J-20 - Chinese-made multirole fighter: description, specifications, photos

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Modern combat aircraft are expensive. Moreover, their price is so high that the process of re-equipping even a small army will cost a pretty penny and will require the 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 are perfecting the F-35, and … China is building the J-20. The fifth-generation multi-role fighter is a serious claim from the Chinese, who are increasingly starting to play a prominent role in world geopolitics.

Currently, the only "official" fifth-class fighter in service is the American F-22. Yes, and it has already been discontinued, since all forces are thrown into fine-tuning the F-35. Our situation with the T-50 is rather murky, but still, work is underway to fine-tune it, and there are several experimental vehicles.

Chinese reality

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 recentIn the past, world military experts were finally convinced that the Chinese would soon have the J-20, a fifth-generation multirole fighter. For the first time, this machine was seen 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, images of an “eagle” performing short “jogs” simulating the moment of takeoff appeared on the network. Until recently, the official authorities of the PRC in every way denied the existence of a promising fighter, but there is an opinion that all these "leaks" are a message to China's possible opponents in this region.

Prerequisites for Creation

Politicians and militaries of the Middle Kingdom have been watching with some annoyance for years now, as American F-22s loitering near their borders, which "defend" Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. 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. The military tension in that region is relatively high, provocative “flights” are arranged by the Americans quite often. Accordingly, "in which case", the Chinese would really like to have fighters capable of fighting on equal terms with the F-22.

When did the first information about the beginning of the development of the J-20 date back? multirole fighter,Apparently, they began to create back in 1995. It was planned that it would enter service with the PLA in 2015, but today it is clear that this will not happen until 2017.

Where is the data from?

Scheme of the aircraft - "longitudinal triplane". The plumage is V-shaped. It is known that work on the creation of a new fighter is being carried out by several research design bureaus at once. How “independently” was the J-20 created? The multipurpose fighter, which disastrously resembles the American F-35, according to unverified information, was helped to create by domestic specialists. An agreement was reportedly reached in 1993, but the reality of this is in serious doubt.

But there is a rational grain in these rumors. The fact is that it is unrealistic to produce a fifth-generation aircraft without fundamental research in the field of materials science. In the late 80s of the last century, a group of Chinese scientists was sent to the United States, to Stanford University, which is now engaged in work on the final development of the F-35. In addition, the Chinese worked together with Boeing and Airbus in the field of civil aircraft construction, so they could have received some developments from the same Boeing.

The latter, contrary to popular belief 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 brainchildren.

It would be naive to believe that the scientists of the Celestial Empire did not receiveDuring this cooperation, some interesting data, which subsequently went to the creation of 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, it was very, very far from the end of the research, and the Chengdu J-20 multi-role fighter, the (preliminary) characteristics of which are described in the article, has not even taken to the skies …

Estimated characteristics and strength

It is known that in terms of basic characteristics it should be similar to the F-22 or PAK-FA T50. Information on these aircraft is extremely scarce. In any case, it is safe to say that the Chinese will certainly not be able to create a “horde” of thousands of fifth-generation fighters. So, even the Americans with their "printing press" have only 187 "Raptors". Recall that initially the US Air Force wanted to acquire at least 500 aircraft of this type, but the 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 “fifth-graders” either. Of course, all this is theory, but the real state of affairs can be judged no earlier than 2020.

Airframe specifications

The length of the Chinese fighter J-20 is approximately 23 meters, and the wingspan (according to available images) - within 14 meters. Most likely, the takeoff weight of this machine does not exceed36 tons. On an experimental aircraft, two rotary keels are visible at once, and in the production version, these parts may be abandoned. However, the J-20 multi-role fighter, whose length is more than 20 meters, is unlikely to be able to do without them, since the Chinese are positioning the new model "as the most maneuverable aircraft of recent years." Well, we'll see.

