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| JF-17 Thunder FC-1 Xiaolong |
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| Role | Multirole combat aircraft |
| National origin | China Pakistan |
| Manufacturer | Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Pakistan Aeronautical Complex |
| First flight | 25 August 2003 |
| Introduction | 12 March 2007 |
| Status | In service, as of 18 February 2010[1] |
| Primary user | Pakistan Air Force |
| Produced | In China: June 2007 – present In Pakistan: January 2008 – present |
| Number built | 100+[citation needed] (including 6 prototypes) |
| Program cost | US$500 million[2] |
| Unit cost | Block 1: US$15–20 million (estimated)[3][4][5] Block 2: US$20–25 million[6] |
The JF-17 can carry a variety of missiles and bombs, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, supplemented by a 23/30 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel autocannon. It is powered by a RD-93 or WS-13 afterburning turbofan, and has a top speed of Mach 1.8. The JF-17 is slated to become the backbone of Pakistan Air Force (PAF), complementing the F-16s as well as the J-10Bs (on order) within its aircraft ranks and is also expected to fill the duties of aerial reconnaissance, ground-attack and interception.[9]
Pakistan has already started induction, and has plans to induct around 250 units.[10][11] The JF-17 will replace Pakistan's ageing fleet of A-5C, Mirage-III, Mirage-V, and F-7P/PG by 2015.[12] The first squadron was inducted in the Pakistan Air Force in February 2010.[13] In China it is in an evaluation phase (passed design appraisal).[14]
Many countries like Azerbaijan, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Venezuela have expressed interest in purchasing the JF-17 Thunder.[15][16][17]
Contents
Design requirements
The JF-17 was primarily developed to meet Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) requirement for an affordable,[18] modern multi-role combat aircraft as a replacement for its large fleet of Dassault Mirage III/5 fighters, Nanchang A-5 bombers, and Chengdu F-7 interceptors. It was also to have export potential as a cost-effective and competitive alternative to significantly more expensive Western fighters.[3][4][19]In 1999, Pakistan and China signed the contract to jointly develop the FC-1/Super 7. Initial difficulties in acquiring an avionics and radar package from Europe led to many problems, solved in 2001, when design of the airframe was decoupled from the avionics. In 2003, the maiden flight of the first prototype occurred in China. The Pakistani designation "Super-7", meanwhile, were replaced with "JF-17". Later test flights with a modified design occurred in 2006. Deliveries to the PAF for further flight testing and evaluation began in 2007[20] and the aircraft's first public aerial display took place that year in Islamabad. The PAF officially inducted its first JF-17 squadron, No. 26 Squadron, on 18 February 2010 with fourteen aircraft.[21][22][23][24]
The Block 1 JF-17 is expected to cost approximately US$ 15 million per unit,[19] with Block 2 aircraft costing US$ 20–25 million.[6] The PAF has a confirmed order for 150 JF-17s, which may increase to 250 aircraft.[10][11]
Development
Background
By 1989, Pakistan had abandoned Project Sabre II, a design study involving Grumman and China to re-design and upgrade the Chengdu F-7, due to economic sanctions by the U.S.[25] In the same year, China and Grumman started a new design study to develop the Super 7, another re-designed Chengdu F-7.[26] Grumman left the project when sanctions were placed on China following the political fallout from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.[27] After Grumman left the Chengdu Super 7, the Fighter China project was launched in 1991.[27]Pakistan, meanwhile, required a new fighter to replace its fleet of Dassault Mirage III/5s, Chengdu F-7s, and Nanchang A-5s.[28] In 1995, Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint design and development of a new fighter, and over the next few years, the two countries worked out the project details.[29] In June 1995, Mikoyan joined the project to provide "design support" and had "seconded a team of engineers to CAC."[30]
Launch of FC-1 project
In October 1995, it was reported that Pakistan was to select a Western company by the end of the year to provide and integrate the avionics for FC-1, which was expected to go into production by 1999. The avionics were stated to include radars, INSs, HUDs and MFDs. Competing for the contracts were Thomson-CSF with a variant of the RDY radar, Sagem with avionics similar to those used in the ROSE upgrade project and GEC-Marconi with its new Blue Hawk radar, but FIAR (now SELEX Galileo) was expected to win the radar contract with the Grifo S7 because the company had earlier ties with the PAF.[31]In mid-February 1998, Pakistan and China signed a letter of intent covering airframe development. Russia's Klimov offered a variant of the RD-33 turbofan engine to power the fighter.[32] In April 1999, South Africa's Denel offered to arm the PAF's Super 7 with the T-darter beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile (AAM), rather than the R-Darter as reported previously.[33] Previously in 1987, Pratt & Whitney offered Super-7 project three engine options, PW1212, F404 and PW1216, plus local manufacturing in either China or Pakistan. Rolls Royce offered RB199-127/128 turbofan engine. But the plan was scrapped in 1989.[34]
In June 1999, the contract to jointly develop and produce the Chengdu FC-1/Super 7 was signed. The project was to be a 50–50 partnership with the air forces of both countries being committed to ordering the fighter. After GEC-Marconi had abandoned the bidding to supply an integrated avionics suite, FIAR and Thomson-CSF proposed a number of avionics suites based on the Grifo S7 and RC400 radars, respectively despite previously hoping to use the PAF's Super 7 to launch its new Blue Hawk radar.[35][36] Due to sanctions placed on Pakistan after the country's 1998 nuclear tests, design work progressed very slowly over the next 18 months, preventing delivery of the Western avionics to the PAF.
