Chinese Jet Fighters: JH-7, J-10, & J-20 (2024)

* The Chinese Communist regime established by Mao Zedong began its existenceheavily dependent on Soviet-made weapon systems, particularly combataircraft, obtaining such machines directly from the USSR, and then buildingthem on their own. Gradually the Chinese aircraft industry matured, with theChinese turning out enhanced derivatives of Soviet designs -- and now, in thepost-Mao era, completely Chinese-designed aircraft.

Of course such Chinese designs include fighter aircraft, including the Xian"JH-7 Flying Leopard" strike fighter; the "J-10 Lively Dragon" multirolefighter; and the "J-20 Mighty Dragon" stealth fighter prototype. Thisdocument provides a history and description of the JH-7, J-10, and J-20.

[1] XIAN JH-7 ORIGINS

* The Chinese were very enthusiastic about the Soviet Mikoyan MiG-19supersonic fighter, the Chinese Shenyang aircraft organization building it asthe "Jianjiji / Jian (Fighter) Type 6" or "J-6". Indeed, although theSoviets saw the MiG-19 as an interim type and did not pursue advancedvariants, the Chinese took the design much further by designing a two-seatadvanced trainer, the "Jianjiji Jiaolianji (Fighter Trainer) Type 6" or"JJ-6"; and a considerably revised attack derivative of the J-6, the Nanchang"Qianjiji (Attack) Type 5" or "Q-5".

The Q-5 became an important strike asset for both the Chinese People'sLiberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the People's Liberation Army Naval AirForce (PLANAF). However, its only real virtues were sturdiness and low cost;it couldn't carry a heavy warload, and lacked range. Following armedsquabbles with the Vietnamese in the South China Sea in 1974 that revealeddeficiencies in Chinese combat capabilities, work began on a much improvedstrike fighter -- a two-seat aircraft with a hefty warload and long range.In 1976, a request for proposals (RFP) was sent out to Chinese aircraftdesign organizations; in 1977, the proposal submitted by the Xian AircraftFactory was accepted for further development. At the outset it was seeneffectively as a pure bomber, with the aircraft to be designated "Hongzhaji /Hong (Bomber) Type 7" or "H-7".

The PLAAF and the PLANAF had different requirements, and so Xian engineersdesigned two different variants -- one with side-by-side seating for thePLAAF, the other with tandem seating for the PLANAF. However, at that timeChina was only just emerging from the turmoil of the disastrous CulturalRevolution, initiated by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Mao Zedong in1966, which had done much to reduce the country to chaos for a decade.Getting things done was difficult enough; the Xian design was also of Chineseorigin, not a derivative of a Soviet type, presenting a challenge to theinexperienced Chinese aviation industry. Developing two different variantswas simply too much, and the program went nowhere in particular.

By the early 1980s, it was apparent that both variants could not beimplemented, and PLAAF interest in the H-7 gradually faded out. However, theChinese military took careful notice of the 1982 Falklands War betweenBritain and Argentina, paying considerable attention to the Argentine use ofFrench-made Exocet antiship missiles against British vessels. Chinesemaritime war planning was revised to focus on antiship missiles, and thatimplied obtaining an air platform that could carry and launch them.Accordingly, the PLANAF pushed development of the H-7, the concept beingrevised to a multirole configuration and accordingly redesignated "Jian Hong(Fighter Bomber) Type 7" or "JH-7".

* The development program then got out of its holding pattern and began tomove forward. Subsystems for the JH-7 were evaluated on various trialsaircraft such as the H-5 torpedo bomber -- a Chinese copy of the Soviet Il-28"Beagle" bomber -- and the JJ-6 advanced trainer, while tests were performedof the Chinese-made WS-6 afterburning bypass jet engine, expected to be thepowerplant for the JH-7. However, Chinese engine development was alsoinexperienced, and the WS-6 would never go into production; the BritishRolls-Royce Spey Mark 202 engine was selected instead, with development to beperformed on Speys acquired from the UK and, in principle, production to useChinese-built copies. The Spey wasn't a particularly modern engine, but itwas known to be reliable, and its specifications were an adequate fit for themission.

