Information about a prototype of the Chinese fifth-generation fighter J-20, which appeared in early 2011, made a lot of noise. Most of the domestic and Western military observers began to speculate about the success of China's military-technical modernization, the strengthening of the country's military power and the growing pace of the PRC's transformation into a military superpower. Taking into account the validity of these statements, a careful examination of the novelty of Chinese aviation still casts doubt on their validity in this particular case.
Undoubtedly, the first flight of the new J-20 fighter, which took place just a year after the takeoff of the Russian fifth generation T-50 fighter, demonstrated a major achievement of the Chinese aviation industry. Its main merit is that China for the first time created something similar to an aircraft entirely of its own design. All Chinese aircraft before that were either modernized copies, or simply variations of early Soviet models (for example, J-6 is a licensed MiG-19, J-7 is a variation of the MiG-21 fighter), or were created as a further development of these models (FC -1, J-8, Q-5). The main Chinese J-10 fighter was designed based on materials received from Israel on the Lavi aircraft. At the same time, the Chinese practice of copying is doing quite well now - just remember the illegal copy of the Russian Su-27 fighter, which in China are designated as nJ-15 or KaKj-llB. In the case of the J-20, we first saw an aircraft that testifies to the original work of Chinese designers. At the same time, this development leaves only conflicting feelings so far.
Outwardly, the plane looks like a hybrid of design solutions borrowing from various samples of American and Russian 5th generation aircraft - the American F-22A fighter and the prototype of the Russian T-50 of the Sukhoi corporation of the unlucky MiG 1.44 demonstrator aircraft of the late 1990s - this is the essence of the Chinese approach. It is the MiG 1.44 that seems to be the main inspiration for the Chinese. The glider of the Chinese aircraft is made according to the aerodynamic "duck" design and is a monoplane with a fairly high deltoid wing of a large area and a horizontal tail located in front. The tail section of the fuselage is devoid of horizontal tail and has two impressive ventral keels with closely spaced engines. It is this part that looks like it was directly borrowed from the MiG 1.44. Such close attention to the aircraft prototype rejected in Russia is rather strange - especially considering the fact that many aerodynamic solutions of the domestic aircraft, repeated on the J-20 (large ventral keels, forward horizontal tail), clearly contradict the requirement of the aircraft's stealth.
J-20 computer model
The size of the Chinese fighter is also surprising. The J-20 is larger than both Russian and US 5th generation fighters. Its approximate length reaches 22 m with a wingspan of 15 m. The American F-22A has a length of 18.9 m with a wingspan of 13.56 m, the Russian T-50 is 20 m long, and its wingspan 14 m. With all this, the J-20 has an unusually thick and massive fuselage, forward horizontal tail and a large wing area. The maximum take-off weight of the vehicle is estimated at 40 tons. The Chinese plane seems downright overweight and bloated.
These remarks are in particular contrast to another well-known Chinese problem - the country's lack of suitable engines for a fifth generation fighter. Until recently, China was forced to purchase Russian engines of the AL-31F series (installed on the Su-27) for its J-10 fighter. The testing in China of its own engine of the same WS10 class (most likely, it was partially created on the basis of the domestic AL-31F) capable of developing thrust up to 13 tons on afterburner is facing great difficulties. Currently, there are serious doubts about his legal capacity. But the main thing is that even the WS10 engine is clearly weak to provide the characteristics necessary for a fifth generation fighter: supersonic speed without afterburner and super maneuverability.
Engines of the AL-31F or WS10 class are insufficient in their power even for the more compact and light Russian T-50 fighter. It is no coincidence that the lack of a powerful 5th generation engine (similar to the American Pratt & Whittney F119 installed on the F-22A, capable of developing up to 18 tons in afterburner and providing 12 tons in cruise flight mode) has become the "Achilles' heel" of the entire Russian programs. Our country is still forced to use on the T-50 the engines of the project 117C developed by NPO Saturn, which have a thrust in the afterburner mode up to 14.6 tons with the prospect of increasing it to 15.5-16 tons.
In the PRC, as we can see, on the one hand, there is a frankly overweight and oversized fighter, which has, at best, WS10-type engines, which are absolutely not suitable for the 5th generation. Based on this, the J-20 in its current state, in principle, cannot achieve the flight characteristics required for a fifth-generation aircraft, and the ability to maintain supersonic cruising speed on it is only a grin. At the same time, in the Chinese segment of the Internet, there are hurray-patriotic information about the WS15 engines being developed, which are capable of delivering up to 18 tons in afterburner. According to experts, the current level of Chinese engine building casts doubt on the production of such an engine in the near future. It is no coincidence that last year China was actively negotiating the purchase of 117C engines in our country and even received preliminary consent for this.
MiG 1.44
Equally significant doubts are the possibility of China in the near future to independently manufacture full-fledged competitive avionics for the 5th generation fighter. Mainly we are talking about an airborne radar system with active phased antenna arrays. There are reasonable doubts about the presence of a modern weapons complex. It is known that the most advanced Chinese medium-range missile PL-12 (SFMO), which has an active radar homing head, is practically created in Russia and is produced in China with supplies of a number of key elements from Russia.
Based on this, the J-20 fighter presented in China cannot be a full-fledged prototype of the fifth generation and is unlikely to ever become one. Even aside from problems with engines and on-board electronics, the current J-20 needs a significant or even complete redesign. In its current state, it is a kind of "demonstration of technology" and is not far from the ill-fated MiG 1.44, with which it has a lot in common. This is his main thing from the completely "honed" and looking very completely Russian T-50 fighter, which from the very beginning did not leave the observers in doubt that they were facing a true combat fighter of the future.
The appearance of the J-20 tells us that the Chinese aviation industry is only at the stage of searching for its own signature and still widely resorts to borrowing from foreigners - now not entirely, as in the case of the Su-27, but in parts. This is the current corporate identity of China. At the same time, it is absolutely not clear whether this path will lead to the creation of effective and efficient products in such a complex area of production as the creation of modern aviation complexes.
In any case, to date, talk about any "Chinese breakthrough" in the aircraft industry is greatly exaggerated, their J-20 aircraft, on the contrary, suggests that such a breakthrough in modern China is impossible at the current pace of development of the industry. It's hard to say what will happen in 15 years. But at the moment it is absolutely clear that the T-50 and its creators have quite a sufficient temporary head start for our country to become the second power in the world to build a full-fledged twin-engine fighter of the 5th generation.
