Posted on 05/01/2015 6:13:29 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
China has conducted the first test flight of a new, upgraded version of its J-11 fighter jet.
According to Russian media outlets, which cited unnamed Chinese reports, on Wednesday the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted the first flight tests of its J-11D fighter aircraft. The plane is an upgraded version of the J-11B fighter jets, which themselves are copies of the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27.
According to the reports, the new J-11D incorporates a number of technologies from China’s J-16 fighter jets. Both planes are manufactured by the Chinese company, Shenyang Aircraft Corp, and the J-16 is believed to have incorporated some technologies from the J-11. However, the J-16 is a multi-role strike fighter.
Perhaps most notable of the J11-D’s upgrades is that it reportedly incorporates the J-16’s advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. When the PLAAF first took delivery of the J-16 in April of last year, Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer wrote in Popular Science that:
The most important upgrade to the J-16 is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which is more powerful than the slotted array radars that the Su-30 and JH-7A have. The AESA radar allows the J-16 to intercept enemy aircraft at longer ranges than either of its predecessors, and to attack multiple surface targets simultaneously. The AESA radar would also be datalinked to other Chinese platforms, including unmanned vehicles, to increase their situational awareness.
This AESA upgrade significantly enhances the J-11D’s capabilities over those of its predecessors. In fact, pointing to the AESA upgrades, some analysts have said the new J-11Ds could be China’s version of the Sukhoi Su-35s, which is Russia’s most deadly fighter jet. In fact, some U.S. military officials have told The National Interest the F-15C Eagle and Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet “would both have their hands full” in combat against the Su-35.
Besides the AESA radar upgrade, Russia Today reports that the new J-11D uses more composite materials and boasts more air-to-air missiles like the PL-10 and PL-15 than did earlier versions of the plane. It also has a new in-flight refueling arrangement that is similar to the J-15.
Also very notable is that according to some sources, the new J-11D is powered by two WS-10A engines, which are indigenous engines. For all its rapid advances, Chinese aerospace companies have continued to struggle to make high-powered engines that are reliable.
Interesting
(In Before The Raptor Fodder Comment)
Concerning chinese ingenuity, this is the only line you need to read.
A Chinese copy of a Russian aircraft......what could go wrong?..................
Swore it almost looked like a copy of a SU-33, but then noticed that it did not have the wing canards near the front of the aircraft.
“Interesting”
Right, looks like an F-15e. Funny how China seems to make
most of it’s technological advances in their military
during the times when America is under socialist rule.
But stealthy it’s not. The J-11D is still based on the Sukhoi Su-27 design, a plane that was developed not with stealth technology in mind.
Stealth may be obsolete in the next war..................
You’re Correct
Raptor bait. It would be like clubbing baby seals.
Heck, given that the F-35 is optimized for heads-on stealth, as long as the F-35s kept their distance they’d eat this barn-door-radar-signature Flanker knockoff alive.
Wonder what the 1st fight against the X-47B would be like?
they forgot them.... chinese ingenuity
when you have 1/4th of the world’s population .... you dont need stealth or great pilots..... or landing gear
We need the Neutron Bomb, like 30 years ago.................
Indeed. As Stalin was reported to have said, "Quantity has a quality all its own."
Thought that was Albert Speer.
Russia/China making all these new ships and planes is further evidence that war is coming—this time it will not be Proxie Wars as in the past but real head to head conflict as it a World War. My bet it will come before Obama leaves office—maybe in the confusion of an election. It may come in the first few months of the new president —to test them—if they are seen as weak (Hillary) or beset with problems (Jeb Bush) Only a scary Mother will keep the peace because they might think or know he would drop the hammer on them (Cruz).
Yeah I was in Air Force JROTC in High School, read alot on aircraft and the details about them, I impressed my Colonel who was an B-52 Navigator in the Vietnam War.
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