preface: After Pakistan purchased 36 J-10CE fighters, the Pakistan Air Force was overjoyed by the performance of 20 delivered fighter jets, determined that this is a very good fighter jet, and hoped to order 14 more. How good is the J-10CE fighter jet?
1： Predicament of Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan and India are deadly enemies, but Pakistan's national strength is far from India's, especially in terms of air force strength. The Indian Air Force has 12 Su-30MKI fighter squadrons, 3 MiG-29 fighter squadrons, 3 "Mirage" - 2000 fighter squadrons, 2 "Guanghui" fighter squadrons, 6 MiG-21 fighter squadrons and 6 "Jaguar" attack aircraft squadrons, Pakistan Air Force has only five F-16 fighter squadrons and six JF-17 "Thunderbolt" fighter squadrons, so Pakistan needs to offset India's quantity advantage with quality advantage.
The main advantageous quality of Pakistan Air Force is 18 F-16C/DBlock52 fighters, which are responsible for fighting against India's Su-30MKl fighter. This aircraft is an upgraded version of the F-16C/DBlock52 fighter, with the addition of conformal fuel tank on the back, and the range increased by 20%~40%. It is equipped with AN/APG-68 (V9) radar. The A1M-120C5 medium range air-to-air missile has advantages over the Su-30MKl fighter, In addition, the JF-17 "Thunderbolt" fighter equipped with SD10 medium range air-to-air missiles is not inferior to the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 fighter planes of the Indian Air Force, so the Pakistani Air Force has certain advantages in small and medium-sized air combat.
However, with the introduction of 36 Rafale fighters equipped with RBE-2AA active phased array radar at a cost of US $8.8 billion, India has broken the balance between the two sides. The first Rafale fighter squadron will be fully staffed in 2021, the second Rafale fighter will be fully staffed in 2023, and the "Meteor" air-to-air missile equipped with the Rafale fighter will have a high ballistic terminal storage speed, The non escape zone is three times as large as the AIM-120C air-to-air missile. Since neither side has stealth fighters, and the avionics performance is similar, the range and the "non escape zone" of the AIM-120C5 are inferior to the "Meteor" air-to-air missile, which may be at a disadvantage in the confrontation.
Although the JF-17 "Thunderbolt" fighter Block3 is equipped with KLJ-7A 600mm active phased array radar, it has more than 1000 T/R components and a detection range of 170 kilometers. It can track 20 targets and attack 4 of them at the same time. Its performance is comparable to that of the AN/APG-81 active phased array radar equipped with the F-35 fighter, which is far superior to the RBE-2AA active phased array radar of 450 mm equipped with the "Rafale" fighter, The maximum detection range is not as good as KLJ-7A active phased array radar, but the JF-17 "Thunderbolt" fighter is too small, and its ammunition carrying capacity or load range cannot be compared with the "Rafale" fighter, which cannot serve as the backbone of the air force.
2： Excellent J-10C fighter
In order to balance its advantages, the Pakistan Air Force can only introduce new fighters that are not weaker than the "Rafale", but Pakistan's geopolitical situation and tight economy make the Pakistan Air Force have limited choices. Considering that India is the main fighter customer of Russia, Pakistan cannot introduce Russian fighters, and the price of European "Typhoon" fighters is too high, The US F-35 fighter will not be sold to Pakistan, while the F-16Block70 fighter will be sold to India. As a result, the Pakistan Air Force has only the choice of China's J-10C fighter.
Pakistan is an old user of Chinese fighter jets, and has purchased J-6 fighter jets, J-5 fighter jets, J-7P/PG fighter jets JF-17 fighter and K-8 trainer have been tried by Pakistan since China gave the name of FC-20 to the J-10A fighter when it was launched into the international market, but the J-10 fighter was a high-speed interceptor when it was approved, and its fuselage was designed mainly to improve supersonic combat capability, resulting in the reduction of internal space of the fuselage, so it can only hang three large auxiliary fuel tanks when performing tasks, The remaining racks can only carry four air-to-air missiles, which is sufficient for air defense interceptions.
However, it is not enough to carry out ground attack. For Pakistan Air Force, which is small in scale and has been striving to maximize the effectiveness of each fighter, it cannot meet the demand. Therefore, it has not purchased. As the Chinese Air Force has more and more heavy fighters, it no longer needs J-10 fighters to carry out air defense interceptions, and began to consider multi-purpose performance, The J-10B fighter with DSI inlet emerged as the times require. The biggest difference between the J-10A fighter and the J-10B fighter is that the "adjustable inlet with binary three shock waves" with complex structure is eliminated, which greatly increases the internal fuel volume and ammunition load, with a combat radius of 1240km.