It appears that five JH-7 prototypes were built, the first flight being on 14December 1988. They were followed by "Block 1" evaluation machines, and then"Block 2" full-production machines. The JH-7 was formally accepted intoservice until 1998, though it appears it was in PLANAF squadron service by1994. It was followed by a "JH-7A", essentially the mature productionversion of the JH-7, which entered service in 2004. The earlier-productionJH-7s were apparently given partial upgrades to bring them closer to JH-7Aspec. A "JH-7A2" was revealed at an airshow in 2021, apparently featuringavionics updates, and particularly the ability to carry more combat load,including new munitions.

Over 270 JH-7-series strike fighters have been built to date; it has beenoffered for export sales as the "FBC-1 Flying Leopard", but there have beenno export users. It was assigned the unflattering NATO reporting name of"Flounder", though it is often, at least informally, known by the "FlyingLeopard" name.

[2] JH-7A DESCRIBED

* The JH-7A turned out to be a muscular-looking combat jet made mostly ofaircraft aluminum alloys, featuring a slab-sided fuselage; all-swept flightsurfaces with a high wing; twin engines fed by dee-style inlets on the sidesof the fuselage behind the co*ckpit; and tandem seating. Each wing had asweepback of 45 degrees at quarter-chord, with a small "leading edge rootextension" featuring greater sweep. The wing arrangement wasstraightforward, with ailerons and large one-piece flaps, but no leading-edgecontrol surfaces; the wings had a strong anhedral droop. The tailfin had aprominent forward fillet, and the tailplanes were "all moving". There weretwin fixed ventral fins under the tail -- the JH-7 only had one ventral fin-- and airbrakes top and bottom just forward of the engine exhausts, for atotal of four airbrakes.

Each of the engines provided 54.51 kN (5,550 kgp / 12,250 lbf) dry thrust and91.29 kN (9,300 kgp / 20,515 lbf) afterburning thrust. The dee-type inletswere of fixed configuration, with splitter plates to avoid ingestion ofstagnant "boundary layer" air, and two prominent auxiliary doors on the sideof each engine nacelle, forward of the wing.

Originally the powerplants were Spey Mark 202s obtained from Rolls-Royce inBritain, with the plan being to produce them in China. Copying the Speyproved difficult, and additional Speys had to be purchased to support theJH-7 program -- most of the engines being refurbished units from retiredBritish Phantom fighters. The locally-produced version, the WS-9, was notintroduced until after the turn of the century; that was an embarrassment,but manufacturing the Spey did prove a significant learning experience forthe Chinese jet engine industry.

All landing gear had twin wheels, presumably for operation off roughairstrips, the nose gear retracting backward and the main gear retracting upand forward into the fuselage. On the approach, with gear down, the JH-7Ahad an unmistakeable resemblance to an Anglo-French two-seat SEPECAT Jaguarstrike fighter, the resemblance not being so strong from other angles. TheJaguar was obviously seen as a model of the sort of aircraft the Chinesewanted to build, though it would be absurd to call the Flying Leopard a"copy" of the Jaguar in any significant way. It could be thought of as a"Jaguar on steroids", the JH-7A having an empty weight about twice that ofthe Jaguar.

The two aircrew sat on zero-zero (zero-altitude zero-speed) ejection seats,under individual rear-hinged clamshell canopies. The JH-7A differed fromearlier production JH-7s by featuring a one-piece windscreen. The seats wereoffset to give the back-seater a better forward view. Avionics of the JH-7Awere state-of-the-art for Chinese technology, featuring:

• A co*ckpit with multifunction displays and head-up displays.
• A helmet-mounted sight.
• A Jl-10A multimode radar.
• An automatic fly-by-wire flight control (FBW FCS) system, with satellite / inertial guidance navigation system.
• Defensive countermeasures, including a warning receiver system and chaff-flare dispensers.

