PLA Air Force General News Thread:

China's Y-20 transport aircraft may enter service in 2016

The appearance on Chinese military webpages of the fifth prototype of the Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) Y-20 heavy strategic transport aircraft has prompted suggests that it could enter People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) service as early as this year.

Reportedly flown for the first time on 6 February 2016, the fifth prototype carries the bort number 789. It follows soon after the fourth prototype, with bort number 788, which was seen on Chinese web pages on 23 January 2016. Other known prototypes carry identification numbers 781, 783, and 785.

The appearance of the latest Y-20 prototype prompted commentary by Chinese experts. In a 27 January Xinhua article former Chinese test pilot Xu Yongling reported that Chinese aviation industry officials had stated that the Y-20 "completed development" at the end of 2015. Xu, who participated in the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation J-10 fighter test programme, suggested that the Y-20 could enter service in 2016.

In a 26 January article for People's Daily , professor at the PLAAF Command College Chen Hong noted that the payload for the Y-20 was "60 tons": greater than that of the Russian Ilyushin Il-76MD, the current production version of which is credited with a 52-tonne payload by IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft .

Chen also noted that the Y-20 could be developed into airborne early warning, electronic warfare/jamming, and tanker variants.

An earlier People's Daily article from 22 January noted that the Y-20 could also eventually equip the PLA Navy Air Force (PLANAF). With the possible addition of the Y-20, the PLANAF could become the leading air service to support and defend China's growing island outposts in the South China Sea.

China may develop new anti-submarine warfare aircraft based on C919 against Japan’s Soryu-class submarines

China’s first large commercial aircraft Comac C919 was just rolled out on November 2nd, and a lot of discussions of its military use followed. AEWs (Airborne Early Warning Aircraft), radar-jamming planes, refueling planes and ASW aircrafts (anti-submarine warfare aircrafts) are among the discussed solutions.

The above types of Chinese military aircrafts are now basically based on Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane or Y-9 plane, which is outdated.

Just on the same day, the eighth one of Japan’s Sōryū-class Diesel Electric Submarines (16SS) – Sekiryū (せきりゅう?) / Red Dragon was launched, which will be delivered to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in March 2017 for defense of southwest islands and seas.


Chinese military expert Lau Cang thinks that Japan’s submarine has just pointed out a direction for military use of China’s C919 airliner- anti-submarine warfare aircraft. As Japan is involved into the South China Sea disputes, apart from Diaoyu Islands dispute, or Senkaku Islands dispute, Sōryū-class submarines will surely enter the South China Sea, to cooperate with the Philippines and Vietnam.

This year Japanese military officials have been meeting with their Vietnamese and Philippine counterparts frequently, to discuss cooperation in the area of maritime safety. Japan’s actions are also some kind of collaboration with U.S., whose strategy is “return to Asia”.

Japanese military officer once threatened that Japanese Navy is able to wipe out the whole East China Sea Fleet in four hours. And with its leading Soryu-class submarines, it is possible.

The South China Sea is known for its complex hydrological environment, which will be a paradise for Japan’s Soryu-class submarines. With its advanced AIP system, Soryu-class submarines submarines will start from Naha Base, bypass Taiwan Island, go through Bashi channel and cruise the whole South China Sea with the support from the Philippines and Vietnam. The ZQQ-7 sonar system and ZYQ-51 combat system of Soryu-class submarines will let them become information collecting, processing and transmission centers in the South China Sea.




China currently has Gaoxin-6 (GX-6 or Y-8GX6) Anti-submarine Patrol Aircraft, which is based on Y-8 plane, but it lags behind new generations of US and Japanese anti-submarine warfare aircrafts such as P8A and P1, and might not be able to cope with American or Japanese submarines. For example, Gaoxin-6 takes about three hours to fly to maritime space 1000 kilometers away, while P8A needs only two hours.

But new anti-submarine warfare aircraft based on C919 passenger plane should be considered as the best choice for China.