Five J-10B prototypes were produced. Mass production began in 2013, and production was suspended in 2015. The reason for the suspension is that the J-10B fighter uses passive phased array radar, and the transmitter needs to be distributed to the unit to transmit signals through a complex antenna network, which consumes two-thirds of the high-frequency power generated by the transmitter. Each antenna of the active phased array radar has an independent low-power T/R module and power amplifier, The components are close to the antenna, with almost no signal loss, and the detection range is higher than the passive phased array radar under the same radar power. The J-10C fighter is an upgraded avionics based on the J-10B fighter.
1500 GaAs T/R module active phased array radars are used, with a detection range of 300 kilometers, which is far beyond the RBE-2AA active phased array radar with a detection range of only 220 kilometers, and the N01IM "Snow Leopard" passive phased array radar with a search distance of only 120-140 kilometers for a target of 5 square meters. In addition, J-10C fighter planes are coated with stealth materials, and the reflection cross section without external radar is as low as 0.3 square meters, The reflection cross section of the external radar for air combat is only 1 square meter, far exceeding the Su-30MKI fighter with a radar reflection cross section of 15 square meters and the Rafale fighter without external storage of 1 square meter, and the external radar for air combat of 3 square meters.
The J-10C fighter is also equipped with the Thunder-15E air-to-air missile with a range of more than 145 kilometers, which is slightly superior to the R77 air-to-air missile in performance. It is basically at the same level as the 150 kilometer "Meteor" missile. The J-10C fighter also realizes omnidirectional radar reconnaissance and warning, and can even suppress "gusts" in electronic countermeasures Fighters and J-10C fighters can not only fight for air supremacy, but also provide ground fire support for the army. They also carry anti radiation missiles to destroy the Indian army radar station, and will not be inferior to the Indian Air Force's "Rafale" and the Soviet Union's 30MKI fighter in the middle distance competition in the air.
3： The J-10C fighter is good at
Air combat combat is the best of the J-10C fighter. The canard canard layout of the J-10C fighter matches the full moving canard with an area of 12% of the main wing area, which can vortex closely to the fuselage, greatly improving the low speed and high angle of attack flight performance. The lift coefficient reaches 1.8. After replacing the Taihang improved engine with full afterburner thrust of 140-142 kN, the air combat thrust ratio exceeds 1.40, and the wing load is about 250 kg/m2, The 1.17 air combat thrust ratio and 281 kg/m2 wing load higher than that of the Rafale fighter. Due to the low wing load, the canard wing is synchronized with the positive lift of the main wing surface, and the control response is direct and rapid. The instantaneous circling angular speed reaches 33 degrees/second, the top of the third generation of half fighters.
The roll maneuver is up to 290 degrees/second, which is comparable to the F-16 fighter with the best roll maneuverability. The Su30MKI fighter inherits the design of the Su-27 series of large pitch engines, which makes the roll very cumbersome. Even if there is a vector engine, it can only reach 270 degrees/second. But the Su30MKI fighter also inherits the big edge of the Su-27 series, with superior lift characteristics and angle of attack maneuverability, Plus the vectoring thrust engine, the vertical pointing ability is better than that of the J-10C fighter, but the air combat thrust weight ratio is only 1.11, the wing load is 400 kg/m2, and the instantaneous circling angular speed is far less than that of the J-10C fighter.
It can be said that the maneuverability of J-10C fighter and Rafale fighter have their own advantages. They should give full play to the advantages of radar detection and range of mid-range missiles to launch attacks first, force the other side to maneuver and evade, so that their fighting energy is insufficient. Then, they can shoot down the other side with their advantages of better instantaneous circling, and horizontal maneuverability and roll performance prevail, and horizontal acceleration performance The Su-30MKI fighter plane, whose vertical mobility and high angle of attack mobility are dominant in air combat, can only use its own advantages to enter the fight and avoid entering the other side's advantage zone. The J-10C fighter plane has defeated the J-16 and the Su-35 three times in a row in the Chinese air force confrontation drill, and it will not be a problem to crush the Su-30MKI.
In Qatar's "ZILZAL-II" joint air military exercise, the J-10 CE fighter fought against the Typhoon fighter, winning four mid range engagements and five combat engagements with zero loss, and its excellent performance was highly praised by the Pakistan Air Force. The captain of the 16th Squadron, Aobar, is a senior F-15 The pilot of the F-16 fighter, who flew the JF-17 fighter, participated in five China Pakistan "Eagle" joint air exercises. In the entanglement with the J-10C fighter, he found that the over the horizon combat capability of the J-10C fighter forced the opponent to start defense maneuvers from a long distance, which seriously consumed fuel and pilot spirit. It took full energy to survive this phase.
The J-10C fighter is even more terrible after entering the close combat. The J-10C fighter rotates at an extremely fast speed, and even the F-16 fighter cannot keep up, The F-16 fighter only has a better vertical climb performance than the J-10C fighter. How to ensure that it will not be locked by the J-10C fighter at an exaggerated angle in the first 30 seconds is a problem for all fighters. In the joint exercise of the Chinese and Thai air forces in 2019, the Gripen fighter that once violently attacked the J-11A fighter in the middle range air battle was often locked and shot down before it was found, The close combat Gripen fighter can't even fight back.
