DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s New Freight Plane Extends Military Modernization Program

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China’s New Freight Plane Extends Military Modernization Program

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Bloomberg

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 28, 2013: China successfully tested a locally- built freight plane, two months after the debut of its fighter jet, boosting the nation’s efforts to use homegrown technology to expand defense capacity.

The Yun-20, which had its maiden flight yesterday, can take a maximum load of 66 tons and is suited for long-distance transportation, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The plane will aid the armed forces and will help deliver disaster relief and humanitarian aid, according to the report.

China achieved a military milestone when its fighter jet landed on its new aircraft carrier in November, extending a modernization bid that’s recorded advances in submarines, cyber warfare and in outer space.

The J-15 jet was developed and built by AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a unit of China’s largest aerospace company, Aviation Industry Corp of China. It can carry multi-type anti- ship, air-to-air, air-to-ground missiles and precision-guided bombs.

The aircraft tests underscore China’s progress in military modernization, which has been accompanied by a doubling of the defense budget in six years. China, the biggest spender on defense after the U.S., has become increasingly assertive in the region as President Barack Obama executes a strategic shift toward Asia and tensions rise with Japan and other nations over territorial disputes.

China’s defense spending, estimated at 670 billion yuan ($108 billion) in 2012, has more than doubled since 2006, tracking a rise in nominal gross domestic product to 47.2 trillion yuan from 21.6 trillion yuan.

*China Conducts Jumbo Freighter Test Flight ~ Reuters

China has conducted a successful test flight of its first domestically developed jumbo air freighter, the official state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Yun-20, or Transport-20, is designed for long-distance air transport of both cargo and passengers, Xinhua reported.

"The successful maiden flight of Yun-20 is significant in promoting China's economic and national defence build-up as well as bettering its emergency handling such as disaster relief and humanitarian aid," Xinhua said, adding that further test flights are scheduled.

China is determined to reduce dependency on foreign firms such as Boeing, Airbus, General Electric and Rolls-Royce for the country's rising demand for planes and engines.

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's dominant military and commercial aviation contractor, has lobbied for Beijing to back a multi-billion dollar plan to build a high-performance engine.

Meanwhile a host of design flaws has delayed approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the country's homegrown 90-seat ARJ21 regional passenger jet.

At last November's China Airshow, China unveiled 50 new orders for its COMAC C919 passenger jet which is designed to challenge Airbus and Boeing in the USD$100 billion annual airliner market.

The orders for the 150-seat jet boosted the official tally to 380, reaching the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China's declared breakeven point of 300-400 orders.

However, analysts say it will be some time before the aircraft, due to make its maiden flight in 2014, proves both its technical worth and its financial viability.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Bloomberg
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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China's New Fighter Jet J-15 Has Range of 3,000 Km

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China's New Fighter Jet J-15 Has Range of 3,000 Km

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Zee News
(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - November 30, 2012: Chinese fighter jet J-15, which successfully landed on the country's first aircraft carrier, has a range of about 3,000 km without refueling and strong sea-air combat capability, said an official.

Zhang Junshe, deputy director of the country's Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told that the successful takeoff and landing of the J-15 is a clear sign of an increase in the fighting capacity of the aircraft carrier. Carrier-based aircraft is an important symbol of the fighting capacity of an aircraft carrier, he said. 

Zhang said the J-15 is China's first generation of independently developed carrier-based aircraft. It is a third-generation fighter with strong sea-air combat capability and supersonic speeds. It can carry multiple types of long-range anti-ship and air-to-air missiles. 

The J-15 has a range of about 3,000 km without refueling, and thus has strong long-range combat capability, said the media report. After the successful takeoff and landing of the carrier-based aircraft, the navy will now test other components of the carrier battle group.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Zee News
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News: Chinese Navy Air Force - Maintain Strong Impact With 400 Combat Aircraft Mostly Vintage

DTN News: Chinese Navy Air Force - Maintain Strong Impact With 400 Combat Aircraft Mostly Vintage

* Roger Smith - DTN News has added contents and images in this article from reliable sources besides Strategy Page