 ___________________________________________________________________ XIAN JH-7A: ___________________________________________________________________ wingspan: 12.7 meters (41 feet 8 inches) wing area: 52.3 sq_meters (563 sq_feet) length: 22.325 meters (73 feet 3 inches) height: 6.575 meters (21 feet 7 inches) empty weight: 14,500 kilograms (31,900 pounds) MTO weight: 28,475 kilograms (62,775 pounds) max speed at altitude: 1,210 KPH (750 MPH / 655 KT) service ceiling: 15,600 meters (51,180 feet) combat radius: 1,650 kilometers (1,025 MI / 890 NMI) ___________________________________________________________________

The JH-7A had internal armament, in the form of a two-barreled Type 23-III"teeter-totter" 23-millimeter cannon, a variant of the Soviet GSh-23 cannon,on the lower right side of the fuselage, roughly near the wing leading edge-- a position that no doubt reduced problems with engine gun-gas ingestion.All stores were carried externally, with stores attachments including:

• A rail on each wingtip for an air-to-air missile (AAM).
• Three stores pylons under each wing, the outboard pylon being for lightweight stores such as AAMs, the middle pylon being "wet" for carriage of fuel tanks, with the inboard pylon being for carriage of heavy stores, particularly antiship missiles -- the C-801 solid-fuel missile, or more currently its C-802 turbojet-powered derivative.
• A "wet" centerline pylon for carriage of an external fuel tank.
• Two small pylons under the fuselage just rear of the engine intakes, these being for carriage of targeting pods and the like. These two little pylons were not fitted to the original JH-7.

The JH-7A could carry AAMs, typically a short-range AAM on each wingtipstation and a larger AAM on each outboard wing pylon. Possible AAM armamentsincluded:

• PL-5: A "clone" of the US Sidewinder heat-seeking AAM, with the later PL-5E variant comparable to the US AIM-9L "all-aspect" missile -- meaning its seeker was sensitive enough that it didn't have to be aimed at a target's exhaust to zero in on it. The PL-5 was a typical wingtip store for the JH-7A. "PL", incidentally, stood for "PiLi (Thunderbolt)", an entertainingly dramatic Chinese term for an AAM.
• PL-8: A copy of the Israeli Rafael Python 3 AAM, a more agile heat-seeking weapon than the PL-5, with longer wings that restricted its carriage to the wing pylons. Some illustrations suggested the existence, or at least the possibility of, a dual-stores rack to permit twin PL-5s to be carried on a single pylon.
• PL-11: A semi-active radar homing (SARH) AAM, a derivative of the Italian Aspide AAM, itself a variant of the US AIM-7 Sparrow AAM; later versions of the PL-11 were rumored to have an active radar seeker. It is arguable that the PL-11 has ever actually been carried by the Flying Leopard, but the aircraft's JL-10A radar system could in principle support it, allowing the JH-7A to be potentially used as a long-range interceptor.

Offensive weapons included iron bombs, cluster munitions, unguided rocketpods, guided bombs, anti-radar missiles, and antiship missiles -- with fourantiship missiles being more or less a default operational storesconfiguration. Total external warload is given as a hefty 8 tonnes (8.8tons). It could also be configured for the electronic warfare (EW) role,carrying jamming pods on its underwing pylons, with three different types ofjamming pods having been identified.

While a capable aircraft and certainly a big step forward for the Chineseaircraft industry, the Flying Leopard was a design rooted in the 1960s and1970s, technologically a contemporary of the Jaguar, and well behind thetimes for the 21st century. There have been efforts to keep the JH-7 up todate, with initial flight of a "JH-7B" upgrade in 2011. Although littleinformation is available, it appears that the primary elements of the updatewere a new radar and mission computer, plus an inflight refueling probe. Itmay also have introduced some composite assemblies, to reduce weight, and animproved WS-7B engine.

A "JH-7AII" was announced in 2019. It was externally hard to tell from aJH-7A, with improvements apparently consisting of new avionics, includingupdated radar and mission computer, with better integration of ECM pods.However, China has been moving on to more sophisticated aircraft, and it'shard to say how long the JH-7 will stay in service.

[3] CHENGDU J-10 LIVELY DRAGON

* During the Mao years, the PLAAF focused on the J-6 fighter and the moremodern "J-7" fighter, which started life as a Chinese-built Mikoyan MiG-21.The Chinese would considerably enhance the J-7 design, leading to the "JF-17/ FC-1" lightweight fighter" and the "FTC-2000 / FL-9" fighter trainer. TheChinese also developed a heavy interceptor, the "F-8", which started lifemore or less as a scaled-up twin-engine J-7 / MiG-21. From the 1990s, thePLAAF began to acquire more modern and formidable fighters, focusing onderivatives of the Russian Sukhoi Su-27, built in China as the "J-11", astwin-engine heavy fighter / fighter-bomber assets. The PLAAF was alsosupporting in parallel the development of a smaller single-engine fighter,seeking a design of Chinese origin.

