A two-seat J-10B fighter-trainer version first flew in December 2003, and in early 2006 Jane's reported that a more advanced version of the J-10 is planned. Russian sources told Jane's the new J-10 version is called the Super-10, and has a more powerful engine, thrust-vector control, stronger airframe and passive phased-array radar.
Dispite the fact that the program got off with a slow start, and is based on old, foreign technology, many experts now believe the J-10 has the potential of becoming one of the most significant fighters in the next few decades.
Development
The program began in 1986 with the goal of developing a fighter that could counter the Russian MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters. The break-up of the Soviet Union and changing requirements shifted development towards a multirole fighter to replace the Shenyang J-6 (MiG-19) and Chengdu J-7 (MiG-21), which were the backbone of China's Army Air Force.The Lavi based airframe had to be significantly modified, because the Chinese could not use the P&W 1120 engine, due to the US arms export ban to China. The larger and much heavier Russian AL-31 engine was then installed, but it requires 40 per cent more air flow.
In the early '90s a wind tunnel mock-up was build, which reveiled several aerodynamical problems at low speed flight, and a lower than expected angle of attack at subsonic speeds. These problems, the requirement for better air-to-ground capabilties, forced the J-10 team to make more design changes.
First flight of a J-10 prototype reportedly took place somewhere in 1996, but a fatal accident in 1997 further delayed the program. A faulty fly-by-wire system is believed to be the cause of the incident. It took two years before the J-10 had a successful test flight.
After the modified prototype made its succesful test flight, more prototypes were build, by 1999 four were used for flight testing and two for static ground tests. A year later, the flight test program accumulated over 140 flight hours and nine prototypes were in use.
Production of the J-10 began in mid-2002, with the first batch of 50 J-10 fighters. Between 2002 and 2004, 54 AL-31F engines were delivered.
A second batch of engines was ordered in late 2005, at a total cost of $300 million. The newer AL-31FN M1 engines for this batch are believed to be developed especially for the new "Super-10" version of the J-10.
China has also been working on their own version of the AL-31 engine, called the WS10A.
Systems
Prototypes of the J-10 that have been seen were armed with the PL-9 air-to-air missile, a Chinese copy of the Israeli Rafael Python 3.
It is unclear what kind of radar the J-10 is equipped with, possibilities are the Israeli-made Elbit ELM-2021 radar system, which can track multiple aerial targets simultaneously, an indigenous KLJ-3 pulse-Doppler fire-control radar, or a Russian Phazotron Zhemchoung radar, which has both an air-to-air and air-to-ground targeting capability.
On April 12, 2006 the Pakistani cabinet approved the purchase of at least 36 J-10s under the designation "FC-10".
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Apr. 17th, 2006 | Pakistan to discuss Chinese defence purchases
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Apr. 3rd, 2006 | Pakistan may buy US, Chinese and Soviet planes
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Mar. 6th, 2006 | China's defense budget to increase 14.7% in 2006
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Jan. 9th, 2006 | China working on 'Super-10' advanced fighter
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Specifications
| Version | J-10 |
| Length | 52.4ft 14.57m |
| Height | 17.4ft 4.78m |
| Wingspan | 35.11ft 8.78m |
View all the specs and compare them with other aircraft!
Chengdu J-10 Videos | 19 Videos Available!
First 5 videos, click to go to the Chengdu J-10 video gallery:
Sources & Recommended Websites:
Information and images from SinoDefence.com
GlobalSecurity.com
Janes.com
This page was last updated on: 2006-08-25
