Modern combat aircraft on the road. Moreover, their price is so high that the process of re-equipping even a small army will fly “a pretty penny” and require taxpayers of this state to significantly tighten their belts. An exception may be perhaps a large country with a powerful army. We have PAK-FA, the Americans bring the F-35 to mind, and ... China is building a J-20. The fifth-generation multirole fighter is a serious bid from the Chinese, who are increasingly starting to play a prominent role in world geopolitics.
Currently, the only "official" fifth-class fighter, which is in service, is the American F-22. Yes, and he has already been discontinued, since all the forces have been thrown to fine-tuning F-35. Our situation with the T-50 is rather muddy, but nevertheless, work is underway to finalize it, and there are several experimental vehicles.
Chinese realities
Currently, China produces only fourth-generation equipment. In general, almost all of these machines are tracing paper from Russian samples. Especially “popular” was the Su-27. But in the recent past, world military experts have finally become convinced that the Chinese will soon have the J-20, a fifth-generation multirole fighter. For the first time, this machine was spotted at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute airfield at the time of the demonstration flight. It happened back in 2001.
It is known that the aircraft received the designation "Black Eagle", and now the Chinese are busy with intensive ground tests of the new machine. Several times pictures of the “eagle” appearing on the network, performing short “runs,” simulating the moment of takeoff. Until recently, the PRC official authorities in every possible way denied the existence of a promising fighter, but there is an opinion that all these “leaks” are a message to possible opponents of China in this region.
Creation Background
For many years now, politicians and military personnel from the Celestial Empire have been observing with some irritation how the American F-22s, which “protect” Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, have been paralyzing near their borders. And if the Chinese managed to get along quite peacefully with the South Koreans and even the Japanese (until recently), then Taiwan is a special conversation. The existence of this state is “like a bone in the throat” for the leadership of the PRC. Military tensions in that region are comparatively high; Americans make quite provocative “flights” quite often. Accordingly, "in which case," the Chinese would really like to have fighters capable of fighting the F-22 on equal terms.
What time is the first information about the beginning of the development of the J-20? A multi-role fighter, apparently, began to be created back in 1995. It was planned that he would enter the arsenal of the PLA in 2015, but today it is clear that this will not happen before 2017.
Where does the data come from?
The layout of the aircraft is a “longitudinal triplane”. The plumage is V-shaped. It is known that work to create a new fighter is being carried out by several research bureaus at once. How "independently" was the J-20 created? The multi-purpose fighter, which catastrophically resembles the American F-35, according to unverified reports, helped to create domestic experts. It is reported that some agreement was reached in 1993, but the reality of this is in great doubt.
But there is a rational element in these rumors. The fact is that producing a fifth generation aircraft without fundamental research in the field of materials science is unrealistic. At the end of the 80s of the last century, a group of Chinese scientists was sent to the United States, to Stanford University, which is now engaged in finalizing the F-35. In addition, the Chinese worked together with Boeing and Airbus in the field of civil aircraft, so that some of the best practices could be obtained from the same Boeing.
The latter, contrary to the widespread opinion in our country, is a major manufacturer of not only civilian airliners, but also military equipment: strike UAVs, the same F-35 and F-22, and this is not a complete list of their offspring.
It would be naive to believe that the scientists of the Middle Kingdom did not receive any interesting data during this cooperation, which subsequently went to create a new and promising machine. Already in 2005, the Chinese officially announced that the work was "close to completion", announcing the start of sea trials. As it is now clear, in fact, the end of the research was very, very far, and the Chengdu J-20 multirole fighter, the characteristics (preliminary) of which are described in the article, did not even fly up into the sky ...
Estimated Characteristics and Strength
It is known that according to its main characteristics it should be similar to F-22 or PAK-FA T50. Information on these aircraft is extremely scarce. In any case, it is safe to say that the Chinese probably will not succeed in creating a multi-thousand "horde" of fifth-generation fighters. So, even the Americans with their "printing press" have only 187 "Raptor". Recall that initially the US Air Force wanted to acquire at least 500 aircraft of this type, but a gradual increase in their cost played a role.
The Chinese today have about 400 fourth-generation fighters, so it can be assumed that there will hardly be more than 200 pieces of “fifth graders”. Of course, this is all a theory, but the real state of affairs can be judged no earlier than 2020.
Glider characteristics
The length of the Chinese fighter J-20 is approximately 23 meters, and the wingspan (judging by the available images) is within 14 meters. Most likely, the take-off weight of this machine does not exceed 36 tons. Two rotary keels are immediately visible on the experimental aircraft, and in the serial version, these parts can be abandoned. However, the J-20 multirole fighter, whose length is more than 20 meters, can hardly do without them, as the Chinese are positioning the new model “as the most maneuverable aircraft of recent years.” Well, see.