Work on the single-engine fighter began in 1983 as "Project 10", with an RFPreleased specifying a jet fighter comparable to those possessed by potentialadversaries -- such as the F-16, F/A-18, Mirage 2000, MiG-29. The majorChinese aircraft organizations responded with proposals, the Chengduorganization's proposal being selected for further development in 1984.Development was protracted, with engine development problems apparently beinga significant cause of delays, but the first prototype of the "J-10A MengLong (Vigorous / Energetic / Lively Dragon)" was, according to officialrecords, rolled out in 1997, with the first flight on 23 March 1998, testpilot Le Qiangjia at the controls.

Estimates of the number of prototypes run to about a half-dozen, with thesemachines inelegantly taking to the air in yellow primer paint. Following theend of initial trials in early 2003, a number of aircraft were provided to aPLAAF operational conversion unit, with the J-10A then entering PLAAF lineservice in 2004. In the meantime, work had been proceeding on a two-seatversion, the "J-10S", with the initial prototype performing its first flightin late 2003 and the variant introduced to service in 2006.

* As it emerged, the J-10 was an attractive canard-delta machine, with aconfigurational -- though not detail -- similarity to the European Typhoonadvanced fighter. It has:

• A low-mounted clipped-delta wing and swept all-moving canards forward; a swept tailfin and twin fixed ventral fins.
• A rectangular engine inlet on the belly beneath the co*ckpit, with a prominent splitter plate.
• A clamshell canopy hinged on the rear.
• Tricycle landing gear, the nose gear having twin wheels and retracting backward, the main gear having single wheels and retracting forward and in to the fuselage.
• A single cruciform drag chute, deployed from a fairing at the base of the tailfin to reduce landing roll. A fixed inflight refueling probe could be attached to the right side of the nose.

Each wing featured an inboard and outboard control surface on the trailingedge of the wing -- usually referred to as "elevons" for "elevator-ailerons",but the distinction between flaps, elevators, and ailerons can get confusingin a canard delta machine. The wing also had a drooping leading-edge flap onthe outer two-thirds of its span. The inboard section of the wing had ananhedral droop while the outboard section was flat, giving the wing a slight"inverted gull" configuration.

The powerplant was the Russian AL-31FN afterburning bypass jet, providing79.54 kN (8,100 kgp / 17,860 lbf) dry thrust and 122.6 kN (12,500 kgp /27,560 lbf) afterburning thrust. It seems difficulties with Chinesedevelopment of an adequate powerplant almost killed the J-10 program, withacquisition of the Russian powerplant keeping it alive. The Chinese havebeen pushing forward on engine development to get rid of their dependency onforeign technology.

 ___________________________________________________________________ CHENGDU J-10 LIVELY DRAGON: ___________________________________________________________________ wingspan: 9.75 meters (32 feet) wing area: 33.1 sq_meters (356.3 sq_feet) length: 15.49 meters (50 feet 10 inches) height: 5.43 meters (17 feet 10 inches) empty weight: 9,750 kilograms (21,495 pounds) MTO weight: 19,275 kilograms (42,500 pounds) max speed at altitude: Mach 2.2 service ceiling: 18,000 meters (59,400 feet) combat radius: 550 kilometers (340 MI / 300 NMI) ___________________________________________________________________

Avionics configuration was unclear, evident features being a glass co*ckpitwith a head-up display (HUD) plus "hands on throttle and stick (HOTAS)"controls, along with a planar-array multimode radar and a defensivecountermeasures system. The aircraft was dynamically unstable, with a digitalFBW FCS to keep it in the air.

The J-10 had a twin-barrel Type 23 23-millimeter cannon on the belly, offsetto the left. There was a centerline pylon, primarily for a belly tank, andpairs of small pylons fore and aft of the centerline store on the belly.Each wing had three stores pylons, the innermost being "wet" for an externaltank.

