The formation of the appearance of the Chinese combat aircraft, the development of which began more than 30 years ago, was greatly influenced by the Vietnam War. The "protagonist" of this war on the part of the US Air Force was the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter of various modifications. As part of the concept of a universal multipurpose heavy fighter, this aircraft inflicted missile and bomb strikes against ground targets and, if necessary, conducted an air battle. And although in close air combat "Phantom" often lost to lighter and more maneuverable MiGs, its range, acceleration characteristics, a set of electronic equipment, radar capabilities and weapons inspired respect. The Phantom was the first tactical multi-role fighter that could use medium-range air-to-air missiles. Prior to that, only specialized air defense interceptors had such an opportunity. In addition, it could carry a wide range of missile and bomb weapons for operations against ground and surface targets, including guided bombs and tactical nuclear weapons.
F-4E "Phantom II"
The immediate impetus for the development of a new generation fighter-bomber in the PRC was the impartial conclusions following the operation to capture the Paracel Islands in 1974. These islands in the South China Sea, which were then controlled by South Vietnam, were captured by a landing Chinese amphibious assault force. The Saigon troops did not put up much resistance, and the islands in a short time completely came under the control of the PRC. The Americans, who had already left Vietnam at that time, chose not to interfere.
Attack aircraft Q-5
The range of the Chinese Q-5 attack aircraft and J-6 (MiG-19) fighters did not allow air support for the landing. And the use of N-5 (Il-28) bombers was ruled out due to fear of large losses that could be inflicted by the South Vietnamese Air Force, which had F-5E supersonic fighters. The use of Chinese aviation was complicated by the imperfection of navigation and targeting systems, communication and control systems, as well as the lack of modern means of electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare. As a result, the PRC fleet was forced to operate without air support, and the first PLA Navy aircraft appeared over the islands only a few hours after they were completely captured.
Chinese bombers H-5
The events around the Paracel Islands gave a powerful impetus to work on the creation of a modern attack aircraft. The military leadership of the PRC came to the conclusion that the state of the country's economy and aviation industry would not allow the simultaneous implementation of two independent programs for the creation of strike aircraft complexes. As a result, it was decided to develop a single aircraft in two extremely unified versions - for the Air Force and the Navy. The armament of the projected attack aircraft should have included both conventional and guided weapons. The possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons was also envisaged. In the course of preliminary studies and consultations between representatives of various branches of the military, it was concluded that the Navy and the PLA air force required a supersonic all-weather strike aircraft to replace the N-5 bombers and Q-5 attack aircraft, capable of operating not only tactical, but also operational. depth. At the same time, representatives of the Navy insisted on a twin-engine power plant and a crew of two (following the example of the Panavia Tornado fighter-bomber).
At the first stage of the program, it was planned to create a new combat aircraft based on the J-8II interceptor. This ensured the unification of the aircraft fleet and significantly reduced the cost of production of "fighter" and strike aircraft systems.
Interceptor J-8II
However, the Chinese military had justified doubts about the possible effectiveness of this delta-wing aircraft, "sharpened" for performing air defense missions, when operating in the range of speeds and altitudes typical of a fighter-bomber.
The next contender for this role was the shock Q-6. It was assumed that the Q-6 fighter-bomber would become the Chinese version of the Soviet MiG-23BN fighter-bomber (previously, China received several machines of this type from Egypt).
MiG-23BN
It seemed that the use of Soviet technologies and design approaches familiar and understandable to Chinese specialists would make it possible to create a new fighter-bomber in a relatively short period of time and at reasonable costs.
In this regard, on the MiG-23BN radar, necessary to search for ground, sea and air targets, was absent, and there was only a laser rangefinder. It was decided to install a radar system on the new aircraft from the F-111A aircraft shot down in Vietnam. It included the General Electric AN / APQ-113 surveillance and targeting radar, as well as two special terrain tracking radars “Texas Instruments AN / APQ-110”.
However, the Chinese radio-electronic industry was unable to reproduce the modern and sophisticated American radio-electronic complex. The lack of the necessary element base required a partial return to tube circuits, which further increased the size and weight of the equipment. The need to place on board the aircraft a system of three radar stations with parabolic antennas, in size significantly larger than the RP-22 radar station on the MiG-23S, led to an increase in the size of the fuselage, as well as a change in the entire layout of the fighter-bomber. The air intake of the projected Q-6 from the originally adopted side (made according to the MiG-23 type) became ventral (like the F-16), and the size and weight of the aircraft increased significantly, reaching the parameters of the Tornado fighter-bomber. The system for changing the sweep of the wing, created in China, turned out to be 12% heavier than the similar Soviet system used on the MiG-23 aircraft. Ultimately, the growth in the weight and dimensions of the equipment was never able to be kept under control, the situation was aggravated by the lack of suitable engines in the PRC, which subsequently led to the loss of interest in the PLA leadership in this protracted program.