The air intakes and the cockpit in their outlines suspiciously resemble similar parts of the F-22. The internal weapon compartments of the aircraft are very spacious. EPR, that is, the effective dispersion area of a fighter, should not exceed 0.05 square meters. m
Radar
What else can be said about the technologies that the Chengdu J-20 fighter will use? The technical characteristics of this aircraft to this day are largely secret, but you can still guess something. So, with a high degree of probability, we can assume that they will put radars with AFAR Tour 1475 / KLJ5 on it. The cabin is completely “glass”, with a voluminous and informative ILS. Why such confidence?
The fact is that all these technologies, at that time the newest, were urgently tested on the J-10B fighter. Why such a rush? There is only one logical explanation - a new machine is approaching, on which all this equipment should work perfectly.
There is quite official information that on these aircraft there may be X-band radars of the “Type 1474” (or KLJ-5. Again, almost all foreign military experts doubt the “cleanliness” of this station, since it is probably made with plentiful by borrowing.
Here the main question is: were Chinese engineers able to completely copy all foreign components, or do they have to use legally purchased equipment for this purpose? The fact is that this industry in China has not advanced much in recent years. It is difficult to imagine that the Celestial Empire in only three to four years was able to create a fundamentally new radar on its own.
Power point
Most likely, the Chinese will not create new engines, but will limit themselves to the existing WS-10s. Their thrust in the conditions of afterburner can reach 13200 kgf. On the prototype, it is not noticeable that the technology used to change the thrust vector is used, but it will obviously appear on a production aircraft. US military sources suggested that China could receive from Russia.
Is our country involved in the creation of this fighter?
Again, continuing the theme of the “Russian trace” in the creation of the aircraft. Western analysts suggest that the PRC at one time acquired our "117C" engines, which develop traction in afterburners already at 14,500 kgf. It is also possible that the Chengdu J-20 multirole fighter (you will see a photo of it in the article) will again use our 99M2 engines. They are produced at the enterprise MMPP Salyut. This power plant in afterburner produces 14,000 kgf.
It must be said that all these assumptions are not without meaning. The fact is that the WS-10 model is considered by the Chinese themselves in a purely experimental aspect, and so far there has been no information that they managed to bring it to mind. So which engines will the Chengdu J-20 fighter get? A military aircraft is simply obliged to have normal engines, because otherwise the enemy will not even be needed: he himself will fall safely!
The engine saga ...
WS-10 motors appeared back in the late 90s of the last century. In general, in foreign periodicals there are immediately allegations that the Chinese simply copied the Russian AL-31F. Oddly enough, but it is not. Perhaps these engines can really be called purely Chinese development, and they were created practically from scratch, without noticeable impact of the "carbon copy".
However, this statement is debatable. Quite authoritative authors indicate that WS-10 could not have appeared without the participation of AL-31F. Moreover, this time the Chinese came out with a real "international", since the gas generator used in these engines, like two drops of water, is similar to the French CFM56.
Problems of modernization ...
In general, the Chinese motor develops (or developed?) Thrust of only 11,200 kgf, and therefore, in terms of its characteristics, it is more consistent with the AL-21F model than with the newer model. Again, there are suspicions that Chinese engineers were still able to raise the thrust of the WS-10A to 13,200 kgf, but ... In the recent past, US intelligence established that the resource for this “modernization” does not exceed 50-100 hours (!) Of flight. So this is clearly not an option, because the Chengdu J-20 Black Eagle fighter is simply obliged (from the Chinese point of view) to be a triumph of aircraft construction, and no one will allow such embarrassment.
Although, if the Chinese in recent years have nevertheless advanced in the production of normal materials for the combustion chamber, the WS-10 can still be on horseback. There is also vague information about the WS-15 model, and these engines should develop traction right up to 15,000 kgf. But there is an opinion of the competent and authoritative editor of the aviation magazine Aviation Week: Bill Sweetman says that this type of engine is still so bad that it’s simply dangerous to put them even on experienced aircraft, not to mention a promising machine.
First test
There is reason to argue that at the beginning of 2014, the Chinese J-20 fighter existed in at least two copies. The first in the history of this aircraft high-speed taxiing was carried out in 2010. At the end of the year, all the high-ranking political leaders of the PRC came to see the new miracle of Chinese aircraft construction.
conclusions
So what is the bottom line? What will the J-20 become? The fifth-generation Chinese fighter will no doubt become a very interesting model. But how revolutionary it will be is another question. First, the Chinese praise his "stealth orientation" in every possible way. This is already causing a lot of doubt. Firstly, a really high beam scattering is observed only on something resembling the famous American B-117, which the US Air Force pilots affectionately called the "flying iron." For his "outstanding" flying qualities, of course. So, there can be no more or less classical forms of “invisibility” in an airplane.
Finally, the Chinese’s fourth-generation cars are “unlicensed” tracing papers from our Su-27, so it’s hard to talk about any serious developments in the PRC itself.
In addition, the Chengdu J-20 fighter is extremely revolutionary for the Chinese aircraft industry. Will something good result? It’s hard to say for now, given the problems with the engine, but soon, that is, in 2017, we should see everything with our own eyes, since official displays of the new car are scheduled for the first quarter of this year.