Posted on 10/30/2015 4:17:03 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
BEIJING: Modernising its airforce at a rapid pace, China has introduced a third-generation supersonic trainer aircraft to its military flight schools to shorten pilots' training time and prepare them for advanced fighter jets.
People's Liberation Army Air Force Aviation University deployed an undisclosed number of JL-9 Mountain Eagle two-seater trainer jets this month and has started to use them to train students, PLA Air Force's Daily, the official organ of the Chinese military, reported.
The aircraft has been developed and manufactured by Guizhou Aviation Industry Group, a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp of China.
It has a maximum speed of 1,837 kilometres per hour, a maximum range of 2,400 km and maximum takeoff weight of 9.8 metric tons.
PLA Daily quoted Liu Yuequan, a senior instructor at the university, as saying that the JL-9 can train pilots for both second-and third-generation fighter aircraft.
It can also perform some combat operations, Liu said. The PLA airforce is rapidly modernising with variety of aircraft including the stealth fighter even though China still depended mostly on Russia for the aircraft engines.
Fu Qianshao, an aviation equipment expert with the PLA Air Force, told state-run China Daily yesterday, "In the past, the PLA Air Force lacked an advanced trainer aircraft, soit had to adopt the second-generation JJ-7 trainer jet to conduct advanced training for students."
The JJ-7 was developed based on the five-decade-old J-7 fighter jet, so it is suitable for training second-generation aircraft pilots, Mr Fu said.
"However, a large proportion of our new pilots will operate third-generation J-10s, J-11s and JH-7s as soon as they join combat units. An advanced trainer aircraft was needed badly to connect flight students with our top fighter jets," he said.
Introduction of the JL-9 will enable the air force to shorten the time required for flight students' advanced training and familiarise them with the third-generation aircraft they may fly after graduation, Mr Fu added.
Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said the JL-9 is much better than the JJ-7 in terms of control, manoeuvrability and takeoff and landing capabilities.
"Two of the most difficult things that flight students have to deal with on the antiquated JJ-7 are take offs and landings," he said.
"These take a lot of time to learn and practice but ultimately prove to be useless because the third-generation aircraft they will fly have different takeoff and landing procedures," Wang said.
"Using the JL-9 will help them to save a great deal of time in adapting to real fighter jets when they start flying them," he said.
No it doesn’t. Not even close.
Really? I was going to say it looks like a JF-17.
Tail looks nothing like an F-16 and lost of planes have a nose similar to an F-4.
The stab does to me.
Nothing we have now has an F4 shnozz
‘We’? Who cares. US flown fighters are a tiny fraction what has been built and even what is in current service. People make ridiculous stretches on these threads to liken every foreign plane to something American. It gets down right silly.
If you really want to go there it looks like a T-38 and an F3 had a love child.
If you have ever had to design something, anything, you will very quickly learn it is far easier to copy and modify a known product than to start drawing lines on a blank piece of paper.
Ever met any aero design engineers? They do not design the whole plane, they design parts of the plane, sometimes very minute parts, and that is all. Then another team puts it all together, and yet another team engineers it so stuff will work and can be manufactured.
You got hinge guys, trunion guys, canopy guys, landing gear guys, fuel system guys, etc., etc. And that is just the airframe, engines and avionics are their own stories.
Yes, lots of stuff is copied and morphed into the final product.
Even in the F35, you can reach deep into the beast and find parts designed 30 years ago.
I am an engineer in the aerospace industry. I have done work on the F-35. The only parts you are likely to find in there that are reused are pretty darn small. Not the whole nose.
The nose of the F-4 is dictated by the radar under that radome. I kinda doubt that plane has the same radar.
It amuses me.
And if you really want a comparison, a single tailfin analog of the Taiwanese ADIC F-K-1C orks for me.
Well, it should since the JF-17 was also derived from an upgrade project for the J-7!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Sabre_II
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