4： More advanced J-10D fighter
After Pakistan signed the purchase contract for 36 J-10CE fighter jets, China completed the delivery of 20 J-10CE fighter jets within three months. It seems that this batch of J-10CE fighter jets cannot be newly produced. After all, the production capacity of Chengdu Aircraft Corporation is there, and it is impossible to produce 20 new fighter jets in three months. It may be from the refurbishment and upgrading of the service J-10B fighter jets, The airframe of the J-10B fighter is the same as that of the J-10C fighter. The difference in appearance is that the J-10B fighter lacks a back antenna and has a pair of warning antennas/jammers at the root of the vertical tail.
The J-10B fighter was equipped with passive phased array radar, which was an urgent situation in that year. The Air Force had little confidence in the development progress of active phased array radar and took the product of two legs walking. However, the progress of active phased array radar was very fast later, and the development of both was almost successful at the same time. In order not to make scientific research institutions lose money, the Air Force purchased a batch of J-10B fighter, The service life of these fighters is not long. Just after the break in period, there is no need to make major adjustments to replace the active phased array radar, which is very important for the Pakistan Air Force, which urgently needs to fight against Rafale fighters.
Moreover, the Pakistan Air Force has been accustomed to buying American second-hand fighters for decades, and does not think there will be any problem, but China can appropriately reduce the price. However, the Pakistan Air Force will not only need second-hand fighters, and naturally hopes to have more advanced fighters. Although the J-10C has excellent air combat capability, it has a small wingspan, a narrow fuselage, and a low fuel content, The combat radius is only suitable for land air defense. The long-range escort capability is poor, and the ammunition load is not as good as Rafale and Su-30MKI fighters. The simplest way to improve the performance is to increase the spine and conformal fuel tank of the F-16DBlock52 fighter.
The empty weight of the detachable shoulder conformal fuel tank of the F-16E/F fighter is 225kg, which has little impact on the operational quality of the fighter and only slightly affects the acceleration. However, the extra 1362kg of fuel can increase the range by 1480km, making the fighter have a longer time in the air and can patrol for a longer time. During air superiority operations, the ZDK-03 early warning aircraft can be connected to strengthen the air combat system, It is also unnecessary to arrange in the first tier airport to effectively avoid being hit by Indian fire. It is not difficult for China's aviation industry to install two conformal fuel tanks, so a more advanced J-10D fighter plane has been designed for Pakistan.
The prototype aircraft with the number of "Red 701" is actually a J-10C fighter with Russian AL-31F engine, but the exported J-10CE fighter uses WS-10B engine. In addition to the conformal fuel tank, a square ridge is added at the back, which is similar to the Israeli F-16 fighter. The space for fuel storage and electronic equipment installation is increased at the same time, so as to solve the problem of little space left in the J-10C fighter, Two pairs of heavy load hanging beams can use composite hangers to carry up to eight PL-15E medium and long range air-to-air missiles, plus two PL-10E short-range air-to-air missiles, with equivalent firepower.
The inclined nose radome is equipped with the "three array" KLJ-7A active phased array radar of the 14th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation, which can achieve a wide angle view of 150 °, help the fighter to stabilize the guidance of air-to-air missiles in a large angle and high mobility state, and achieve "fight while running", which is much stronger than the NO10M passive phased array radar of the Su-30MK1 fighter, "gust" The RBE-2 active phased array radar search angle of the fighter is only ± 70 °. In general, the J-10D fighter has reached the highest level of the fourth generation of half fighters, even compared with the F-35 fighter.
The J-10D fighter should also have a two seat J-10DS fighter. On the one hand, it may be used to operate the "loyal wingman" to control the operation officer of the rear seat weapon system of the swarm UAV in the future. On the other hand, it can be developed into an electronic warfare aircraft, which can directly transplant the electronic interference pod of the J-16D electronic warfare aircraft. In addition to carrying out more effective jamming, It can also mount two YJ-91 anti radiation missiles or four LD-10 high-speed anti radiation missiles, which is very attractive for Pakistan Air Force without electronic jamming and air defense suppression aircraft.
5： Conclusion
In addition to its weapon payload, the J-10C fighter has other capabilities that can sweep across South Asia. Pakistan's air force has returned to its original quality advantage, which is enough to suppress India's air force's scale advantage. Its avionics and electronic warfare capabilities have brought Pakistan's air force unprecedented capabilities. Pakistan has also introduced four F22P frigates, four 054AP frigates, and eight S20 AIP submarines, 236 SH-15 vehicle mounted guns and 176 V-T-4 main battle tanks are much more advanced than similar weapons of the Indian army, which is enough to rebalance the military situation in South Asia. These foreign trade businesses are cost-effective even if they do not make money. The gains that can hold India back are not measurable in money.
