The latest Chinese fighters part 1
The latest Chinese fighters
Today, the People's Republic of China has the third largest air force in the world, on a par with American and Russian aviation. They are based on about 600 multi-role fighters, equal to the F-15 and F-16 fighters of the US Air Force. In recent years, the number of new aircraft (J-10, J-11, Su-27, Su-30) has significantly increased, work is underway on a new generation of aircraft (the J-20 and J-31 fighters are made using low visibility technology). Guided and long-range weapons are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, the PRC has not completely overcome the problems typical of developing countries, especially in the design and production of jet engines and avionics.
China's aviation industry was built almost from scratch after World War II. Great assistance to the PRC at that time was provided by the USSR, which participated in the creation of the Chinese military industry, including aviation, until a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries, which occurred in the second half of the XNUMXs.
Plant No. 112 in Shenyang became the first major aviation enterprise in China. Construction began in 1951, and two years later the plant began producing the first aircraft components. It was originally planned to produce MiG-15bis fighters as J-2, but these plans were not realized. Instead, Factory No. 112 began producing MiG-15UTI two-seat trainer fighters as the JJ-2. In Harbin, the production of RD-45F jet engines for them has been launched.
In 1955, licensed production of MiG-17F fighters under the number J-5 began in Shenyang, initially from parts supplied from the USSR. The first fully Chinese-built J-5 flew on July 13, 1956. The WK-1F engines for these aircraft were manufactured at Shenyang Liming as the WP-5. The J-5 was produced until 1959, and 767 machines of this type rolled off the assembly line. Simultaneously with the construction of five large factory workshops, a research and construction center was organized in Shenyang, known as Institute No. 601. His first work was the creation of a two-seat training version of the J-5 fighter - JJ-5. Such a version, i.e. double MiG-17, was not in the USSR. The prototype JJ-5 took to the air on May 6, 1966, and by 1986 1061 vehicles of this type had been built. They were powered by WK-1A engines, locally designated WP-5D.
On December 17, 1958, the first J-6A, a licensed version of the MiG-19P fighter, equipped with a radar sight, took off in Shenyang. However, the quality of Soviet-made aircraft was so poor that production was stopped and a decision was made to transfer it to a plant in Nanchang, where licensed production of similar J-6B (MiG-19PM) fighters was simultaneously launched, armed with an air-to-air missile. -1 (RS-2US). The first J-6B at Nanchang took off on 28 September 1959. However, nothing came of this, and in 1963, all work aimed at launching the production of J-6A and J-6B was finally completed. In the meantime, an attempt was made in Shenyang to establish the production of a "simpler" J-6 fighter (MiG-19S), without a radar sight. The first copy was lifted into the air on September 30, 1959, but this time nothing came of it. Production of the J-6 was not resumed until a few years later, after the crew had acquired the relevant experience and improved the quality of production (it must be remembered, however, that, unlike previous situations of this type, Soviet assistance was not used at this time). The first J-6 of the new series took off on September 23, 1963. Ten years later, another "non-radar" version of the J-6C was put into production in Shenyang (a prototype flight took place on August 6, 1969). In total, Chinese aviation received approximately 2400 J-6 fighters; several hundred more were created for export. In addition, 634 JJ-6 two-seat trainers were built (production was discontinued in 1986, and the type was decommissioned only in 2010). The WP-6 (RD-9B) engines were originally built at Shenyang Liming, then at Chengdu.
Another aircraft produced in Shenyang was the J-8 twin-engine interceptor and its modification J-8-II. The decision to develop such an aircraft was made in 1964, and it was the first Chinese fighter aircraft developed almost entirely in-house. The prototype J-8 took off on July 5, 1969, but the repression of the chief designer Liu Hongzhi during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China led to a significant delay in work on the J-8, which did not have a chief designer for several years. years. Serial production of the J-8 and the upgraded J-8-I was carried out in 1985-87. The aircraft was then completely obsolete, so in 1980 work began on a modernized version with a much more advanced radar sight in the bow and side holds instead of the central one. It was supposed to be armed with medium-range air-to-air guided missiles. A prototype of this aircraft took off on June 12, 1984, and in 1986 it was put into production, but only in the J-8-IIB variant was the target armament introduced in the form of semi-active radar-guided PL-11 missiles. In total, by 2009, about 400 fighters of this type were built, some of them were modernized during operation.
In the second half of the nineties, the Shenyang plant began licensed production of Russian Su-27SK fighters, known under the local designation J-11 (more on this topic can be found in another article in this issue).
The second major fighter aircraft factory in China is Factory No. 132 in Chengdu. Production began there in 1964 (construction began in 1958) and initially these were J-5A aircraft (J-5 with a radar sight; they were probably not brand new, but only rebuilt) and JJ-5 aircraft assembled from parts brought from Shenyang. . Ultimately, however, it was to be a MiG-21F-13 (J-7) fighter, capable of twice the speed of sound and armed with R-3S (PL-2) guided air-to-air missiles, homing. guiding infrared. However, starting production of the J-7 in a factory with an inexperienced crew was a major problem, so J-7 production began first in Shenyang, first flying on 17 January 1966. In Chengdu, he was only a year and a half later, but full-scale production began only three years later. In subsequent upgraded versions, about 2500 J-7 fighters were built, the production of which was discontinued in 2013. In addition, in 1986-2017. in Guizhou, a two-seat version of the JJ-7 was produced (the plant also supplied components for the construction of the J-7 combat aircraft in Chengdu). WP-7 (R11F-300) engines were originally built in Shenyang Liming and later Guizhou Liyang. The latter plant also produced an upgraded WP-13 for newer fighters (both engine types were also used in the J-8 fighters).