In 1983, after several years of preliminary research, analyzing previous work in this direction, the Xi'an Aviation Industry Association began developing a relatively heavy two-engine, two-seater, limited maneuverability machine, optimized for use from low altitudes. At an early stage of work, a project was considered for a two-seater aircraft, which in its layout resembled the F-111 and Su-24, with in-line crew accommodation. A variant of a machine of a lighter weight category was also considered, similar to the British SEPECAT Jaguar fighter-bomber, the Japanese Mitsubishi F-1 or the Yugoslav-Romanian JUROM IAR-93 Orao. However, having weighed all the pros and cons, the Chinese experts came to the conclusion that the aircraft that would be close to the American Phantom in size and weight would most fully meet the requirements.
Initially, the new aircraft bore the designation H-7 (H - Hongzhaji, or bomber), and then was renamed JH-7 (Jianjiji-Hongzhaji - fighter-bomber). The aircraft was designed according to a normal aerodynamic configuration with a high wing, having a double sweep angle (55 degrees at 1/4 chords at the root and 45 degrees at the end), an all-turning horizontal tail and a single-fin vertical tail, complemented by a developed ventral ridge.
The avionics of the projected aircraft included a navigation and sighting system, which ensures the use of weapons against small-sized land and sea targets, as well as low-altitude flight. It was assumed that the fighter-bomber would have the ability to conduct defensive air combat using air-to-air missiles. When creating the Type 232H radar, technical solutions were used, borrowed from the American AN / APQ 120 radar, several copies of which, in varying degrees of safety, were dismantled from the F-4E fighters shot down in Vietnam. It was reported that a MiG-21 class fighter could be detected by this radar against the background of free space on a head-on course at a distance of up to 70-75 km, and a large surface target at 160-175 km. Electronic warfare systems were installed: active "Type 960-2" and passive "Type 914-4", as well as a system for shooting heat traps.
The crew of the aircraft consisted of two people placed in tandem: a pilot and a navigator-operator. The crew members were located in the cockpit under a single canopy with a three-section visor, which provided good visibility in the forward-downward direction. The set of instrumental equipment included traditional electromechanical devices, an on-board radar indicator in the cockpit of the navigator-operator, and an indicator on the windshield (HUD) of the pilot.
Taking advantage of its status as the main fighter against "Soviet hegemonism" in the Far East, China managed to purchase Rolls-Royce Spey Mk.202 turbofan engines from the UK. The British installed them on their version of the deck "Phantom" FG. Mk.1 (F-4K). TRDDF Mk.202 had a thrust of 5450/9200 kg, a mass of 1856 kg, a diameter of 1092 mm and a length of 5205 mm. In terms of static thrust, it was somewhat superior to the General Electric J79 TRDF used on American-made Phantom aircraft. However, due to the higher air consumption of the English engine, an increase in the cross-section of the air intakes was required, which affected the aerodynamics of the aircraft.
These engines, frankly, turned out to be not very successful - complex and capricious. During the testing and operation of the first JH-7s, several aircraft were lost due to engine failure. As the further practice of using the Spey Mk.202 engines showed, these turbofan engines were not quite suitable for use on supersonic multipurpose combat aircraft. But the Chinese did not have much choice, no one was in a hurry to sell them modern propulsion systems anymore. It should be said that this was the first case in the post-war period when it was decided to equip a Chinese combat aircraft with an engine not of Soviet design, but of Western design. The first 50 Spey engines for testing and production development were received in 1975. In the same year, an agreement was signed with the British on the joint production of the Spey Mk.202 turbofan engine, which received the Chinese designation WS-9. Until 2003, China could not master the production of a copy of the Spey 202 engine. To continue the serial production of the JH-7 and replace the engines that had exhausted their resource, in 2001, an additional 90 Spey was purchased from the presence of the British Air Force, removed from the British F-4K.