Source: Strategy Page

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 4, 2010: The Chinese Navy has its own air force, with over 400 combat aircraft. Most of these are elderly, but still dangerous under the right conditions. These aircraft operate from 24 air bases along the 18,000 kilometer long coastline. There are about 120 H-6s, a Chinese built Russian Tu-16. Although the Tu-16 design is over fifty years old, China has continued to rely on their H-6s as one of their principal bombers. The H-6 is a 78 ton bomber with a crew of four, a 6,000 kilometer range. It can carry nine tons of bombs and missiles. There are about 45 J-7s, a Chinese built copy of the MiG-21. Many are being equipped with Western (or Western class) electronics and engines. This makes it a considerably improved MiG-21. Can carry 1.5 tons of bombs. There are about 60 J-8s, a Chinese two engine variant of the MiG-21. China's first attempt at building their own aircraft. But it was not a very original or successful effort. Can carry about three tons of bombs and is mainly used by the navy. There are nearly a hundred JH-7s. These are Chinese designed and built fighter-bombers that entered service in the 1990s. They were meant to replace the retired H-5s (Russian Il-28 copies). There are 24 Su-30s (a Russian design) and at least two J-15s (a Chinese copy of the Russian Su-27s modified to operate from carriers). The navy would like to replace all its J-7s and J-8s with Su-30s, but that won't happen. Meanwhile, the navy is being provided with J-11s. In the last few months, satellite photos have shown J-11 jet fighters at naval air bases. These are illegal Chinese copies of the Russian Su-27. These are cheaper than Su-30s, and are built entirely of Chinese parts. The remaining aircraft are helicopters, trainers and transports. The navy has long had a reputation as a ramshackle outfit, with old (and often rejected by the air force) aircraft, poor training and indifferent leadership. There have been considerable efforts to change all that, but progress is slow.

HISTORY OF THE TU-16 IN CHINA The origins of the H-6 can be traced back to 1956, when the Soviet Union agreed that it would help China to build a medium bomber force. The idea behind this was that the USSR would command a combined USSR-PRC nuclear force, something which later proved unacceptable for the Chinese. A license agreement for Tu-16 bombers was signed in 1957, and two years later the first parts for assembly in Harbin arrived from the Soviets. Apart from these, two Soviet-built Tu-16s were flown in to serve as pattern aircraft. The first H-6 built from Soviet parts flew only 67 days after manufacture started, on September 27th 1959. After factory acceptance trials, this aircraft went to the PLAAF just like a second prototype built with Soviet parts. One of these was later modified as a nuclear bomber with an airconditioned bombbay and special bomb mountings. A nuclear bomb was dropped by this aircraft at the Lop Nor test site on May 14, 1965. Production got seriously delayed when the CCP decided that H-6 production should be concentrated at Xi'an, while Harbin would start working on a reverse-engineered Il-28 under the designation H-5 because the plant at Harbin already had a major Il-28 rework facility. Moving H-6 production to Xi'an however ment that some 3000 engineers had to be moved, as well as the already delivered documents and tools. This entire program lasted until 1964, by which time it was realised that a large part of the necessary technical documentation was missing. The PRC was quick to blame this on the Soviets with which relations had seriously deteriorated by then. It is nevertheless equally possible that the relocation of the H-6 production caused the loss of these documents. To retrieve this data, the existing H-6es built with Soviet parts, together with the two Tu-16s were taken apart and studied with the intention to reverse-engineer them. Over ten years after the first flight of a Badger built in the PRC, a prototype of the H-6 built with only Chinese parts took to the air. To distinguish this from the origian two Harbin-built H-6es, these got the designation H-6A. Deliveries of aircraft built to this standard were delivered to operational PLAAF and PLAN units from 1970 on. It is not known if all of these are equipped with the airconditioned bombbay and other nuclear modifications, although some sources suggest that these are officially referred to as H-6II.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

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DTN News: China Creates Pirate Copy of Russia’s Su-33 Deck-Based Fighter Jet

DTN News: China Creates Pirate Copy of Russia’s Su-33 Deck-Based Fighter Jet

Source: DTN News / Pravda.Ru

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - June 5, 2010: China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation created a copy of a Russian deck-based Su-33 fighter jet. The Chinese model of the aircraft was called J-15, Interfax reports with reference to the May issue of the Kanwa Asian Defence military publication. The Chinese fighter jet is based on the Soviet T10K training aircraft, which China received from Ukraine. Chinese engineers found it very difficult to solve the problem of folding wings of deck-based fighter jets. Now the problem has been solved. It is not clear yet, if the new plane has performed its first flight yet: the Chinese Air Force does not have its own test center for the sea aviation. China earlier attempted to purchase two Su-33 planes from Russia to study the aircraft performance. Moscow rejected the deal over the fear of technology leak, as it previously happened with the J-11 aircraft, RBC reports. When trying to enter the Chinese arms market, Russia handed over the assembly technology for the Su-27CK fighter jet to China. As a result, China modernized the plane and began to work on a serial production of the J-11 plane. Such a step can give China an opportunity to put competitive pressure on Russia on the arms market of third countries, experts said. Russia started delivering Su-27CK planes to China in 1992. The sides signed an agreement for 76 fighters of the class. In 1995, Russia sold the license for the production of 200 more fighters. China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corporation started assembling them as J-11 with the use of Russian components. By 2003 Russia had delivered 95 packages for J-11 and was supposed to ship 105 more, although China did not sign the contract for them. In 2007, China demonstrated first prototypes of the J-11B jet – nearly the absolute copy of Russia’s Su-27CMK. For the time being, China has launched the serial production of J-10, J-11 and FC-1 fighter jets. These planes bear a striking resemblance to Russia’s Su-27/30 and MiG-29. In the nearest future, China intends to build and sell not less than 1,200 fighters – the prices on them will be significantly lower than those on the Russian “originals.” After the incident with J-11, Russia officially notified China of the violation of international agreements and promised to launch legal proceedings to defend its intellectual property.

