Chengdu J-10

       
       The Jian-10 (J-10) is an all-weather,   Multirole Combat Aircraft designed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions by People’s Republic of China. This Aircraft is also known as “Vigorous Dragon”. The aircraft was designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute (611 Institute) and built by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of AVIC. The aircraft has been operational with the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) since 2003.

        The J-10 has a rectangle belly air intake, with low-mounted delta wings, a pair of front canard wings, a large vertical fin, and two underfuselage fins. The J-10 adopts a “tailless delta-canard” aerodynamic layout. The aircraft has a pair of canards in front of the main delta wing. When the aircraft pitches up, the canard lifts the nose, increasing the overall lift; instead of forcing the tail down decreasing overall lift. As the canards pick up the fresh air stream instead of the wake behind the main wing, the aircraft can achieve better control authority with a smaller-size control surface, thus resulting in less drag and less weight.

         Due to its aerodynamically unstable design, the J-10 uses a digital quadruplex fly-by-wire(FBW) flight control system aids the pilot in flying the aircraft to provide artificial stabilization and gust elevation to give good control characteristics throughout the flight circuit. The cockpit is fitted with three liquid crystal Multi-function displays (LCD-MFD) along with a holographic head-up display (HUD).J-10 is equipped with Type Hongguang-I Electro-Optical Radar, infra-red search and track (IRST) system. The cockpit is equipped with a bubble canopy which provides 360 degrees of visual coverage for the pilot, a vital feature during air-to-air combat. The J-10 is available in the single-seat fighter variant J-10 and two-seater fighter-trainer variant J-10S. A further improved single-seat fighter variant designated J-10B made its first flight in February 2009. The extra crewmember allows for more complex and versatile weapons-systems to be added. The radar type equipping the J-10 is not yet known exactly; possibilities include the Russian RP-35, the Israeli EL/M-2035, the Italian Grifo 2000 and the domestic JL-10A. A comprehensive ECM (Electronic countermeasures) package is present, including active jammers.

         J-10 has 11 hard points that can carry armament worth 6000kg of missiles and bombs, drop-tanks of fuel and other equipment. Built-in armament consists of a 23 mm twin-barrel cannon is located within the fuselage.

       Variants of J-10 include J-10A, J-10B, J-10S, J-10AH, FC-20. J-10B multi-role fighter has  improved airframe and avionics. It is likely to become a standard production model.

Specifications of  J-10A :

Name:    Chengdu J-10

Origin:  China

Type:    MRCA(Multi Role Combat Aircraft)

General characteristics:

Crew:                         1 (2 for J-10S)

Length:                      15.49 m (50.82 ft) 
Wingspan:                  9.75 m (31.99 ft)

Height:                       5.43 m (17.81 ft)

Wing area:                  33.1 m² (356.3 ft²)

Empty weight:            9,750 kg (21,495 lb)

Loaded weight:          13,000 kg (28,600 lb) 
Useful load:                6,000 kg (13,200lb)

Max. takeoff weight:  19,277 kg (42,500 lb)

Powerplant:               1 × Saturn-Lyulka AL-31FN or WS-10A Taihang  turbofan

                                    Dry thrust: 79.43 kN / 89.17 kN (17,860 lbf/        20,050lbf)

                                    122.5 kN / 132 kN (27,557 lbf / 29,101 lbf)

Performance:

 Maximum speed:        Mach 2.2 at altitude,Mach 1.2 at sea level

                                     g-limits:      +9/-3 g (+88/-29 m/s², +290/-97 ft/s²)

 Combat radius:          1600 km (with air to air refueling), 550 km     
                                    (without   air to air refueling)

 Ferry range:              1850 km

 Service ceiling:          18000 m(59,055 ft)

 Wing loading:            381 kg/m² (78 lb/ft²)

 Thrust/weight:           0.96 (with AL-31); 1.017 (with WS-10A)

Armament:

Guns:                          1× 23mm twin-barrel cannon

Hardpoints:                11 in total (6× under-wing, 5× under-fuselage) with  a capacity of 6,000 kg (13,228 lb) external fuel and 

                                    ordnance

Rockets:                      90 mm unguided rocket pods

Missiles:

                                    Air-to-air missiles:     PL-8, PL-9, PL-11, PL-12

                                    Air-to-surface missiles: PJ-9, YJ-9K

Bombs:                        laser-guided bombs (LT-2), glide bombs (LS-6) and 
                                    unguided bombs.

Others:                        Up to 3 external fuel drop-tanks (1× under-fuselage,   2× under-wing) for extended range  and loitering time.

Avionics: 
Unnamed phased array radar

NRIET KLJ-10 multi-mode fire-control radar

Helmet mounted sight with cueing

Externally-mounted avionics pods:   

                                   Type Hongguang-I infra-red search and track pod

                                   BM/KG300G self-protection jamming pod

                                   KZ900 electronic reconnaissance pod

                                   Blue Sky navigation/attack pod

                                   FILAT (Forward-looking Infra-red Laser Attack Targeting)   pod