Despite the existence of two actively developing projects of 5th generation multipurpose fighters for the Chinese Air Force (J-20 Black Eagle and J-31 Krechet from Chengdu and Shenyang), the Chinese defense industry intends to arrange a real a breakthrough in the field of ultra-radical modernization of existing machines of the 4 + / ++ generation, which, according to the design bureaus of these aerospace giants, can put Beijing on a par with Moscow and Washington in the design of modern stealth aircraft much faster. And there are real advantages to this. It is not without reason that Boeing has been working on the Silent Eagle and Advanced Super Hornet programs for several years. One of these machines is considered to be the JH-7B tactical stealth fighter, developed on the basis of the JH-7A small-scale fighter-bomber, which only managed to enter service with the 28th Air Division of the Chinese Air Force. The inconspicuous version of the JH-7A ("Flying Leopard-II") received 2.5 times large air intakes with angular edges for effective "scattering" of enemy radar radiation, as well as pronounced structural ribs on the side surfaces of the nose of the fuselage, performing a similar role of reducing radar signature. Moreover, approximately 60-70% of its structural elements are represented by composite and light-alloy materials coated with composite materials.
The radar signature of the gliders of promising tactical fighters JH-7B is about 8-9 times less than that of their original versions (8 versus 0.8 m2, respectively), and therefore, centimeter radars will detect them at 2-2.5 times less distance. This makes it possible to very effectively carry out shock operations in the 21st century. But the JH-7B is not the only 5th generation concept for the Chinese Air Force developed from the 4+ generation vehicles. It is worth telling a little about the continuation of the conceptual "bells and whistles" of the existing light multipurpose fighters J-10A and J-10B. As you know, these vehicles are regularly upgraded, and on the agenda is the receipt of on-board multifunctional radars with AFAR, which will allow them to use the PL-21D ultra-long-range airborne missile system without third-party target designation means, which is a huge advantage at times when the enemy has an overwhelming numerical superiority in the theater of operations., and the use of AWACS aircraft is impossible. But there is also the RCS, which for both J-10A and J-10B ranges from 2.5 to 1 m2. You can't compete with 5th generation cars here, and that's a fact. For this reason, Chengdu specialists did not stop there and went further.
January 2013 was marked by a very interesting publication posted on the baomoi.com resource. There was presented a conceptual continuation of the J-10A and J-10B fighters, made in 4 technical sketches. Before us appeared a car with an aggressive "shark" appearance and airframe contours, corresponding to fighters of the "4 ++" generation. The glider itself has a "duck" scheme with a movable front horizontal tail (PGO). The wing is triangular, and the flat oval air intake is "planted" close to the lower part of the fuselage, which indicates the presence of an item in the tactical and technical assignment on reducing the radar signature of the vehicle (in the J-10A, the air intake protrudes slightly beyond the fuselage generatrix). The J-10C version has a single-section vertical tail, 1 turbojet engine and 2 lower keels, similar to the F-16C. The design of the fighter's airframe has a good deal of similarity, apart from the various air intakes and the power plant, with the design of the French "Raphael" and deserves to be counted among the "4 ++" generation. But she also did not become the last version of the J-10C.
4 years later, in January 2017, in the news section of the resource "Military Parity", with reference to various Chinese sources, sketches of the 2nd version of the J-10C with a more advanced silhouette, belonging to the full 5th generation, appeared. As the authors of the resource noted, the machine should become a direct competitor to the export modification of the J-31 fighter - FC-31 in the struggle for foreign buyers. And it really is. Before us is a full-fledged version of the crossing of the American stealth fighter F-22A "Raptor" with the Swedish project of the 5th generation fighter FS-2020. The fighter has an almost 2-fold ratio between the wingspan and the fuselage length, which is not an indicator of a high angular rate of turn, and, accordingly, and maneuverability. As compensation, a movable front horizontal tail and a thrust vector deflected in the vertical plane are used.
The cross-sectional area of the airframe amidships will not exceed the indices of the Japanese ATD-X "Sinshin", and therefore we can safely talk about the RCS of 0.1 m2. In addition to low radar signature, this variant of the J-10C will receive a power plant with a flat nozzle: this will reduce the fighter's signature in the infrared range by several times. It is on this that the main emphasis is placed today in new projects of the 5th generation fighters. Elevators (all-moving tail) also have a characteristic inconspicuous (4-sided) shape. Of particular interest is the shape of the flat nozzle, represented by the "reverse V", which indicates the desire of the developer to combine the corners of the inner edges of the nozzle with the inner edges of the elevators, which also gives its advantages in adhering to the "stealth" concept of the 21st century. The draft 2-nd version of the J-10C is a 5th generation single-seat LFI, but based on the customer's requirements, the machine can be equipped with an extended cab for the operator's seat of the systems. The presented sketch does not give us complete information about the shape and location of the air intakes, as well as about all the bearing qualities of the airframe, which makes the topic even more interesting for further consideration as new data becomes available.