China is not the only country that established the pirated production based on Russian technologies. Russia’s defense export giant Rosoboronexport said that over 15 countries (including Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt) produce Kalashnikov assault rifles either on expired licenses or without any license at all. Arms pirates also eye multiple artillery rocket systems, tank equipment and radars. The Sukhoi Su-33 (NATO reporting name: Flanker-D) is a carrier-based multi-role fighter aircraft produced by Russian firm Sukhoi beginning in 1982. It is a derivative of the Su-27 ‘Flanker’ and was initially known as the Su-27K. The main differences from the Su-27 are that the Su-33 can operate from aircraft carriers and is capable of aerial refueling. Unlike comparable American carrier-borne fighters like the F-14 Tomcat, the Su-33 uses a ski-jump instead of catapult for carrier takeoff. Using the ski-jump avoids the high catapult-induced loads, and provides the aircraft with a positive pitch and climb angle upon launch. However, when using a ski-jump, the Su-33 cannot launch at maximum takeoff weight. The Su-33 sports canards that shorten the take-off distance and improve maneuverability, but required reshaping of the leading edge extensions. The canards counter pitch-down force generated by leading and trailing edge flaps reducing approach speed by 1.5 times; they also act as destabilizers in supersonic flight, by reducing pitch trim drag. The wing area was also increased, though the span remained unchanged. The wings were fitted with power-assisted folding, and the vertical tails were shortened to allow the fighter to fit in the typically crowded hangars of an aircraft carrier. The rear radome was shortened and reshaped to allow for the tail hook, as well as to save space inside the hangars. The IRST was moved to provide better downward visibility and an L-shaped retractable refuelling probe was fitted to increase range.

DTN News: Russia Downplays Chinese J-15 Fighter Capabilities

DTN News: Russia Downplays Chinese J-15 Fighter Capabilities

Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - June 5, 2010: China's J-15 carrier-based fighter will not be able to compete with Russia's Su-33 fighter on global markets because it is inferior to the Russian aircraft, a Russian military analyst said on Friday. China since 2001 has been developing the J-15 naval fighter, which is believed to be a clone of Russia's Su-33 Falcon-D. China bought an Su-33 prototype earlier from Ukraine, and used it to develop the new aircraft. The J-15 is expected to be stationed initially onboard the Chinese Varyag aircraft carrier currently being fitted in the port of Dalian. China bought the unfinished Admiral Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier from Ukraine in 1998. "The Chinese J-15 clone is unlikely to achieve the same performance characteristics of the Russian Su-33 carrier-based fighter, and I do not rule out the possibility that China could return to negotiations with Russia on the purchase of a substantial batch of Su-33s," said Col. (Ret.) Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Defense Ministry's Public Council. The Su-33 is a carrier-based multi-role fighter, which can perform a variety of air superiority, fleet defense, air support and reconnaissance missions. The aircraft entered service with the Russian Navy in 1995 and are currently deployed on board the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. Korotchenko said China was unlikely to solve technical problems related to the design of the folding wings and to develop a reliable engine for the aircraft, although the first J-15 prototype reportedly made its maiden flight on August 31, 2009, powered by Chinese WS-10 turbofan engines. China and Russia had been in negotiations on the sale of the Su-33 Flanker-D fighters to be used on future Chinese aircraft carriers since 2006, but the talks collapsed over China's request for an initial delivery of two aircraft for a "trial." Russian Defense Ministry sources confirmed that the refusal was due to findings that China had produced its own copycat version of the Su-27SK fighter jet in violation of intellectual property agreements. In 1995, China secured a $2.5-billion production license from Russia to build 200 Su-27SKs, dubbed J-11A, at the Shenyang Aircraft Corp. The deal required the aircraft to be outfitted with Russian avionics, radars and engines. Russia cancelled the arrangement in 2006 after it discovered that China was developing an indigenous version, J-11B, with Chinese avionics and systems. The decision came after China had already produced at least 95 aircraft. Last year, Russia refused again to sell the Su-33 to China even after Beijing had offered to buy 14 of them, saying that at least 24 jets should be sold to recoup production costs.