Flanker's 30 Years of History in China (Part 5&6)

Hello everyone! I found a very interesting episode of the well-known Chinese military talk show "羊羔特工队“ back in 2022 called "侧卫来华30年“. This episode discusses in detail the developmental and operational history of Sino-flankers, from the Su-27 to the J-16D, which is rarely seen or known on the Western internet. One of the hosts, Yankee, was famous for successfully predicting that China's 6th-gen fighter would have 3 engines and an MTOW of over 50 tons. His opinion article on J-36 was also allegedly verbally approved by the jet's chief designer, Dr. Wang Haifeng.

Therefore, I tried my best to translate this into English, as I believe his accounts of Chinese flankers' history carry some weight. The entire translation has 11 parts in total.

I previously posted my translation on r/FighterJets, and someone there suggested me to repost it here. Hope you all find this interesting!

Link to Part 3&4

The crippling heart disease

 

Prior to the service entry of WS-10-equipped J-11B, many believed China’s first large, modern turbofan engine would proceed well on the improved Flankers, since a few early J-11s had already replaced one of their AL-31F with the Chinese engine, and the test result was satisfactory. Some J-11 prototypes, such as aircraft No. 522, had also been powered exclusively by WS-10s. Then, as 2008 came, seasoned photographers in the Chinese military enthusiast circle, also known as “the Party of Wall Climbers”, revealed a large number of unairworthy J-11Bs at airbases, indicating that the WS-10 might have reliability issues on the 02 batch of the jet. The earlier 01 batch escaped such a nightmare only because it was equipped with AL-31F that had been sourced from other aircraft’s spare inventory. It was also rumoured that at the airport owned by Shanyang Aircraft Corporation, as many as 50, or 2 air regiments of J-11Bs and twin-seat J-11BSs were stored, as the Air Force refused their deliveries.

 

While China’s J-11B fleet suffered from a constant readiness crisis due to engine issues, the nation’s adversaries were not sitting idle. Soon after, Taiwan would hold another presidential election in 2012, while Japan and South Korea increased their military presence in key theatres. Around the same time, India also started fielding its new Flankers, Su-30MKI, in large numbers. Therefore, the PLA top brass was determined to fix Ws-10’s problem so the J-11B fleet could become an effective fighting force. Fortunately, the new engine testbed aircraft, a modified IL-76, had just arrived, allowing WS-10 to be retested in a much better condition. Previously, the Su-27 testbed could only verify the engine’s reliability for a short period. By contrast, with IL-76 and its full set of onboard instruments, WS-10’s performance data could be recorded and analyzed in real time. Therefore, by 2012, the reliability of WS-10-equipped J-11B had increased dramatically, and the jet’s delivery rate could be maintained at 1 air regiment per year. As production capacity increased, the improved Chinese Flanker would also be delivered to the PLA Naval Air Force, designated the J-11BH. 

 

Su-30MK2: The long-neglected child’s new toy

 

Back in the early 2000s, when the Air Force procured its advanced, multirole Su-30MKK, the best aircraft PLANAF operated was the J-8. As such, the Navy purchased its very first 4th-gen fighter aircraft from abroad, the Su-30MK2. Given the Air Force’s experience with R-27’s performance deficiencies, the Navy would equip its Su-30MK2 with R-73 and R-77 only. And even for these missiles, the Navy eventually phased them out for two reasons. First, unlike the Air Force, which operated several Russian Flanker variants, the Su-30MK2 was the Navy’s sole imported fighter aircraft. Therefore, maintaining a small, separate inventory of Russian missiles would be uneconomical, as all other PLANAF aircraft could fire Chinese missiles only. More importantly, after adopting new domestically produced aircraft like the J-8H and J-10AH, their mature PL-12 variant proved superior to the R-77 as an active-radar-guided missile. As a result, after 2010, the Su-30MK2 was modified to be able to launch PL-8 and PL-12, becoming the only Russian-made Flanker capable of firing indigenous Chinese missiles. That said, until recently, PL-12 was still occasionally paired with R-73, since the latter was superior to PL-8 in some respects, though loading missiles of different origins simultaneously did raise some compatibility issues for the fire control system. But armed with these weapons, the two dozen Su-30MK2s had maintained a high operational tempo against Japan in the East China Sea, and many of their Navy pilots were trained to become the first to operate the J-15, China’s carrier-borne Flanker.

 

J-11BS: One step closer to perfection

One of the major shortcomings of the original Su-27 compared to other modern 4^(th)-gen fighter aircraft was its reliance on a simulated digital fly-by-wire system for flight control. Despite this, in China’s improved J-11B, such an outdated flight control system was still retained. This was because, unlike weapons or even radar, a change to an aircraft’s flight controls to fully fly-by-wire (FBW) would require a top-level redesign, akin to swapping a motherboard, not to mention multiple rounds of complex, time-consuming integrated testing on the ground and in flight. Furthermore, at that stage, relevant research institutes had already absorbed the technologies of the simulated FBW system. Therefore, given the limited time available to the J-11B project, the decision was made not to pursue a fully FBW system on China’s very first improved Flanker.

 

That said, those involved in J-11B’s development were confident that such a technology would eventually be adopted onto the Sino-Flanker. Furthermore, there was demand for an indigenous, dual-seat Flanker, as importing from Russia, especially Irkutsk, was no longer an option at this stage. Consequently, the J-11BS, controlled by a fully FBW system, came into fruition. Another breakthrough of the J-11BS was that, right from its first prototype, this twin-seater was powered by the domestically developed WS-10 turbofans. Combined with a standardized data bus for avionics, a digitalized cockpit, and indigenous radar and weapons systems of its single-seat sibling, J-11BS represented a full departure from the Russian Flanker’s design, aside from the airframe.  

