Although both China and Israel officially denied that they had cooperated in the research and development of new fighters, it is generally speculated that Israel transferred the advanced research results of the project to China after 1987, when the United States pressured Israel to abandon the domestic "Lion cub" fighter project. Moreover, Israeli unofficial media also claimed that J-10/ "Lion cub" was indeed a joint research project between China and Israel from the beginning. However, considering the different political backgrounds of the two countries and the different operational needs of J-10 and Little Lion, it seems uncertain whether the two sides have ever cooperated. Because, in 1980s, China Air Force pursued air defense fighters, and the design focus of "Young Lion" was ground attack, and air combat capability was only the second consideration. At the same time, the design size of China's new fighter is larger than that of "Young Lion", and it is more important to make full use of its 12.5-ton thrust engine. The engine used by Little Lion is Pratt & Whitney 1 120 engine with a thrust of 9.4 tons. In addition to the Israeli "contribution", the Pakistani Air Force equipped with F- 16A may also have provided some advanced technical information to China.
The first prototype of J-10 may make its first flight in the middle of 1996, and the official first flight date of China is 1998. But in fact, the day after, the No.3 prototype was greatly improved. In order to provide prototypes for the project development, * * * produced five prototypes for flight test (machine number 1003- 1007) and two ground test platforms (machine number 1008- 1009). The first of the two pre-production J-10 was in 2000.
Since February 2003, at least seven aircraft (aircraft number 101016) and possible10 pre-production J- 10 (possibly without radar) have been provided to China Air Force. Several of them are currently being tested and evaluated by China Air Force combat troops, while the rest are in the final stage of project development at China Air Force Flight Test Training Center in Yanliang, Shaanxi.
It is reported that the flight test of J-10 was completed in June 2003 and the production license was obtained. The first batch of 50 J-10A may have started production. The first fighter regiment equipped with J-10 (possibly belonging to the 44th Southwest Aviation Division and facing India) will form its initial operational capability by the end of 2005. It is estimated that China will produce at least 300 J-10, but this figure is still only a fraction of the thousands of J -6, J -7 and J -5 equipped by its air force. It is said that the monthly output of Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Corporation is two J-10.
As a supplement to the basic single-seat J-10A, a two-seat modification (J-10B) also made its first flight in February 2003. The improved aircraft has lengthened the fuselage to accommodate the rear cockpit and increased the fuel capacity of the aircraft fuel tank. The appearance characteristics of the modified aircraft show that the aircraft is not a trainer, but is intended to develop a new attack fighter or J-10 electronic warfare and air defense suppression model.
Like Indian glory, China also plans to develop a naval fighter (J-10C). It is said that China's navy is more inclined to equip with dual-engine carrier-based fighters. Therefore, it is possible to redesign J-10 and use two RD-93 engines of Russian kerimov Company. Considering the limited procurement of naval fighters, the cost-effectiveness ratio of this scheme is undoubtedly poor. For this reason, China's navy prefers to use Russian Su -33.
Besides meeting the needs of China Air Force itself, J-10 (export type) is very likely to find its own position in the international arms market. However, there is no obvious indication that China will introduce the J-10 to the international market, and the aircraft has not been shown at the international air show.
general layout
J-10 followed the aerodynamic layout of the "Lion cub" fighter designed in the early 1980s, but it was modified to meet the requirements of the China Air Force and adopted the large size and heavy weight of the new fighter originally designed by China.
J-10 improved the close-coupled canard layout of the Lion cub fighter, abandoned the horizontal tail of the Lion cub and adopted the large delta wing and canard layout (the wingspan is more than one meter longer than the latter, and the wing area is increased by 15 ~ 18%). At the same time, however, J-10 retains the movable wing technology adopted by "Young Lions" (and "Gryphon" in Sweden): the leading edge of the outer wing is a movable flap, and the fixed inner wing produces excellent aerodynamic performance with the cooperation of full moving canards. The horizontal tail position of a conventional aircraft is occupied by four movable ailerons at the trailing edge of the delta wing. There is no pylon of light air-to-air missile at the wing tip, which is different from "Lion cub" and "Gryphon".
The most commendable feature of J-10 layout is the integration of wing and body. By carefully designing the curved surface of the joint between the main wing and the middle of the fuselage, the internal volume of the aircraft is increased (for carrying oil and equipment and reserving space for later development), and the aerodynamic lift effect brought by it is also effectively utilized. There are no other structures on both sides of the fuselage at the rear of the main wing, which once again embodies the design concept of wing-body integration, except that two external oblique ventral fins are added below the abdomen at the front end of the tail nozzle. These two ventral fins are used to maintain the stability of the aircraft when flying at high angle of attack, and they have high vertical tails. Like "Lion cub", J-10 also designed four speed brake, two of which are located behind the main wing at the upper part of the fuselage, and the other two are only located between the ventral fins at the lower part of the tail.
