New fighter jet appears ready for PLA

By Zhao Lei (China Daily)    11:43, February 26, 2015

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J-10B fighter jet. (Provided to China Daily)

China’s air force will soon commission the J-10B fighter jet, the mostadvanced military aircraft the country has ever developed on its own,information released by military observers show.

Several pictures showing 14 of the planes lined up outside an unidentifiedaircraft factory have been circulating on military websites. Experts saidtheir gray paint scheme indicates that they will soon be delivered to thePeople’s Liberation Army air force.

Though no one has claimed ownership of the pictures, they are believed tohave been taken by Chinese aviation enthusiasts in late December or earlyJanuary.

“Considering that the paint scheme is being used by the PLA air force andrecent leaks that the aircraft has concluded its tests,” Wang Ya’nan, deputyeditor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said on Wednesday. “Ithink these J-10Bs will join the air force within a short period and will pairwith the heavy-duty twin-engine J-11, and with our fifth-generation stealthfighter, the J-20, which is expected to enter service within a few years,” hesaid.

“It is also possible and feasible that the J-10B’s upgraded version will bechosen by the navy to serve on an aircraft carrier or amphibious assaultship,” he added.

Du Wenlong, a senior researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science,said the J-10 family will be developed into a multitask platform that canperform air-to-ground strikes and also can be used in sea-based operations.

The J-10B is an improved variant of the J-10A, which is manufactured by theChengdu Aircraft Industry Group, a subsidiary of the State-owned giantAviation Industry Corp of China.

Western military sources said the jet had its first flight in December 2008,and mass production started in 2013.

A publicity officer at Aviation Industry Corp’s Beijing headquarters whoasked not to be named said he could not confirm information about the J-10B, citing corporate policy.

Zhang Zhaozhong, a military expert at the PLA’s National DefenseUniversity, said the new fighter has “an increase of at least 30 percent inoverall capability” compared with its predecessor. He added that thewarplane can compete with any fourth-generation fighter jet in Asia.

The aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of 19 metric tons and can carry apayload of up to 8 tons. Its combat radius can reach to about 1,000kilometers, Zhang said.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

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