J-20 - a multipurpose fighter of Chinese manufacture: description, characteristics, photo

Modern combat aircraft are expensive. And their price is so high that the process of rearmament, even a small army, will fly "in penny" and require taxpayers of this state to tighten their belts significantly. An exception can be unless a large country with a powerful army. We have PAK-FA, Americans bring to mind the F-35, and ... China builds the J-20. The fifth-generation multi-role fighter is a serious bid from the Chinese, who are increasingly beginning to play a prominent role in world geopolitics.

Currently, the only "official" fifth-class fighter that is in service is the US F-22. And it's already out of production, as all the forces are thrown at the F-35 development. At us the situation with Т-50 is rather turbid, but nevertheless works on its development are conducted, and there are some skilled cars.

Chinese realities

At present, China produces only fourth generation equipment. In general, almost all these machines are tracing paper from Russian models. Especially "popular" was the Su-27. But in the recent past, the world military experts finally became convinced that the Chinese will soon have a J-20, a multi-purpose fighter of the fifth generation. 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 on the network there were pictures of the "eagle", performing short "jogs", simulating the moment of take-off. Until recently, the official authorities of the People's Republic of China in every possible way denied the existence of a promising fighter, but there is an opinion that all these "leaks" - a message to possible opponents of China in this region.

Prerequisites for creation

The politicians and the military of the Middle Kingdom have been watching with some annoyance how American F-22s are flanking their borders, which "protect" Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. And if with the South Koreans and even the Japanese (until recently) the Chinese managed to live together peacefully, then Taiwan is a special conversation. The existence of this state "like a bone in the throat" for the leadership of the PRC. Military tension in that region is relatively high, Americans provoke "zalety" provocatively often. Accordingly, "in which case", the Chinese would really like to have fighters capable of fighting F-22 on equal terms.

By what time does the first information about the beginning of the J-20 development refer? Multipurpose fighter, apparently, began to create in 1995. It was planned that it would go into service with the People's Liberation Army in 2015, but it is now clear that this will not happen before 2017.

Where is the data from?

The plane layout is a "longitudinal triplane". Feathering - V-shaped. It is known that work on the creation of a new fighter is being conducted by several research bureaus. How "independently" was the J-20 created? A multi-purpose fighter that catastrophically resembles the American F-35, according to unconfirmed reports, domestic specialists helped to create. It is reported that some agreement was reached in 1993, but the reality of this is in great doubt.

But there is also a rational grain in these rumors. The fact is that it is impossible 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 refinement of the F-35. In addition, the Chinese worked together with Boeing and Airbus in the field of civil aircraft construction, so that some developments could be obtained from them by the same Boeing.

The latter, contrary to the widely held opinion in our country, is a major producer of not only civilian aircraft, but also military equipment: UAVs, the same F-35 and F-22, and this is not a complete list of their offspring.

It would be naive to assume that the scientists of the Middle Kingdom did not receive any interesting data during this cooperation, which later went on to create a new and promising machine. Already in 2005, the Chinese officially announced that the work "is close to completion," announcing the launch of trial trials. As is now clear, in fact, until the end of the research was very, very far, and the multipurpose fighter Chengdu J-20, the characteristics (preliminary) of which are painted in the article, has not even ascended to the sky ...

Prospective characteristics and numbers

It is known that by basic characteristics it should be similar to F-22 or PAK-FA T50. The information on these planes is extremely scarce. In any case, it can be confidently asserted that the Chinese will certainly not be able to create a multi-thousand "horde" 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 a gradual increase in their value played a role.

At present, the Chinese have about 400 fighters of the fourth generation, so we can assume that the "fifth grade" is unlikely to be more than 200 pieces. Of course, all this is a theory, the real state of affairs can be judged not earlier than 2020.