In addition to the wing, another big difference between J-10 and "cubs" is the air intake. The intake of "Lion cub" is similar to F- 16, and its geometry is fixed. J-10 adopts two-dimensional adjustable inlet and central shock cone, which is somewhat similar to F-4 Ghost II. Only J-10 translates the inlet of "Ghost" below the belly of the aircraft, and the front part of the inlet is formed by an adjusting plate (located behind the boundary layer separation plate), which provides the airflow required by the engine in different flight conditions and is more suitable for high-performance air-to-air operations. In addition, the high-efficiency rectification and compression capacity of the adjustable inlet (5% at Mach 1.5, 1.8 to 15%, and 25-30% at Mach 2) greatly improves the engine thrust of the aircraft in supersonic flight, so that the aircraft can obtain better climbing and high-speed performance. The shortcomings of this inlet layout mainly include poor stealth effect (which is also a common problem of all aircraft with belly inlet layout), heavy weight, complex structure (F- 16 adds 80 ~ 100 kg for this), increased production cost, and the power and regulation system of the adjusting plate also increases the maintenance burden of the aircraft.
Aerodynamic layout suitable for supersonic flight, powerful engine and adjustable inlet make the maximum speed of J-10 reach Mach 2.2, which is higher than Mach 1.8 declared by Little Lion. The superb performance of J-10 focuses on air-to-air combat, so it will be a weapon for air defense and interception tasks.
Considering that China obviously regards American fighters as the main air threat, and the design of American fighters has always emphasized the ability to seize air superiority, it is not difficult to understand that China should regard air-to-air combat capability (including attack and defense) as the main demand for fighter development. Similarly, the structural design of J-10 emphasizes that the maneuvering overload should reach 9G (the goal pursued by all the latest fighters), which undoubtedly shows that China Air Force requires this new multi-functional fighter to perform well in air combat, at least reaching the performance of the latest F- 16 model.
The J-10 is designed to relax the static stability and adopts a four-degree fly-by-wire flight control system. This is the first time that China fighters have adopted this state-of-the-art flight control system. China Air Force tested the redesigned fly-by-wire flight control system with a specially modified 歼 8Ⅱ technical verification machine, which showed that the J-10 fly-by-wire flight control system should be independently developed by China.
propulsion system
At least the first batch of J-10 will use the tried and tested Russian-made AL-3 1FN turbofan engine. Su -27 family also adopted AL-3 1 series engines, but FN model added a completely redesigned maintenance cabin. This maintenance cabin is a standard Russian style. In the original AL-3 1 model, it was located above the engine, including the outer position of the upper casing of the compressor, but the FN maintenance cabin was adjusted to the same position as the western fighter engine maintenance cabin, which was located outside the lower casing of the engine and compressor.
In addition to the J-10 prototype and engines used in pre-production, it is said that Russia provided 54 AL-3 1FN to China in 200 1 year (another source said it was 100). These engines were used to produce J-10 in the first batch. However, Russia refused to provide China with a production license for this type of engine. Therefore, China is developing a domestic engine that can replace AL-3 1FN. But even if all J-10 adopts AL-3 1FN, China will seek more advanced modifications. The most important technical requirement is to equip the 360-degree axial vector nozzle to improve the maneuverability of the aircraft and the propulsion efficiency brought by the effective cooperation between the engine and the fuselage. This engine made its debut at the Zhuhai Air Show in 1998, and Russia clearly understood China's potential interest in this engine. In fact, the engine vector control technology, which has been strangely ignored by the west, has been widely welcomed in Asia. First it was adopted by fighter planes equipped by the Indian Air Force, then by Malaysians, and now it may be China.
Looking ahead, China may eventually adopt Saturn's AL-4 1 engine. This type of engine is currently being developed for the next generation of Russian fighters. The volume of AL-4 1 may be the same as that of AL-3 1, but the thrust will increase by 30 ~ 40%. Therefore, AL-4 1 may become a potential choice for J-10 in the future, and make it have the same operational capability as F- 16Block60 in the proof-of-concept stage.