Public materials indicate that C-919ER (with extended range) is close to Boeing 737-800, the basic type plane for P-8A, so China can develop the new generation anti-submarine aircraft based on C-919ER, to replace Gaoxin-6.

The problem is that it is reported C919 is using imported engine, and China is unable to develop equivalent engines. C919 jetliner’s engine LEAP-X1C was jointly developed by U.S. GE and French SNECMA, which is said to be better than Boeing 737’s CFM56 engine.

China is also developing its homemade engine for big aircrafts, and it was reported on September 1st that China made a big step with this, that high-pressure compressor’s tenth level experiment product was successfully delivered.

Anyhow, Japan’s Soryu-class submarines are fatal threats to Navy of China. Japanese media reported recently that Soryu-class AIP submarines once followed Chinese fleet in January for as long as 14 days, without being noticed by China’s Navy.

Soryu-class submarines are said to the quietest conventional submarine in the world, with only 105 db underwater. They are equipped with not only torpedos but also 130km-range antiship missiles.

China desperately needs to improve its antisubmarine warfare capability, to compensate for its navy’s weaknesses, to cope with possible conflicts against Japan and U.S in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

"The People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF) has shown its JC-8F reconnaissance fighter to the public. A CCTV footage shows two of the fighters carrying out a mid-air refueling exercise. The JC-8F is the latest reconnaissance variant of the J-8, having entered service in 2006. The external camera pod of the J-8R was replaced by a conformal fairing underneath the fuselage. Photos taken of the jet so far suggest the fairing is modular in design to accommodate various kinds of sensors."

Source: http://alert5.com/2016/04/04/isil-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-destroyed-by-ground-strike/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Look at this thing xD

China's air force will equal the US Air force by 2020 and not by 2030. Russia and China's air force will be more stronger than US in 2020. US are in despair situation, as their system is based on predation, terror, and threats. Nowadays with the modernisation of Russia, and China's armies this path lead nowhere.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/warning-chinas-airpower-will-equal-the-us-air-foce-by-2030-15384

Warning: China's Airpower Will Equal the U.S. Air Force by 2030

Dave Majumdar
March 2, 2016
China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will be able to match or exceed the United States Air Force in the number of fielded combat aircraft by 2030. Moreover, while American forces will still maintain an edge, the technological gap between the two great powers will have closed significantly between now and then.

Right now, the PLAAF is slightly larger in terms of personnel, however the U.S. Air Force has a “couple thousand more aircraft,” Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief-of-staff, told the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on defense on March 2. “At the rate they’re building, the models they’re fielding, by 2030 they will have fielded—they will have made up that 2,000 aircraft gap and they will be at least as big—if not bigger—than our air forces.”

But it’s not just sheer numbers, the PLAAF is rapidly fielding newer and much more capable aircraft. Some of those are completely new warplanes like the stealthy Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang J-31, while at least three more are upgraded versions of existing fighters like the J-11D and J-16 among others. Moreover, China continues to import advanced Russian-made fighters including the fearsome Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E.

“We are not keeping up with that kind of technology development,” Welsh said. “We are still in a position of—we will have the best technology in the battlespace especially if we can continue with our current big three modernization programs.”

Those modernization programs are the Boeing KC-46 tanker, Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Northrop Grumman B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber. However, even then America’s technological edge will not be the vast gulf the nation has grown accustomed to since the end of the Cold War.

“[China] will have a lot of technology that’s better than the stuff we’ve had before,” Welsh said. “And the Russians are doing the same thing.”

Unlike the Chinese, the Russians are much more focused on modernizing their nuclear forces. “They’re demonstrating capabilities that they haven’t demonstrated to us before—cruise missiles, some of their new aircraft are dropping weapons for the first time in conflict,” Welsh said. “We’re able to watch and see how this is working.”

Welsh warned that the Russian and Chinese air forces are dangerous and highly capable potential adversaries that have to be taken seriously. “They’re serious air forces and they’re serious about getting better,” Welsh said. “The Chinese in particular, clearly have a blueprint that is matching against our shortfalls. And I think that’s something we have to consider as we look to the future.”

