Aviation
Chinese Fighter
Development
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Chinese Fighter Development
by Jack Collins
The future:
The Chinese aviation industry is conducting research and development for the next generation of fighter aircraft. According to reports this will include a twin engine, single seat heavy fighter in the 15-tonne class. This Shenyang proposal is similar to the US F-22 Raptor in design arrangement but features canards (at least four different configurations were tried before the definitive New 93 layout was arrived at). Stealth technology is likely to feature prominently in the design (a RCS of about 0.5 square metres has been mentioned) along with thrust vectoring technology (the aircraft is to be more agile than the Su-27) incorporated into a powerplant with greater than 8000kg thrust performance. Thrust-to-weight ratio is expected to be around 1.10-1.15:1 at combat weights. Estimates are that this new generation fighter might enter service around 2015.
| Comparison of new Chinese fighter design with existing designs: | |||
| New 93 | F16 | Su27 | |
| Normal total weight(Kg) | 14986.5 | 11350 | 23000 |
| Normal warload(Kg) | 4860 | 3170 | 5270 |
| Powerplant thrust(Kg) | 2x8120 | 10800 | 2x12500 |
| Thrust-to-weight ratio | 1.08 | 0.95 | 1.09 |
| Wing area (sq metres) | 41 | 27.8 | 62 |
| Maximum speed (Mach) | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.35 |
| Max Speed (Km/h) | 1480 | 1390 | 1400 |
| G-limit | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Ceiling (Km) | 19.0 | 18.3 | 18.5 |
| Climb rate H=1Km, M=0.9 | 309 m/s | 280 m/s | 300 m/s |
| Climb rate H=5Km, M=0.9 | 232 m/s | 190 m/s | 220 m/s |
| Steady turn H=1Km, M=0.9 | 9 | 9 | |
| Steady turn H=5Km, M=0.9 | 7 | 6.06 | |
| Steady turn H=10Km, M=1.6 | 3.9 | 3.4 | |
| Acceleration M=0.6->1.3 | 33 sec | 42 sec | |
| Max range (Km) | 3200 | ||
| Combat radius (Km) | 1200 | 1200 | 1580 |
| Takeoff run (m) | 309 | 350 | 400 |
| Landing run (m) | 498 | 670 | 620 |
A note on sources although much information is from Chinese-language sources, there are three excellent English language resources on the internet: Hui Tong's Chinese Military Aviation (http://www.concentric.net/~Jetfight/); the Chinese Military Forum (http://centurychina.com/plaboard/forum.shtml) ; and China-Defense Forum (http://www.china-defense.com/).
Copyright © 2000-2002 Jack Collins
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