Military Aspects of the Air Show China 2008

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Fighter Aircraft Technologies

This year for the first time general public was allowed to watch the PLAAF’s J-10 multirole fighter in both static display and flight demonstration. The aircraft, which entered service with the PLAAF in 2003, is likely to become available in the export market in the years to come. Pakistan has reportedly ordered 32~40 J-10 fighters and the deliver is expected to begin in 2009. Currently the aircraft is powered by a Russian AL-31FN turbofan, but China is developing an indigenous turbofan WS-10 to power future J-10 productions.

However, there were some important designs missing in this year’s air show. Previously it was reported that the Pakistani Air Force was going to send two of its Chengdu JF-17 (a.k.a. FC-1 in its Chinese designation) to the air show, but the plan was cancelled the last minute possibly due to security concerns. Instead, a FC-1 training simulator was displayed in the air show. Another absentee was the J-11B, which was said to be based on the Russian Su-27SK airframe but fitted with Chinese indigenous avionics and weapon suites. The aircraft has been developed by AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) since 2001.

China is known to have been developing its next-generation fighter aircraft since the late 1990s. So far no much detail regarding the programme has been disclosed, but some technologies potentially linked to the future Chinese fighter aircraft could still be found in this year’s air show. One example being the a ‘glass’ fighter cockpit developed by AVIC, featuring a panoramic display system that resembles that of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightening II.

Air-Launched Weapons

Air-to-air weapons displayed in this year’s Zhuhai air show included the PL-5E, PL-9 and TY-90 IR-homing short-range AAM, as well as the SD-10 active radar-homing medium-range AAM, all of which were developed by the Luoyang-based China Academy of Air-to-Air Missile. Historically China was behind Russian and Western countries in the precision strike weapon technology but it has been quickly catching up. The LeiTing-2 (LT-2) 500kg laser-guided bomb (LGB) and LeiShi-6 (LS-6) precision-guided glide bomb first revealed in 2006 return to the air show this year. Additionally, a new design known as LeiTing-3 (LT-3) features a combined laser/GPS/inertial guidance for capability to operate in all-weather conditions.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4