Page 47 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

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AIRPOWER 47
FAR from symbols of national pride, these fighter programs combine with modern fighter acquisition plans and together they significantly affect the balance of power in the region.
THE RISE OF THE CHINESE FIGHTER
The massive military modernisation undertaken by China over the past two decades has seen the Asian economic powerhouse build up an increasingly capable aviation in- dustry that has developed several modern fighter types and is continuing to pursue next generation designs.
The most significant of these is without doubt the Chengdu J-20 Mighty Dragon. This is a large, low-observable fighter that first flew with no small amount of fanfare in January 2011.
The J-20 is a relatively large aircraft, at approximately 20 metres in length. Delta wings combine with all-moving twin tails and forward canard provide its agility, while in stealth
mode its weapons are stored internally within a ventral weap- ons bay, with two secondary bays at the sides of the fuselage. The main bay is capable of carrying four beyond-visual- range air to air missiles while two short range missiles can be accommodated in the smaller side bays. The size of the bays indicates a focus on air-to-air missions, suggesting the type is designed as a long range, stand-off interceptor. Avi- onics are said to be indigenous, although the prototypes and early production aircraft continued to be powered by
the Russian Saturn AL-31 turbofan engine.
Stealth shaping is present on the J-20, with close up pho-
tos indicating China has paid attention to refining manu- facturing techniques to ensure flaws do not compromise low-observability. However, these early prototypes and pro- duction aircraft are designed for frontal aspect stealth, with little effort made to reduce rear aspect radar cross-section.
A flight test program with several prototypes followed the first flight, as the design was refined before low-rate pro- duction started, with the first assigned to PLAAF opera- tional testing units in 2017.
By late 2018 or early 2019 the first unit, the 9th Air Bri- gade at Wuhu in China’s eastern theatre command started receiving J-20s, becoming the first active PLAAF unit to
operate the new fighter.
By early 2022 J-20s of two more PLAAF bri-
gades had been identified, based at Anshan and Guilin in the northern and southern theatre commands respectively.
If the J-20 is the tip of the spear for the PLAAF, then half its backbone would be the derivatives of the Russian Sukhoi Flanker family. China has bought several variants of the Flanker, starting with the Su-27SK interceptor in the 1990s followed by the twin-seat Su-30MKK and then Su-30MK2 in the 2000s. The latter two types are multi-role fight-
“IT IS UNCLEAR HOW MANY J-11/J-16S CHINA HAS PRODUCED, BUT THE NUMBER IS BELIEVED TO BE IN THE HUNDREDS”
The KF-21 Boramae is the Republic of Korea’s new fighter development program, which will deliver a 4.5 generation capability to the ROKAF in the near future.
ers, with the latter for the PLA Navy Air Force (PLANAF).
In the meantime, China began licence producing its own Su-27s, calling them J-11As. They soon moved on to modi- fying these with indigenous avionics and weapons, desig- nating these J-11Bs. The country has since developed the J-16, a twin-seat indigenous Su-30 variant fitted with local avionics, engines and weapons and now entering service in
increasing numbers.
It is unclear how many J-11/J-16s China has produced,
but the number is believed to be in the hundreds. Add to that another 400-odd Chengdu J-10s. The other half of the country’s duo of mass-produced fighter, the J-10 has been accused of being a clone of the IAI Lavi, an Israeli attempt in the 1980s for an indigenous fighter that was eventually killed off by American pressure.
The J-10 is a single engine, delta wing multi-role fighter that utilises forward canards for control and can carry an array of air-to-air and air-to-ground ordnance on 11 hard- points (six underwing, two under the forward intake and three in the rear fuselage). China has switched production to the J-10B and J-10C, which featured progressively im- proved avionics as well as a redesigned, diverterless super- sonic intake for, among other things, reduced radar cross section.