircraft-missions) as possible before your time is up.
Also, note that we have allowed for the jettisoning of stores in some examples, in order to get a feel of what is possible. In reality, pilots will be loathe to waste even dumb (non-precision guided) bombs and cheap war-reserve drop tanks. Only when forced to close-range combat or when running low on reserves on the final leg back to base, will these options be seriously considered.
Over the coming weeks, we will attempt to compare the JF-17's ferry range and one to three of the relevant mission profiles with other active-duty fighter aircraft, Insha'Allah. This is an attempt to form a database of aircraft payload-and-range capabilities in realistic scenarios and to overcome the confusion and obfuscation spread on-line (sometimes by the manufacturers themselves).
Allah keep everyone safe.