The JH-7 became the first Chinese aircraft to receive "standard" in-flight refueling equipment (the L-shaped fuel receiver was placed on the right side of the fuselage nose). The aircraft could carry up to three outboard fuel tanks with a capacity of 800 or 1400 liters each, which were suspended on two underwing and central ventral nodes of the external suspension.
The strike armament of the serial aircraft, located on six underwing and one central ventral nodes of the external suspension, included YJ-81 / C-801K subsonic solid-propellant anti-ship missiles with a launch range of up to 40-50 km, close to the French Exoset anti-ship missile system (two such missiles were suspended on root underwing nodes), as well as free-falling aerial bombs with caliber up to 1500 kg and NAR. For self-defense on the wingtips, pylons for air-to-air missiles with PL-5 type TGS were provided. On the right fuselage "cheekbone" was a 23-mm double-barreled gun "Type 23-III", which was an analogue of the Russian GSh-23L.
The first flight of the JH-7 prototype took place on December 14, 1988. Even before the start of deliveries of the aircraft to combat units, there was a final split in the views of representatives of the Chinese Air Force and Navy regarding the use of the aircraft and its characteristics. The Air Force wanted to get an aircraft to replace the Q-5 shock-survivable to combat damage, capable of breaking through air defense at high speed and low altitude, resistant to electronic warfare and having modern avionics. For the fleet, however, a cruise missile carrier was required, optimized for the search for enemy ships and actions at a considerable distance from the coast.
The first production aircraft were produced in 1994. A batch of 20 JH-7 fighter-bombers entered trial operation in the 16th Naval Assault Aviation Regiment of the 6th Aviation Division of the PLA Navy (Eastern Fleet), stationed near Shanghai. These machines were used to test the weapons system, conduct tests, and develop principles for the combat use of a fighter-bomber in the interests of the fleet. The JH-7 program developed in deep secrecy. The plane was first seen on Chinese state television from a series of PLA exercises in 1995.
And although the JH-7 did not completely satisfy the military, in connection with which attempts were made to acquire a more advanced radar and a more powerful and reliable engine in the United States, there was an urgent need to replace the outdated H-5 naval bombers. Therefore, the production and improvement of aircraft continued.
The upgraded version of the aircraft, which received updated avionics and weapons, first took off in 1998, became known as the JH-7A, and the name FBC-1 "Flying Leopard" was approved for the export version of the aircraft. The aircraft's glider was reinforced, and the most vulnerable spots were covered with armor. The wing and stabilizer have received changes, a second ventral keel has been added, and the number of suspension points under each wing console has been increased.
Assembling the JH-7A at the Xian Aircraft Company (Xian Aircraft Company) in Xi'an (Shaanxi province)
The aircraft received the ability to use modern guided weapons. The JH-7A received equipment placed in overhead containers, which provides the determination of the parameters of the irradiating radar and the guidance of the YJ-91 anti-radar missile (Russian X-31P), and for target illumination when using Chinese-made 500 kg adjustable bombs with laser guidance. The number of suspension assemblies has increased to 11.
The armament also included the Russian Kh-29L and Kh-29T air-to-surface missiles (in 2002, the PRC purchased about 2,000 of these missiles from Russia, and the deliveries were made not by industry, but from the warehouses of the RF Air Force), Russian corrected aircraft bombs KAB-500kr, as well as their Chinese counterparts LT-2 (500 kg). Probably, the aircraft can also use the KAB-500L, KAB-1500L-PR and KAB-1500L-F, purchased in Russia, with a caliber of 1500 kg.
In 2002, the new C-803K anti-ship missile system, designed to equip JH-7A aircraft, entered service. It is equipped with a detachable solid propellant booster and a sustainer jet engine. In the middle section of the trajectory, the anti-ship missiles are guided by means of an inertial navigation system (with radio correction from the aircraft carrier), and in the final section, an active radar homing head is used.
The main part of the anti-ship missile flight takes place at an altitude of 10-20 m, and in front of the target the missile is lowered to a height of 3-5 m, which increases its invulnerability from near-line missile defense systems. The maximum launch range is 250-260 km, and the cruising speed of the missile corresponds to M = 0.9.
The advanced electronic warfare equipment installed on the fighter-bomber includes a radar warning system, an active jammer transmitter, and containers with heat traps and dipole reflectors located at the base of the keel.
After the appearance of a new modification of the "Flying Leopard" with improved combat characteristics, the aircraft entered service with the PLA Air Force in 2004. In many ways, this was a forced measure associated with aging and the urgent need to replace the main Chinese light carriers of tactical nuclear weapons - the outdated Q-5 attack aircraft, created on the basis of the MiG-19.
