J-10B - DSI + IRST
The J-10 is the fourth-generation fighter independently developed by China. After several upgrades, the J-10 family has derived J-10A, J-10S, J-10B, J-10C and other models. Among them, the J-10B and J-10C are the two models that have undergone the biggest changes. Both the appearance and the on-board equipment have changed.
Chinese military aircraft gradually arrived at the Zhuhai Air Show. Among them, the J-10B sent by the Chinese Air Force has attracted widespread attention due to its first exhibition. The J-10B fighter arrived at Zhuhai Airport on 25 October 2016. The aircraft had been painted with the Air Force number, and the production number also indicates that several aircraft have been produced, proving that the PLA Air Force has officially equipped the J-10B, which is also the first public appearance of the fighter. It has even been referred to as the "Asia's second strongest" fighter. Judging from its current appearance changes, the aircraft does improve a lot, and its performance is greatly improved compared to the J-10A.
the most obvious improvement of the aircraft is the use of DIS inlets, which can reduce the weight of the structure, increase the efficiency of air intake in most speed ranges, and improve the overall performance. Pressure recovery ratio, and has certain shielding to the engine turbine blades, reducing its radar echo. Secondly, the shape of the head is more flat, which is conducive to the pre-compression of the air flow. Thirdly, the vertical tail of the aircraft uses a strip-shaped instrument cabin and has been sharpened. The instrument cabin is likely to be used for electronic warfare. Fourth, the aircraft has upgraded the avionics system and sensors of the aircraft. A spherical infrared search and aiming system is added above the nose of the aircraft. In addition, the aircraft's vertical tail is installed with UV missile approach alarms to alert incoming missiles. Fifth, the aircraft is suspected of using metal-coated windshields and cockpit covers. The cockpit is an important radar reflection source for the aircraft, and this measure greatly weakens the radar echo.
The nose is the biggest change of the J-10B compared to the J-10A. First, the radar was changed. The pulse Doppler fire control radar was upgraded to a domestic phased array radar. This is from the combination of the radome and the tilt of the fuselage. Can see. Because the antenna array of a phased array radar is usually installed at a certain elevation angle, the incoming radar waves entering the radar cabin through the radome can be reflected to other directions through the inclined radar array, thereby greatly reducing the nose radar cabin. Contribution to aircraft RCS will help reduce radar reflection area. Therefore, to facilitate maintenance, the rear end of the radome is also designed to be inclined.
According to public information, this domestic passive phased array radar can track more than 10 targets at the same time and attack 4 targets at the same time. It also uses a broadband design to improve the anti-jamming capability of the radar. This radar is equipped on the J-10B. The J-10B became the first fighter jet equipped with phased array radar in the Chinese Air Force. However, the biggest disadvantage of passive phased array radar is that the detection range is limited. This is because passive electromagnetic phased array radar has many electromagnetic wave transmission links and corresponding losses. Although this has a slight impact on the combat performance of the J-10B, but In general, the detection performance and weapon capability of the J-10B have been greatly improved compared to the J-10A.
The spherical convex device on the top of the radome is an infrared search and tracking system added by the J-10B, which is mainly used for passive infrared search and tracking. Compared with airborne fire control radar, this system can achieve passive detection and can pass imaging To identify targets and work with high levels of electromagnetic interference. Because any object emits infrared thermal radiation when the temperature is higher than absolute zero, especially when the aircraft rubs against the air at high speed, it will inevitably emit infrared thermal radiation. The infrared search and tracking system is a passive long-wave infrared detection sensor, which can monitor and track long-range infrared heat sources in the environment of electronic interference.
Although the infrared search and tracking system is limited by the detection distance, it is difficult to achieve a large-scale search, but it can search based on the coarse coordinates obtained in the radar passive detection mode to accurately identify and track enemy targets. In addition, the information fusion with the helmet sighting / display system, combined with the large off-axis infrared air-to-air missile, can greatly improve the pilot's response speed in close combat.
Another significant change of the J-10B compared to the J-10A is that the original adjustable multi-wave system rectangular supersonic air inlet was changed to a supersonic air inlet without a clad partition, which is also a DSI air inlet. It uses a fixed bulge to simulate the baffles in conventional air intakes, and can achieve the purpose of compressing the air flow, simplifying the structure, reducing the weight and reducing the radar reflection area. Sensitive and stable.
Prior to the J-10B, China had applied DSI air inlets to the "Jiaolong" fighter aircraft, and subsequent J-10C and J-20 aircraft also used DSI air inlets, showing China's theory in the collar city Research and engineering expertise. In order to adapt to the DS inlet, the nose was also changed from the original conical shape to oblate to play a role of pre-compressing the air before entering the inlet. Although studies have shown that the total pressure recovery coefficient of the DSI inlet in the right end of the flight envelope is not as good as the adjustable supersonic inlet, the use of the DSI inlet can save hundreds of kilograms of weight and greatly simplify the inlet.
Structure to improve reliability. In other words, after switching to the DSI intake duct, the J-10B's supersonic performance may be slightly reduced, but the performance of the entire subsonic and transonic envelopes has been improved. This shows that the combat positioning of the J-10 fighter has changed, from an air combat fighter with an interception function to a multi-purpose aspect.
The twelfth China International Aerospace Expo opened at the Zhuhai International Air Show Center on November 6, 2018. The J-10B thrust vector verification machine appeared for the first time at the China Air Show. The 12th China International Aerospace Fair opened on the 6th at the Zhuhai International Air Show Center. It is reported that the scale of this year's air show reached a record high. 770 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions around the world will appear at the air show, and more than 100 aircraft performed flight demonstrations.