Typical armament configurations seen on the J-10 strongly suggested it wasseen as an air superiority / control asset. It could carry the PL-5 and PL-8heat-seeking AAMs -- photos suggested the PL-8 is the preferred store -- aswell as the PL-11 Aspide / Sparrow derivative, and the newer PL-12 -- also apreferred store, along the lines of the US AIM-120 AMRAAM and featuring anactive radar seeker. A full warload included a PL-8 on each outer pylon, fora total of two; a PL-12 on each midwing pylon and on the four fuselage"corner" pylons, for a total of six; and an external tank on each inner pylonand on the centerline pylon, for a total of three.

For some time, it was difficult to see that the J-10 had an air-to-groundcapability, beyond unguided rocket pods -- a fairly easy store to use,since they can be aimed by a gunsight -- but in 2016, the PLAAF announcedthat the J-10 had been qualified with a target designator pod, mounted on anunder-intake pylon, the pod having originally been fielded on the JH-7. In2017, a J-10B was displayed kitted up for the "defense suppression" role,with twin YJ-91 anti-radar missiles, these being developed from the RussianKh-31 ramjet-powered air-to-surface missile; a control pod for the YJ-91s;and an electronic systems pod, clearly for targeting the missiles.

The J-10S two-seater was generally similar to the single-seater, except ofcourse for the tandem-seat co*ckpit, as well as a noticeable dorsal spine. Itappears that the initial use of the two-seater was for conversion training,but it had obvious potential as a multirole aircraft -- indeed, had it beenintended primarily as a trainer, it would have had a designation along thelines of "JJ-10". A photo of a J-10S was available showing it kitted up withtargeting pods on the forward fuselage pylons, as well as air-to-surfacestores. The two-seat configuration of the J-10S made it better suited tothe attack role, with a weapons system operator in the back seat targetingand directing weapons. However, it's unclear just how well developed this"Strike Dragon" configuration really is.

* Several hundred J-10s are now in PLAAF service, with the type notably beingused as the mount for the PLAAF "August 1" flight-demonstration team, havingreplaced the J-7 / MiG-21 in that role from 2009. These six machines arepainted in spiffy blue-white-red colors and carry smoke generators to "wowthe crowd". Incidentally, the significance of the date is that it is theformal birthday of the PLAAF. It appears that the PLANAF also operates the type, with the single-seater for the PLANAF being the "J-10AH", and thetwo-seater being the "J-10SH". An improved "J-10B" has been introduced,with:

• "Stealthy" features, including a modified, forward-slanted engine inlet.
• An infrared search and track (IRST) sensor in a fairing in front of the windscreen and offset to the right.
• An antenna fairing on the top of the tailfin, believed to be for a threat warning system.
• A larger nose, believed to accommodate an "active electronically scanned array (AESA)" radar, featuring a grid of programmable "transmit-receive (TR)" modules instead of an antenna, the modules being programmable to perform a wide range of functions.

The J-10B has also been tested with the Shenyang-Limbing WS-10A bypass jetengine, and has performed demonstrations at airshows flying with an enginefeaturing a tilting "vectored thrust" exhaust; it appears the intent is toevolve the WS-10A into a WS-15 configuration for the J-10B, or later variant.

Confusingly, a "J-10C", with advanced avionics but the AL-31FN engine, wasintroduced to service in 2017, so the exact path to the future is a bitunclear for the present. Pakistan has obtained the J-10C, with at least adozen delivered from 2022, and more to follow. A J-10 with an enlarged "fatspine", presumably to house more avionics, or less possibly fuel, wasobserved in 2022. No details were available, with speculations that theaircraft in question could be a demonstrator for a defense-suppression orelectronic countermeasures aircraft.

[4] CHENGDU J-20 MIGHTY DRAGON

* In the late 1990s, the PLAAF initiated a program to develop a "fifthgeneration" fighter to compete with the US Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor andother emerging equivalents. The effort was designated "Project 718", withWestern intelligence labeling the proposed new aircraft as "J-XX".