But even in spite of serious modernization, the JH-7A fighter-bomber is seriously inferior to modern multipurpose attack tactical aircraft of the Su-30MK2 type, the deliveries of which to the Chinese naval aviation began in 2004. The Russian Su-30MK2 are superior to the JH-7A in all respects (including when solving strike missions) and are inferior to the Chinese aircraft only in the "comfort" of a long flight at low altitude: this was due to the lower wing load on the Russian aircraft.
The superiority of the Russian aircraft, in general, is natural. The multipurpose Su-30 family is a further development of the 4th generation Su-27 heavy fighter. And in terms of its characteristics and technical solutions used in its creation, the JH-7 aircraft is most correctly compared with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II two-seat fighter.
The most revealing may be the comparison of the Chinese fighter-bomber with the F-4K multirole fighter - the English version of the Phantom. The F-4K had an empty weight of about 14,000 kg (for the JH-7 this figure is close to 14,500 kg) and a maximum take-off weight of 25,450 kg (for the JH-7 - 28,480 kg). The mass of fuel in the internal tanks of the Anglo-American aircraft was 6,080 kg compared to 6,350 kg for the Chinese car, and the mass of weapons, located on seven nodes of the external suspension, could reach 7,300 kg (for the JH-7 - 6,500 kg).
Having the same power plant as the Phantom, very close weight characteristics and approximately equal wing loading (the wing area of the F-4K is 49.2 m2, while that of the JH-7 is 52.3 m2), the Chinese aircraft had noticeably worse speed characteristics. at a high altitude (maximum speed corresponded to M = 1, 7) than its Anglo-American counterpart (M = 2, 07). At low altitude, the F-4K also had a speed advantage over the JH-7 (1450 km / h versus 1200 km / h). The characteristics of the range of both vehicles were approximately equal (without PTB - 2300-2600 km, ferry with PTB - 3650-3700 km).
Comparing the potentials of the onboard electronic systems of American and Chinese aircraft, one must remember that the PRC actively copied the electronic equipment of aircraft shot down in Vietnam, the most massive of which was the Phantom II. We can assume with a fair degree of confidence that the JH-7 is equipped with an avionics, in many respects repeating the Phantom system and having similar technical characteristics.
If the analogs of the JH-7 can be considered such aircraft of the late 1960s as the F-4K and F-4E, then the JH-7A fighter-bomber is more appropriate to compare with the Phantoms modernized in the 1980s and 90s (for example, the Israeli “Phantom 2000 or Japanese F-4EJKai).
JH-7A aircraft entered service with three regiments of the PLA naval aviation and three regiments of the PLA air force. Each regiment equipped with a JH-7A or JH-7 has 18-20 aircraft.
At the moment, the JH-7B aircraft is being tested, which is a deep modernization of the JH-7 fighter-bomber. It was reported that the development of the LM6 turbojet engine with rather high parameters (thrust 7300/12500 kgf) was carried out specifically for this aircraft. It is possible to install on the JH-7B and Chinese engines of the new generation WS-10A, developing a thrust commensurate with the thrust of the AL-31F turbojet engine (i.e. about 12000-13000 kgf.). Currently, this engine is at the stage of fine-tuning and launching into serial production. It is planned to widely use stealth technology in the airframe design (in particular, inconspicuous air intakes and radio-absorbing coatings applied to the most “luminous” areas of the surface). The fighter-bomber should also receive a new complex of on-board electronic equipment, while the use of an on-board radar with AFAR is not excluded. The target equipment of the Chinese-made radar should ensure flight in the terrain bend mode.
Fighter-bomber JH-7B
Further improvement of the "Flying Leopard", and keeping the entire program "afloat" is not due to the high performance of the aircraft. And in many respects with the fact that the armament control system of the multifunctional aircraft Su-30MKK and Su-30MK2 purchased in Russia was technically incompatible with the missile systems developed and produced in China (the Chinese simply did not provide Russian developers with information about their missiles). As a result, the JH-7 remained the only carrier of significantly cheaper and massive Chinese aviation strike weapons in its class. In addition, the creation, production and modernization of this aircraft stimulates the development of its own aviation design school, the training of specialists and the acquisition of independent experience in the creation of modern combat aviation complexes, even if they do not yet correspond to the most advanced world achievements.