At the opening ceremony, the Chinese Air Force's "August" flight demonstration team J-10 took off first, kicking off the first day of the air show. Difficult actions such as stand-alone air roll, stand-alone high elevation elevation, double-scissor maneuvering counter-crossing, three-machine up-and-roll roll-off, four-machine diamond formation, and five-machine vertical flowering were performed in turn, fully showing the "August" flight performance team Superb flying skills.
Subsequently, the J-10B fighter equipped with a domestic large-thrust vector engine was unveiled, and the actions of ultra-small radius turning and rapid pull-up demonstrated the excellent maneuverability of the aircraft and caused applause from the audience. This is also the first time that the J-10B thrust vector verification machine has appeared publicly at the China Air Show.
In terms of power system, although some photos show that at least several F-10B fighters have been replaced with domestic "Taihang" engines, and 1034 even adopted "Taihang" modified engines and vector nozzles. It is not yet possible to meet the production needs of multi-type fighters such as the J-15, J-16, and J-11BS. Therefore, most of the mass production models of the J-10B still use the Russian-made AL-31FN engine. The distinction between the "Taihang" and AL-31FN engines after installation can be identified from the shape of the tail nozzle, which is relatively easy to distinguish. It is worth mentioning that the fact that the J-10B can use both AL-31FN and "Taihang" shows that the aircraft's power system compatibility is designed very well, which is very beneficial to logistical support during wartime and is also very conducive to the subsequent development of this model.
The J-10B fighter is equipped with 11 external attachment points, of which there are 6 under the wing, 1 in the fuselage centerline, and 4 in the side of the air intake. It can mount short-range missiles, medium-range missiles, and a large number of ground-attack weapons. It has extremely strong air-to-air and ground-to-ground combat capabilities, and the aircraft can also use a composite hanger to further optimize its mounting capabilities. When performing air defense patrol missions, the J-10B can hang two medium-range air-to-air missiles and two short-range air-to-air missiles on two pairs of outboard hangers, with a total of eight hanging bombs. Of course, if used for ground attack missions, the advantages of composite hangers are even more obvious.
The J-10B can be mounted on a pair of outer racks with small precision guided bombs similar to the US Army's "Small Diameter Bomb" (SDB) for precision strikes with low incidental damage to ground targets. The other pair of pylons can also be used for short-range air-to-air missiles. While performing ground attack missions, they still maintain a certain self-defense air combat capability. The J-10B can use domestic second-generation laser-guided bombs, which improves the launch distance and hit accuracy, and can hit ground and low-speed moving targets in environments with poor visibility and high wind speeds. In addition to the 1000 kg and 500 kg precision guided bombs that can only be mounted on the inside heavy-duty rack, the J-10B can mount multiple 250 kg 100 kg laser-guided bombs through a composite rack, greatly increasing the bomb load.
The J-10B retains the J-10A full-motion canard-wing layout that takes into account subsonic and transonic maneuvers, high agility, and good supersonic interception combat capabilities. It uses advanced phased array radar and infrared photoelectric systems to fully upgrade. The electronic countermeasure system has been fully optimized in the design of the air intake. At the same time, the fuselage structure has been optimized and strengthened to increase the weapon's ability to mount. Through these improvement measures, the J-10B makes up for the performance shortcomings of the J-10A, further exerts the performance characteristics of the overall design scheme of the J-10 fighter, completes the transition from air-based to multi-purpose fighter, and comprehensively improves comprehensive combat capabilities.
A J-10B demonstrator fighter aircraft powered by a China-made thrust-vectoring WS-10 Taihang engine produced a collective "wow" from the Airshow China 2018 audience. It made a series of impressive maneuvers, including Pugachev's Cobra, a dramatic and demanding maneuver in which an airplane flying at a moderate speed suddenly raises the nose momentarily to slightly beyond the vertical position before dropping to a normal horizontal flight. It uses engine thrust to maintain a near constant altitude throughout the entire move. The maneuver is named after the Soviet test pilot Viktor Pugachev, who performed it with a Su-27 fighter jet in 1989 at the Le Bourget Paris air show. The J-10B is the world's first single-engine canard wing fighter jet to perform the Pugachev's Cobra maneuver.
A PLA Air Force Lieutenant Colonel surnamed Zhang said that "in the past, the engine was a well-known weakness of Chinese fighter jets, since we relied heavily on imports, but the J-10B proves that China can build first-class, thrust-vectoring engines to power our advanced fighters." If close-combat between fighter jets still exists in the future, high-quality thrust-vectoring engines will bring a significant advantage, Zhang noted. Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, said that the J-10B is a demonstrator aircraft with a highly important mission as it's not only testing the thrust-vectoring WS-10 Taihang engine for J-10B, but also testing it for J-20A, an aircraft that is in development and yet to be revealed and is more advanced than the J-20.
In the improvement of the J-10B, was not only see the birth of an improved fighter with significantly improved performance, but more importantly, all-round progress in the fields of aerodynamic design, airborne radar, avionics and material systems. These technological advances will also be applied to the development and improvement of other new fighters, which is beneficial to the overall improvement of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Air Force.
Because of the rapid progress of China's aviation technology, the J-10B fighter aircraft was only produced after 50 aircraft were announced to suspend production and complete their transition mission. Instead, developed on the basis of the J-10B, the J-10C was further improved in all aspects of technology. Judging from the continuous production equipment of the J-10C fighter jets, the Chinese Air Force is relatively satisfied with its performance.
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