A decade later, after evaluating candidate designs from the Shenyang andChengdu organizations, the PLAAF selected the Chengdu design for furtherdevelopment. By 2010 two prototypes of the Chengdu "J-20" had been rolledout, with the initial flight of the type on 11 January 2011, test pilot LiGang at the controls. Names associated with it included "Mighty Dragon","Black Eagle", and "Black Silk", though an official name wasn't announced.

A second prototype took to the air in May 2012, followed by a third ofrefined configuration, with many tweaky airframe changes, in March 2014, andthen a similar fourth prototype in July 2014. The first two prototypeswere effectively demonstrators; the second were more like production machines. After a hiatus, five further aircraft appeared. Two of them wereprototypes, bringing the total to six, the other three being initialproduction machines. The PLAAF received their first service machines late in2016, being initially flown for operational test and training; introductionto service was in 2018.

Not much has been officially announced on the J-20, and so all that can besaid about it is conjectural, based on imagery released of the aircraft --though there's been considerable imagery released, providing a good set ofclues. The configuration of the J-20 was straightforward, being a twin-enginecanard-configuration aircraft featuring blended contours, with twin tailfinsand matching fixed ventral fins. The demonstrators probably had significanttitanium elements but modest use of composites, the Chinese being judged asin development of composite aircraft structures.

The wing arrangement was like that of the J-10, with twin control surfaces onthe trailing edge of the wing and a full-span drooping leading-edge flap.The tailfins and canards were of "all-moving" configuration; the ventral finswere fixed. The J-20 had tricycle landing gear, all gear assemblies havingsingle wheels, the nose gear retracting forward, the main gear tucking up andforward into the sides of the fuselage; the gear doors had sawtooth"stealthy" edges. Later prototypes featured a stealth radar-absorbentcoating.

Twin cruciform drag chutes could be deployed to reduce landing roll. Theco*ckpit had a single-piece canopy that hinged up from the rear. The refinedthird prototype featured alterations to flight surfaces, revised landing geardoor configuration and canopy, plus additional "warts" on the aircraft forcombat avionics systems.

J-20s flown so far use Russian-built AL-31FN afterburning bypass jets,as used by the J-10. With such engines, it was unlikely that the J-20 wascapable of non-afterburning supersonic cruise. The production powerplant isenvisioned as the more powerful WS-10G with thrust-vectoring nozzles --though there's been rumors of other powerplants, such as the WS-15J, notexpected to be available for some years. Some of the test machines may havebeen fitted with alternative engines.

 ___________________________________________________________________ CHENGDU J-20 MIGHTY DRAGON (ESTIMATED SPECIFICATIONS): ___________________________________________________________________ wingspan: 12.88 meters (42 feet 3 inches) wing area: 59 sq_meters (630 sq_feet) length: 21.26 meters (69 feet 6 inches) height: 4.45 meters (14 feet 7 inches) empty weight: 17,000 kilograms (37,480 pounds) MTO weight: 36,285 kilograms (80,000 pounds) max speed at altitude: 2,100 KPH (1,305 MPH / 1,135 KT) service ceiling: 18,000 meters (59,400 feet) range: 3,400 kilometers (2,115 MI / 1,840 NMI) ___________________________________________________________________

As far as other basic elements of the aircraft -- when not actuallyspecified, they could be assumed: zero-zero ejection seat; glass co*ckpitwith wide-screen color flat-panel displays, HUD, helmet-mounted sight, andHOTAS controls; a flight processor system and multiplex digital FBW FCSsystem; plus modern countermeasures kit. Production J-20s likely carried amultimode AESA radar of Chinese manufacture. There are also windows on thefuselage that have been judged to be for a "distributed aperture"threat-warning system. Avionics systems have been tested on a highlymodified Russian Tupolev Tu-204C twinjet airliner -- along the lines of theBoeing 757, called the "Catfish", used to test systems for the LockheedMartin F-22 Raptor fighter.

Production J-20s were fitted with an internal cannon, presumably a single30-millimeter rapid-firing weapon. There was a large weapons bay in thebelly -- photographed to be carrying four PL-15 long-range AAMs, a new weaponsimilar to the US AIM-120 AMRAAM, but slightly bigger; other stores were ofcourse possible flanked by a small weapon bay on each side -- for ashort-range AAM, such as the new PL-10, an agile weapon along the lines ofthe British ASRAAM or US AIM-9X, cued by a helmet-mounted sight. Theaircraft featured eight hardpoints for external stores carriage; photos haveshown of it carrying four external tanks.