Dave Majumdar is the new Defense Editor for the National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveMajumdar.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy.

Antonov and China ink cooperation agreement

http://echelon-defense.com/2016/09/01/antonov-and-china-ink-cooperation-agreement/

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground force aviation units have received WZ-10 attack helicopters, according to Chinese media.

http://echelon-defense.com/2016/09/10/wz-10-attack-helicopters-delivered-to-the-chinese-peoples-liberation-army/

China’s very-long-range missile development

The recent sighting of what appears to be a very-long-range air-to-air missile on a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker derivative should have been of little surprise; after all, Moscow had first considered such a weapon in the mid-1980s. The weapon in question, however, is not Russian but Chinese.

Images were released on the internet in November 2016 of a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force two-seat Flanker, likely a J-16, fitted with large missiles on inboard pylons. The weapon is well over five metres in length; by comparison, the medium-range US-manufactured AIM-120 AMRAAM is 3.7m long. Given the aerodynamic configuration and size of the weapon, a likely application is that of a missile intended to be used at extended ranges to engage large, high-value and non-manoeuvring targets, such as tankers or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and airborne early-warning aircraft. Using a very high, lofted trajectory it would appear that an engagement range well beyond 300 kilometres is feasible.

A very-long-range missile could provide the launch aircraft with the ability to engage high-value targets without having first to penetrate any defensive fighter screen. The range of the weapon could also mean that even if non-stealthy aircraft using it were detected by an opponent's fighter screen, they would remain beyond the engagement envelope for any defensive medium-range air-to-air missile.

Russia's Novator missile company had first shown a weapon in this class in 1995. Known variously as the KS-172, K-100 and AAM-L, the missile used a two-stage design with a larger diameter booster motor fitted to a narrower diameter second stage. Originally intended to meet – or at least compete for – a Soviet/Russian long-range-missile requirement, Moscow has offered the design for export, including as part of the weapons fit for the Sukhoi Su-35. One Su-35 brochure identified the missile as the K-100-1. Meanwhile, Russia appears to have retained the Vympel R-37M (AA-13 Axhead) as the only long-range air-to air missile in its inventory. The R-37M is carried by the MiG-31BM Foxhound, and it has also been offered for export as an option as part of the weapons package for the Su-35.

The Chinese design, meanwhile, has a constant diameter but may well use a two-stage configuration with boost and sustainer solid-propellant motors to achieve the desired range. Using a lofted trajectory, where the missile climbs to perhaps 24,000–27,000m to minimise atmospheric resistance, would help extend the range. The missile would initially be lofted at an acute climb angle to rapidly gain altitude; a sustainer motor would then ignite and, following burn-out, the missile could then use a glide trajectory to extend its range. The shape of the weapon, however, does not suggest a great deal of body lift. For instance, the imagery does not show even a narrow mid-body wing on the missile.

Target acquisition and mid-flight data updates present challenges at extended ranges, even against non-manoeuvring subsonic aircraft, and in this case third-party targeting is a possibility. Another platform, most likely another aircraft but potentially a ground-based radar, could pass track data to the launch aircraft, for instance when the launch aircraft's own radar is not able to identify the intended target.

George1 wrote:Reconnaissance aircraft Tu-154M of PLA Air Force











http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2601998.html

What the hell is this? Chinese J-STARS based on a Tu-154?

What an interesting self centred article that was...

Particularly this part:

The Su-35 was a modernized derivative of the Su-27 fighters earmarked for export in the late 1980s, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the West’s arms embargo clipped its wings, until orders from Beijing threw a lifeline.

So the Su-35 is an upgraded Su-27 from the late 1980s, yet the wests embargo stopped it from being developed until Beijing decided to buy some and saved the programme... what a load of shit.

If it was a Chinese purchase that saved the design then they started the design when the Chinese ordered it in 2015... which is odd because development seems to have started rather well before that date... and of course the confusing thing is how could western sanctions effect a design that does not contain western components?

Everyone likes to toot their own horn Garry