Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Pakistani pilots commented on J-10: Although it has great potential, there is still a gap compared with F16

J-10C / chinamil.com.cn / Photo by Wang Guoyun


巴基斯坦飞行员点评歼10:虽然很有潜力,但跟F16比还有差距_奥马尔

2021-04-08 09:49

As we all know, my country's first completely independent research and development of the J-10 fighter has always been the pride of Chinese fighters. It was 23 years ago that the J-10 made its first flight in Chengdu. The 18 minutes during which the J-10 fighter jet flew in the air was tantamount to telling people all over the world: The Chinese can also independently manufacture advanced fighter jets.

My country’s J-10 fighter jets have undergone more than 20 years of technological improvement, and now they have entered the J-10C stage, and their combat effectiveness has also been greatly improved. So how do foreign pilots feel after experiencing the combat effectiveness of the J-10?


Recently, an experienced Pakistani pilot, Omar, commented on China’s J-10, saying that our army’s J-10 is a very dangerous fighter with great potential for improvement. However, he is still more afraid of being Encountered F16 in the battle.

As the squadron leader of the "Fierce Dragon" squadron of the Pakistan Air Force, the Pakistani pilot has very rich flying experience. He has piloted the most advanced fighter planes F15 and F16 in the world. At the same time, he is also the person who drives the most "Fierce Dragon" fighter jets in the world.

In addition, Omar has participated in 4 times of the "Eagle" series of China-Pakistan Air Force joint training, and he is very clear about the strength of the Chinese and Pakistani fighters. His evaluation is quite pertinent, let us take a look at why Omar would say that!

As an elite pilot of Pakistan’s Air Force, Omar performed well in the annual "Anatolian Eagle" exercise held on July 7, 2019. Eight countries participated in this exercise, of which the United States was the most eye-catching. Fighting between the Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, and Turkish Air Force. In this exercise, the Pakistan Dragon fighter piloted by Omar not only abused the Turkish Anatolian Hawk fighter jets, but also accurately locked the US F15 fighter jets in the air within 8 minutes after takeoff.

Omar, the commander of the 16th Squadron of the Air Force, once flew Xiaolong fighters against F-15s of the Saudi Air Force and F-16s of the Turkish Air Force. Compared with these experiences, Omar said frankly that he believes that the most dangerous opponent is Chinese. J-10C fighter. Omar is very afraid of the J-10C's superior detection capabilities and advanced radar equipment. During the "Eagle" joint exercise, the Xiaolong fighter was very afraid of being attacked by the J-10C.


Omar’s fear of the J-10C is not without reason. my country’s J-10C radar system is very good, and it can detect the enemy's tracks from a long distance. Coupled with the improved and more advanced infrared search equipment, the detection capability is simply invincible. The radar signal of the J-10 is very small, and the infrared search will not send out the radar signal, and will not expose itself when detecting the enemy.

In addition to its excellent detection capabilities, the J-10C's vertical climb and acceleration capabilities are also super strong. The J-10C has a greater thrust due to the improved engine. The climbing performance is significantly better than the Mirage-2000 and JF-17.

Especially at the beginning of the circle, the instantaneous turning ability of the J-10C even the F16 of the same type of the US military could not keep up, but after the early advantage time, the overall climb ability is still better than that of the F16. Therefore, the climb capability of the J-10C is only inferior to that of the F-16 among all single-engine fighters.

Excellent detection capabilities and early mobility advantages give the J-10C confidence in combat: at long distances, the J-10C can conduct over-the-horizon air combat. In order to cooperate and strengthen this advantage, the J-10C is also equipped with a long-range Pili-15 air-to-air missile; in close combat, the J-10C can quickly shoot down close-range entanglements with its extremely fast circling ability and maneuverability. Fighting opponent.

However, the J-10C is not without its weaknesses. The biggest problem with the J-10C is its poor sustainability. If the enemy adopts tactics of attrition, avoiding the attack of the J-10C in the early stage, and then hovering in the air consumes the energy of our pilots and me. The fuel of the square fighter, then the advantage of the J-10C does not exist.

The poor sustainability of the J-10C is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, in terms of long-range combat, the J-10C can only carry two over-the-horizon missiles, and the re-hanging point on the inner side of the wing cannot be used because there is no conformal fuel tank. Secondly, in terms of close combat, although the instantaneous turning ability is very strong at the beginning, after 30 seconds, the energy of the J-10C will decay, and the energy decay speed is getting faster and faster. At this time, in order to maintain the mobility of the J-10C, Will choose to sacrifice altitude, will fly lower and lower, the battle will be at a disadvantage in an instant. Therefore, as long as the enemy pilots survive the precise and violent attack of the J-10C in the first 30 seconds, they will have a good chance to "shoot down" the J-10C after 30 seconds.


In domestic air combat exercises, we have long discovered this problem with the J-10. When the J-10 first appeared, heavy fighters with excellent maneuverability such as the Su-27 and J-11A suffered a lot. However, as the pilots learned more and more about the J-10, the advantage of the J-10's instant turning and hovering could no longer be used in close air combat.

To solve the problem of J-10C continuous power difference, the most important thing is to replace the large thrust engine. Engines have always been a pain point for my country's fighter jets. The domestically produced Taihang engines have always failed to meet the standard in performance, which has prevented the combat effectiveness of the Chinese J-10C from being effectively improved.

The performance of the Russian AL31 engine is okay, but it also has a problem with the axle. The engine stuck and shut down. Earlier, my country's J-10 crashed because of this problem many times, but because the technology is restricted by others, it has never been better. Solution.

However, in recent years, this problem has basically been solved after China's domestically produced "Taihang" series engines have matured.


Of course, Pakistani Air Force pilot Omar did not fully understand China’s J-10, but made the most intuitive evaluation based on his few senses. Moreover, because the Pakistan Air Force’s system is completely different from the Chinese Air Force, their positioning of the J-10 The understanding is also different from that of the Chinese Air Force. Let’s talk about air combat. The J-10 is no longer just an air superior fighter used to fight for air supremacy, but a more comprehensive multi-functional fighter that can be combined with multiple arms. Coordinated operations can not only attack the air, but also attack the ground and sea, and even temporarily act as an early warning aircraft. This is very different from Pakistan's F16 positioning, so it is not difficult to understand why there is a deviation in understanding.


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