On April 13, the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China invited military representatives from 47 countries to an exclusive show performed by the flight squad "August 1" of the 24th Fighter Aviation Division of the Air Force of the People's Liberation Army of China. An impressive group of foreign military personnel were invited to get acquainted with the J-10 (Jian-10) fighter: a multipurpose single-seat fighter of the "3+" generation, developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation in cooperation with the 611th Aviation Research Institute (Chengdu).
The development of the fighter began in the 1980s, it made its first flight in 2002, but the fact of its adoption by the PLA was officially announced only at the end of 2006.
“Until now, we have not had the opportunity to physically see this plane in flight, it became
Chinese fighter of the 3rd generation J-10 in flight.
a great opportunity for the military from all over the world to see this significant PLA Air Force aircraft in the air,”said Salman Ahsan Bokhari, Pakistani military attaché in China, at the end of the 15-minute air show.
In his words, Pakistan "is studying the possibility of buying this aircraft." The commander of the 24th Fighter Air Division, Yan Feng, told reporters that the estimated cost of the J-10 is 190 million yuan ($ 27.9 million).
The exclusive show and the fighter itself were positively assessed by representatives of the Western powers.
"This is a good third-generation aircraft, capable of competing with representatives of this class, excellent pilots," Steven Willson, the British Air Force and Naval Attaché, succinctly commented on what he saw.
Both the creators and the main users of the J-10 today - the Chinese military pilots are satisfied with the plane.
“Among its advantages are maneuverability, reliability and an integrated system of onboard equipment. I am proud that China has created such an aircraft,”the commander of the 24th Fighter Aviation Division, Yan Feng, told the guests.
He assured that the PRC would never use such military equipment against its "friends" and said that next year the pilots of "August 1", a detachment performing demonstration performances at parades and air shows in the PRC, would probably take part in demonstration flights abroad.
The first Chinese fighter jet did not do without the use of Israeli and Russian technologies. In particular, it uses the Russian AL-31F engine. As Aleksandr Korenev, Assistant to the Air Attaché of the Russian Embassy in Beijing, noted after viewing the equipment, for Russia fighters like the J-10 are a long overdue stage. Nevertheless, he noted the high training of the Chinese pilots and the quality of their maneuvers.
“Today they have shown a good level of flying skills and coordination, which indicates a high level of training of the PLA Air Force flight personnel,” the military diplomat said.
He recalled, at the same time, that despite the rapid development, at present there is still a serious technical dependence of the Chinese Air Force on Russian developments.