Airframe specifications

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. On the test plane, two swivel keels are immediately visible, and in the serial version, these parts can be discarded. However, the multipurpose fighter J-20, whose length is more than 20 meters, is unlikely to manage 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 cockpit of the pilot are suspiciously similar to those of the F-22. The internal weapon compartments of the aircraft are very spacious. EPR, that is, the effective area of the fighter's dispersion, should not exceed 0.05 sq. M. 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 very much in secret to this day, but you can still guess about something. So, with a high degree of probability it can be assumed that the radar with AFAR Ture 1475 / KLJ5 will be put on it. The cockpit is completely "glass", with a bulky and informative ILS. 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 rush? There is only one logical explanation: on the approach is a new machine, on which all this equipment should work perfectly.

There is quite official information that these aircraft may be X-band X-band radar "Type 1474" (or KLJ-5. Again, almost all foreign military specialists doubt the "thoroughness" of this station, since it is certainly produced with abundant Borrowings.

Here the main question is: could Chinese engineers 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 progressed much in recent years. It is difficult to imagine that the Middle Kingdom in just three or four years was able to create a radically new radar independently.

Power point

Most likely, the Chinese will not create new engines, but will limit themselves to the already available WS-10. Their thrust under the conditions of afterburning can reach 13,200 kgf. On the prototype is not noticeable that the technology used to change the thrust vector, but it clearly appears on the production aircraft. US military sources suggested that China could get from Russia.

Is our country involved in the creation of this fighter?

Again, continuing the theme of the "Russian track" in the creation of the aircraft. Western analysts suggest that China at one time acquired our engines "117C", which develop traction on afterburner already at 14500 kgf. It is also possible that the multipurpose fighter Chengdu J-20 (photo you will see in the article) will again use our engines "99M2". They are produced at the MMPP Salyut enterprise. This power plant in the afterburner mode produces 14,000 kgf.

It must be said that all these assumptions are not meaningless. 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 still receive a fighter Chengdu J-20? A military aircraft is simply obliged to have normal engines, otherwise it will not even need an enemy: it will fall safely!

Saga of engines ...

There were engines WS-10 in the late 90-ies of the last century. In general, in foreign periodicals there are immediately assertions that the Chinese simply copied the Russian AL-31F. Strangely enough, but it's not. Perhaps, these engines can really be called a purely Chinese development, and they were created almost from scratch, without the noticeable impact of the "copy".

However, this claim is also controversial. Quite authoritative authors indicate that the WS-10 could not appear without the participation of AL-31F. Moreover, this time the Chinese have got 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 by its characteristics it is more in line with the AL-21F model, rather than a newer model. Again, there are suspicions that Chinese engineers still managed to raise the thrust of the WS-10A to 13,200 kgf, but ... In the recent past, US intelligence has established that the resource of this "modernization" does not exceed 50-100 hours (!) Of flight. So this is clearly not an option, because the fighter Chengdu J-20 "Black Eagle" is simply obliged (from the Chinese point of view) to be a triumph of aircraft construction, and such embarrassments no one will allow.

Although, if the Chinese have advanced in recent years in producing normal materials for the combustion chamber, the WS-10 can still be "on horseback." There are also vague information about the model WS-15, and these engines should develop traction right up to 15000 kgf. But there is the 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 just dangerous to put them even on experienced aircraft, not to mention a promising car.

The first tests

There are reasons to assert that in early 2014 the Chinese J-20 fighter existed at least in two copies. The first high-speed taxi in the history of this aircraft 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 result? What will be the J-20? The fifth-generation Chinese fighter, no doubt, will become a very interesting model. But how much it will be revolutionary - that's another question. Firstly, the Chinese in every possible way praise his "stealth-orientation". This already causes a lot of doubt. Firstly, a really high beam dispersion is observed only on something reminiscent of the famous American B-117, which the US Air Force pilots themselves affectionately called a "flying iron". For his "outstanding" flying qualities, of course. So the special "invisibility" of an aircraft of more or less classical forms can not be.

Finally, and the fourth-generation machines from the Chinese - "unlicensed" tracing paper from our Su-27, so it is difficult to talk about some serious developments in the PRC itself.

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