There's been some puzzling over the specific role intended for the J-20;while seemingly well-suited as a stealthy strike asset, the carriage oflong-range AAMs suggests it may also be seen as a long-range interceptor toneutralize adversary air assets. There is no higher strategic priority toChina than the consolidation of Taiwan with the mainland; to this end, theChinese have focused on neutralizing Taiwanese and US air power in theregion, accordingly investing in interceptors, with each interceptor carryinga heavy AAM load.

* The Chinese have made it clear they have no intention of exporting theJ-20. Computer-generated images have circulated of a two-seat J-20 --including imagery from AVIC, meaning it seems like a serious project.

Conjectures about the J-20 have been all over the map, some claiming it was substantially bigger than the US F-22A, while estimates of the J-20's emptyweight show it to be smaller. Obviously, all conjectures needed to be takenwith a grain of salt: even if some of the commentators knew what they'retalking about, it was hard to sort them out from those who don't. Therehave been suggestions that much of the technology was stolen -- possibly --and that the J-20 was too far ahead of Chinese technological capabilities tobe practical to produce -- we'll see. Certainly it can be said that, giventhe expense of fifth generation fighters, it may never serve in largenumbers.

[5] COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY

* To amplify the puzzles posed by the J-20, in the summer of 2012, theChinese unveiled another stealth demonstrator, the Shenyang "J-31 Gyrfalcon".It was characterized a "lightweight fighter", of stealthy configuration. TheJ-31 had twin engines and twin tailfins like the J-20, but with all-movingtailplanes instead of canards; it somewhat resembled a US Lockheed MartinF-35 fighter, but with twin engines. A second prototype, much closer toproduction standard, appeared in late 2016.

The J-31 was said to be powered by twin WS-13A/E afterburning bypass jetswith about 83.4 kN (8,500 kgp / 18,740 lbf) thrust. Photos of thedemonstrator and models suggested it could have a carrier version, theaircraft featuring twin-wheel nosegear to handle carrier smackdowns and anarresting hook. Models showed it to have four stores pylons under each wingand dual side-by-side internal weapons bays in the fuselage. A carrierversion did emerge in 2021 -- one prominent feature being that it dispensedwith the bubble canopy seen earlier, for a canopy with no rear view.

The PLAAF does not seem to be very interested in the J-31, and so it iscontinuing under development for the export market, as the "FC-31". Theaircraft's primary armament will be the PL-9 short-range missile, the SD-10Amedium-range AAM and small diameter bombs. The FC-31 will be able to carry2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of stores in its single internal bay, and6,000 kilograms (13,220 pounds) externally.

There have also been hints that Chengdu is developing an advanced verticaltake-off & landing (VTOL) fighter, an announcement having been made that theorganization is developing an engine for a VTOL machine. There have longbeen rumors that the Chinese might be developing a derivative of the RussianYakovlev Yak-41 -- a VTOL fighter developed before the collapse of the USSR-- though notional designs released so far suggest an aircraft along thelines of the US F-35B, but with canard foreplanes. Other rumors suggest thedesignation of the machine is "J-18". For now, we just wait and see.

* Sources include:

• "Chengdu J-10" by Andreas Rupprecht, INTERNATIONAL AIR POWER REVIEW, Volume 22 / 2007. 40:59
• "Xian JH-7" by Andreas Rupprecht, INTERNATIONAL AIR POWER REVIEW, Volume 25 / 2008
• "Rise Of The Mighty Dragon" by Andreas Rupprecht, COMBAT AIRCRAFT, January 2018, 52:59

The online Wikipedia and several volumes of JANE'S ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFTwere also mined for details.

* Revision history:

 v1.0.0 / 01 sep 15 v1.1.0 / 01 aug 17 / General update. v1.1.1 / 01 jul 19 / Review, update, & polish. v1.2.0 / 01 may 21 / Review, update, & polish. v1.3.0 / 01 jul 23 / Review, update, & polish.