 

Sharks born from the empire’s ashes

 

The history of the J-15, formerly known as the J-11C, was closely linked to China’s development of its first aircraft carrier. In fact, prior to refitting the ex-Soviet Varyag, China had conceptualized several smaller aircraft carriers, none of which were capable of operating the heavy Flankers. But as China acquired Varyag and planned to build another carrier based on it, the nation set its sights on the Su-33, purchasing the T-10K-7 prototype from the Ukrainians. Consequently, the J-15’s development would use the prototype as a reference point while integrating the J-11B’s avionics.

However, the Chinese discovered that during the J-15’s development cycle, they had to sometimes conduct tests that the Su-33 never underwent. This was because the test flights of Su-33 prototypes were disrupted by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then, after the Su-33 production aircraft entered Russian service, accidents within the 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment led to the deployment of late Su-33 prototypes into active service as replacements. As a result, many of the tests scheduled earlier were left undone. In addition, after a J-15 was lost in an accident, the aircraft underwent further flight tests at high angles of attack, gathering more data on the naval application of the Flankers that the Russians could not provide to China.

 

Indeed, J-15’s aerodynamic profile was quite unique for the Chinese, as it was the only Flanker model in their inventory that had canards. Previously, the Russians had attempted to export various models of canard-equipped Flankers to China but failed, including the first-generation Su-35, Su-37, a Su-30 variant similar to the MKI, and even Su-27KUB, later known as Su-33UB. As China conducted tests on the J-15 to expand its flight envelope, designers realized that the canard setup could indeed improve the Flanker’s flight performance in a manner different from what previous research publications and wind-tunnel experiments had suggested.     

 

On the weaponry front, unlike the air-superiority-focused J-11B, the J-15 must become a multirole fighter, as it was the only fixed-wing aircraft China’s first carriers operated. Consequently, it was required to launch the YJ-83 anti-ship missile, the YJ-88 anti-ground missile, and the YJ-91 anti-radiation missile, while retaining the capability to carry EW pods. And one could also expect the typical features of carrier-borne fighters on the J-15, such as folding wings, a tail hook, and engines that could be powered up instantly after a go-around.

 

Nevertheless, on the engine front, J-15 remained rather conservative compared to its land-borne cousins, as it was equipped with AF-31F3. This was because the Russian engine had higher instantaneous thrust than the WS-10, and its emergency mode would provide additional thrust momentarily during take-offs and go-arounds. But, given the J-15 fleet had grown to a size several times larger than that of the Su-33, PLANAF could not rely on Russia’s spare engine for Su-33 forever, and eventually the naval variant of WS-10 would replace it. Another area where J-15 had to make compromises was the lack of easily accessible service panels and an integral ladder, similar to those on the Super Hornets. The ladder was present on Su-33’s T-10K-9 prototype, but was removed on the production aircraft. These were nice features to have, but given the time constraints, some sacrifices had to be made.

 

Given the numerous requirements for a carrier-borne fighter, making J-15 flight-ready before Liaoning’s service entry in September 2012 would be a tall order, yet the jet’s development team achieved this objective. On November 23, news of J-15 successfully completing its first landing on Liaoning was reported. This was indeed a shock for many, as Chinese military enthusiasts would not have expected the J-15 to land on the carrier before the end of the year. On the deck of Liaoning, test pilots, navy officers, and sailors wearing Type 07 uniforms hugged each other in tears. Back in Beijing, many at the PLA headquarters had waited impatiently and were relieved after hearing the good news. Some high-ranking naval officials, including the Navy’s Commander, General Wu Shengli, even boarded the ship by helicopter in advance to witness this historical moment.

 

It was also worth noting that although all J-15s were painted in Navy grey livery, the colour of the airframe’s primer differed between earlier and later batches. When early, unpainted J-15s were conducting takeoff and landing tests on carriers, they appeared yellow in various photos, while later-batch J-15s were green, similar to the Super Hornet's primer. This difference stemmed from improvements to the primer material’s anti-corrosive performance, which was especially important for extended parking on the carrier’s deck.

 

When looking at J-15’s next new variant, J-15T, it will certainly mark a departure from the Soviet-era Su-33. During the base model J-15’s development, many of its structures, such as the folding wings and the tail hook, were direct copies of those on the Su-33. But if J-15 wants to become a carrier-borne fighter capable of conducting various forms of engagements in far seas, its improvement will be made exclusively by the Chinese, not the Russians. In particular, China’s new carrier, equipped with electromagnetic catapults, is going to enter service in the foreseeable future. When that time comes, the improved version of the J-15 must be able to launch from such catapults, a requirement that the Su-33 would never be expected to fulfill. Therefore, in the next iteration of J-15, its fuselage and onboard instruments need to be reinforced, and the pilot’s life support system will need to be upgraded to withstand the higher G-load during takeoff.

 

As the J-15T has shown, the importance of the J-15 to China’s Flanker lineage was that it generated an entirely separate branch of naval Flankers, one of which was the elusive twin-seat J-15S that largely vanished after its flight tests. However, its existence marked a unique stage in the Navy’s exploration of carrier-born pilots’ training before the naval versions of the JL-10 trainer entered service. And the J-15S would undoubtedly contribute to the subsequent development of other twin-seat naval flankers.

 

As the second decade of the 21st Century continued, J-15 had gradually matured into a multirole naval Flanker that prioritized maritime strike missions. At the same time, within the PLAAF, a beast had begun to emerge from the shadows, overturning the long-held Western impression that Flankers do not belong to the battlefields of the future.