The air intakes and the cockpit are suspiciously similar in outline to those of the F-22. The internal weapons 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 are still largely secret, but you can still guess something. So, with a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that radars with AFAR Toure 1475 / KLJ5 will be installed on it. The cockpit is completely “glass”, with a voluminous and informative HUD. Why such confidence?

The fact is that all these technologies, at that time the newest ones, were urgently tested on the J-10B fighter. Why such a hurry? There is only one logical explanation - a new machine is on the way, on which all this equipment should work perfectly.

There is quite official information that these aircraft may have X-band radar "Type 1474" (or KLJ-5. Again, almost all foreign military experts very much doubt the "purebred" of this station, since it is certainly produced with abundantborrowing.

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 the PRC has not advanced much in recent years. It is hard to imagine that the Celestial Empire was able to create a fundamentally new radar station on its own in just three or four years.

Power plant

Most likely, the Chinese will not create new engines, but will limit themselves to the existing WS-10. Their thrust in afterburner conditions can reach 13200 kgf. It is not noticeable on the prototype that the technology of changing the thrust vector is used, but it will clearly appear on the production aircraft. US military sources have suggested that China may have received 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 once acquired our 117C engines, which develop afterburner thrust at 14,500 kgf. It is also possible that the Chengdu J-20 multipurpose fighter (you will see a photo of it in the article) will again use our 99M2 engines. They are produced at the MMPP Salyut enterprise. This power plant produces 14,000 kgf in afterburner mode.

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 not beeninformation that they managed to bring him to mind. So what engines will the Chengdu J-20 fighter get? A military aircraft simply must have normal engines, otherwise even an enemy will not be needed: it will fall safely by itself!

The engine saga…

The WS-10 motors appeared 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 a purely Chinese development, and they were created almost from scratch, without any noticeable influence of the carbon copy.

However, this statement is debatable. Quite authoritative authors point out that the WS-10 could not have appeared without the participation of the AL-31F. Moreover, this time the Chinese have come out with a real "international", since the gas generator used in these engines is like two drops of water similar to the French CFM56.

Problems of modernization…

In general, the Chinese motor develops (or developed?) thrust only 11,200 kgf, and therefore, in terms of its characteristics, it is more consistent with the AL-21F model than with a newer model. Again, there are suspicions that Chinese engineers were still able to raise the thrust of the WS-10A to 13200 kgf, but … In the recent past, American intelligence found that the resource of 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 simply has to (from the Chinese point of view) turn out to be a triumph of aircraft construction,and no one will allow such embarrassment.

Although if the Chinese have advanced in recent years in the production of normal materials for the combustion chamber, WS-10 may still be on horseback. There is also vague information about the WS-15 model, and these engines must develop thrust as much as 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 is simply dangerous to put them even on experimental aircraft, not to mention a promising car.

First trials

There is reason to believe that at the beginning of 2014, the Chinese J-20 fighter existed at least in two copies. The first high-speed taxiing in the history of this aircraft was carried out in 2010. At the end of the year, the entire high-ranking political leadership of the PRC came to look at the new miracle of Chinese aircraft construction.

Conclusions

So what's the bottom line? What will the J-20 be like? The fifth-generation Chinese fighter will no doubt be a very interesting model. But how revolutionary it will be is another question. Firstly, the Chinese praise its "ste alth orientation" in every possible way. This already raises many doubts. First, really high beam scattering is observed only on something resembling the famous American B-117, which the US Air Force pilots themselves affectionately called the “flying iron”. For his "outstanding" flight qualities, of course. So there can be no special "invisibility" of an aircraft of more or less classical forms.

Finally, fourth-generation machinesThe Chinese are "unlicensed" tracing papers from our Su-27, so it's hard to talk about any serious developments in China itself.

In addition, the Chengdu J-20 fighter is extremely revolutionary for the Chinese aviation industry. Will something good result? It's hard to say yet, given the problems with the engine, but soon, that is, in 2017, we should see everything with our own eyes, as the official demonstrations of the new car are scheduled for the first quarter of this year.