At present, AL-3 1FN, which is powerful and fuel-efficient, provides strong support for J-10 to play its superb performance in air combat, so that it does not have to worry about engine shutdown whether it is high-speed flight, high climb rate or large overload maneuver. Because of its high fuel efficiency ratio, this type of engine makes fighters perform equally well in long-range infiltration missions. In addition, the built-in fuel tank of J-10 is 5000 liters, which is 700 liters less than the two conformal fuel tanks of F- 16, but the fighter can still reach the ideal operational radius under the condition of carrying heavy loads. J-10 can also carry three auxiliary fuel tanks. It is reported that China has a long-term plan to develop air oil receiving capacity, although it does not have air oil receiving capacity at present.
Due to the Russian refusal to provide the production license of AL-3 1FN, and considering that China has been striving to realize the localization rate of equipment procurement, it is very likely that J-10 will adopt domestic engines in the future, such as WS- 10A produced by Liming Engine Company. However, the known information only includes the thrust level and layout of WS- 10A (similar to AL-3 1), and Liming has planned to install a vector nozzle on this engine.
Cockpit and avionics
The single-seat cockpit of J-10 provides pilots with a good all-round vision, which is much better than the China fighter plane that inherited the design style of the former Soviet Union. Aircraft avionics adopt a design combination that conforms to western engineering principles: large-screen head-up display, three LCD multifunctional head-up displays, throttle and push rod control system, data storage system, advanced automatic navigation and meteorological data computer and helmet sight. Although the suppliers of these products are uncertain, the helmet sight can basically be determined to adopt domestic models, which will be designed and produced by Luoyang Aviation Design Institute.
J-10 adopts multi-mode "scan and track" radar. In order to get the order, Herta introduced its EL/M-2035 radar, while Russian companies provided China Air Force with a series of choices, including some radars they are using (such as "Pearl" of Phase Accelerator Company, which is an improved version of Beetle -M radar equipped with J-8Ⅱ C). Domestic JL- 10A radar is also an option, but it is not known whether its development progress can keep up with the service time of J-10. Since J-10 has been produced one after another, its radar should have been selected, but there is still no report on the specific radar model.
China's J-1 1 (Su -27 and Su -30) are equipped with high-performance infrared search and tracking and laser ranging integrated systems, which provide fighters with completely passive search and tracking capabilities. J-10 naturally may be equipped with the same or similar systems. However, on the prototype and pre-production machine of J-10, there is no spherical structure to accommodate the infrared search and tracking system, and it seems that there is no other built-in system for displaying the fuselage window.
weapon
J-10 is equipped with a semi-buried double-barrel 23mm gun (China version of Gsh-23 gun made in Russia), which is located below the left air inlet of the nose landing gear. 1 1 pylons are designed under the fuselage of J-10: six pylons are under the wing, 1 is on the lower central axis of the belly, and the other four pylons are connected in series and started on both sides of the belly respectively (similar to Mirage -2000, Gust, F- 15E. The external load capacity of J-10 has not been announced by China authorities, but it is estimated to be 5,500kg.
According to the photos, most of the prototypes and pre-production machines of J-10 are equipped with two PL-8 short-range infrared guided missiles. The weapon system of J-10 will also include Russian-made air-to-air missiles (R-73 short-range and R-77 medium-range active guided missiles) already used on J-1 1, and China's PL- 12 medium-range radar guided air-to-air missiles. J-10 can also carry domestic and Russian air-to-surface missiles and laser-guided bombs (including Eagle Strike -8K anti-ship missiles and new Eagle Strike -9 anti-radiation missiles), as well as unguided bombs and aviation rockets.
It is reported that the navigation and target indication pods for J-10 are under development, and these devices may be placed symmetrically with the machine gun on the right side of the air intake.
Technical and operational considerations
When obtaining the first batch of information about J-10, although the western countries knew that its advanced aerodynamic layout and technology came directly from Israel's "Lion cub" fighter, they still thought it was a light fighter. In fact, until recently, most evaluation data of J-10 provided by western media were based on the weight, size and technical performance of the "Lion cub" fighter.
However, after obtaining accurate data, what is presented to people is another scene. J-10 is actually a medium-sized fighter, which is similar to F- 16C Block 50 and Mirage 2000-5 in operational performance, or more accurately, just like a single European fighter or "gust". Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that J-10 has the same combat capability as the latest F- 16, but its fuselage is bigger and its development prospect is better. In the initial design and selection of J-10, what coincides with the current western fighter design ideas has been strengthened, especially the adjustable inlet.
Like domestic fighters in other Asian countries, the most realistic problem of J-10 is the development technology and reliability of its avionics and guidance weapons. Another concern is the digital fly-by-wire flight control system, which not only has reliability problems, but also remains to be seen whether it can give full play to its potential after being combined with a fighter full of modern avionics system.