In early 2001, a major decision was taken by the PAF to de-couple the airframe from the avionics, enabling design work on the aircraft to continue. Also, as the airframe was developed, any new avionics requirements by the PAF could be more easily integrated into the airframe.[29] Prototype production began in September 2002 and a full size mock-up of the FC-1/Super 7 was displayed at Airshow China in November 2002.[37] The first batch of Klimov RD-93 turbofan engines that would power the prototypes was also delivered in 2002.[27]
According to a China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) official, the JF-17's low cost is due to its on-board systems being adapted and scaled down from the those of the Chengdu J-10. "This transfer of technology – transposing the aircraft systems from the J-10 to the JF-17 – is what makes the JF-17 so cost-effective."[38] The use of modern computer-aided design software, likely the French CATIA package, shortened the design phase of the JF-17 as well as the dual-seat model of the Chengdu J-10.[39]
Flight testing and re-design
The first prototype, PT-01, was rolled out on 31 May 2003[4][40] and transferred to the Chengdu Flight Test Centre by June 2003 to be prepared for the maiden flight.[29] This was initially planned to take place in June but was delayed[40] due to concerns about the SARS outbreak.[29] The designation Super-7 was replaced by "JF-17" (Joint Fighter-17) at some point during this period.[27][41] Low speed taxiing trials began at Wenjiang Airport in Chengdu on 27 June 2003.[27] The maiden flight took place in late August 2003, but the actual date is unclear. Some sources report it took place on 24 August 2003 and lasted 17 minutes[41] while others state that it occurred on 25 August 2003 and lasted 8 minutes.[4][27] However the official maiden flight of the prototype took place on either 2 September[29] or 3 September 2003, the prototype being marked with the new Pakistan Air Force designation JF-17.[27] By late March 2004, CAC had made around 20 test-flights of the first prototype.[42] On 7 April 2004 the PAF's first test pilots, Rashid Habib and Mohammad Ehsan ul-Haq, flew the PT-01 for the first time. The maiden flight of the third prototype, PT-03, took place on 9 April 2004.[29] In March 2004, Pakistan was planning to induct around 200 aircraft.[43]Following the third prototype, several design changes and improvements were developed and incorporated into aircraft from this point. Due to excessive smoke emissions by the RD-93 engine the air intakes were widened, reported control problems exposed in testing resulted in wing leading edge root extensions (LERX) alterations. The vertical tail fin was enlarged to house an expanded electronic warfare equipment bay at the tip of the fin.[4][44][45] The re-designed aircraft was to have a maximum take-off weight slightly above the original 12,400 kg (27,300 lb) and incorporate increased levels of Chinese-sourced avionics, however PAF had selected Western avionics suites for their aircraft, the alterations postponed PAF deliveries from late 2005 to 2007. At this stage Pakistan was evaluating British, French and Italian avionics suites, the winner of which was expected to be finalised in 2006.[46] The fourth prototype and the first to incorporate the design changes, PT-04, was rolled out in mid-April 2006 before making its first flight on 28 April 2006.[8][44][47][48]
The modifications to the air intakes replaced the conventional intake ramps, whose function is to divert turbulent boundary layer airflow away from the inlet and prevent it entering the engine, with a diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) design.[44] The DSI uses a combination of forward-swept inlet cowls and a three-dimensional compression surface, referred to as a "bump" due to its shape, to divert the boundary layer airflow away from the intake at high sub-sonic through to supersonic speeds. According to Lockheed Martin, the DSI design prevents the majority of boundary layer air from entering the engine at speeds up to Mach 2, reduces weight by removing the need for complex mechanical intake mechanisms[49] and is more stealthy than a conventional intake.[44] Work on the DSI was started in 1999 with the aim of improving aircraft performance and took almost two years, during which a number of models underwent wind tunnel tests at different speed regimes. It was found that the DSI gave high performance, high total pressure recovery, low integrated distortion and good engine/intake matching.[citation needed]
For the avionics and weapons qualification phase of the flight testing, PT-04 was fitted with a fourth-generation avionics suite that incorporates sensor fusion, an electronic warfare suite, enhanced man-machine interface, Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC) for the RD-93 turbofan engine, FBW flight controls, day/night precision surface attack capability and multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar for BVR air-to-air attack capability.[50] A sixth prototype, PT-06, first flew on 10 September 2006.[51] Following a competition in 2008, Martin-Baker were selected over a Chinese firm for the supply of fifty PK16LE ejection seats.[52]
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