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According to the Jane's
Defense Weekly (JDW 20 January 1998), China is planning to further
upgrade its J8II M fighter planes in order to increase their
exportability. According to the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the
upgrading plan focuses on two parts. First, the digital fly-by-wire
flight control system will be probably added to the J8IIM planes
according to the requirement of the customers. The digital fly-by-wire
control system has been successfully developed. It mainly consists of
such sub-systems as the flying control computer, the pilot sensor
assembly, the accelerometer, the caution panel and trim interface, and
the rate gyro etc.. The source didn't reveal if this system was the same
as the one used in the J10. After careful evaluations, however, there
are indications that there is little difference between these two
systems. It means that the J10 will also use the digital fly-by-wire
flight control system. Beside, The source from the Xian Aircraft
Corporation claims that the JH7 ( FBC1) uses the triple-FBW system.
At present, the model of the fly-by-wire flight control system to be
added to the J8IIM remains at the stage of evaluation. It is hoped that
the new system will find a better export market for the J8IIM. The
source indicates that after being equipped with the fly-by-wire flight
control system, the J8IIM will have a better mobility than to the French
Mirage 2000 and the US F16s.
The second part that the upgrading plan focuses on is to further
develop various highly compatible operational pods so as to increase the
competitiveness of the J8IIM plane. These operational pods include the
FLIR/Laser Targeting pod developed by No. 613 Institute, the KG300G
airborne self-protection jammer pod developed by the Southwest China
Research Institute of Electronic Equipment, and the Blue-Sky
low-altitude navigation pod developed by No. 607 Institute etc.. All
these will increase both the capability and modals of JIIM's
air-to-ground attacks. According to the source, after the
above-mentioned efforts are made, the J8IIM will not be inferior to the
JH7 at all in terms of the air-to-ground attack capability. In addition,
the J8IIM plane will possess a better flying mobility and aerial-combat
capability than does the JH7.
Despite this, the prospects for the export of the J8IIM planes remain
very poor. This is because Pakistan has already joineded the FC1 project
and the other possible countries are only Burma, Bangladesh, and Sri
Lanka etc.. Therefore, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has decided to
look at the above markets after the turn into the 21st century. In the
meantime, it will also rely on the domestic market by persuading the PLA
to upgrade with the fly-by-wire flight control technology the J8II and
J8D (with the capability of being refueled in the air) planes that are
now already in service ( Andrei Pinkov) |
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