J-11BG Flanker-L with AESA
The J-11B is less advanced than other Chinese fighters like the J-20, and some military observers said the J-11B's radar could be outdated in a way that it cannot see far enough what the PL-15 can hit at maximum range. China reportedly developed a new variant of the J-11B fighter jet with new radar that can see farther and enable long-range missile use, a move that will significantly boost the Chinese Air Force's capability, military experts said on 05 November 2019. The fighter jet was seen in a China Central Television (CCTV) report on the upcoming 70th founding anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force. It was participating in a systematic combat drill at a desert, CCTV said, without elaborating.
Unlike other J-11Bs that serve in the PLA Air Force, which have black radar domes (radome), this particular J-11B has a white one, suggesting it is equipped with a new type of radar, reported Weihutang, a column on military affairs affiliated with CCTV. "The reported new radar is likely an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, which has longer detection capabilities, can better identify targets and enable the use of long-range air-to-air weapons," Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times, noting that the Su-27, from which the J-11B was developed, uses mechanically scanned radar that has low detection distance and scan speed. This will also allow the J-11B to conduct a wider variety of missions, including reconnaissance over sky, sea and land, Wang said.
A J-11B was spotted in early 2019 carrying what seemed to be a powerful PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile. Military observers said back then the advanced missile's range is longer than the detection range of the fighter's outdated radar, so the fighter might have to rely on data from other warplanes, like early warning aircraft, to target its enemies. But with the new radar, the J-11B variant could launch a PL-15 at maximum efficiency on its own, analysts said.
The J-11B variant's participation in a military drill means it could have joined military service, or it is also possible that it was conducting a test or evaluation on its capabilities, Wang said. If China's vast fleet of J-11s can be outfitted with AESA radars, it will significantly boost the PLA Air Force's overall combat capability, Wang said.
After solving the problems of poor reliability and low dispatch rate in the initial stage, the J-11B began to mature around 2014 and became the main force of my country's current air superiority fighters. In recent air force gold helmet competitions, the troops using the J-11B have become the major players in the gold helmet, and the J-11B has gradually overwhelmed the J-10 series in the competition. The J-11B also performed well when carrying out prevention and control patrol missions.
It is worth mentioning that after the production of the J-11B was stopped for a period of time, the production of the seventh batch was re-started in 2018, which was mainly used for the establishment vacancies after the air force division was converted into a brigade.
The improved J-11B entered mass production in 2020. Experts said that this type of heavy fighter may have received an upgrade to a radar system that could increase situational awareness. AVIC announced on its Sina Weibo account that on 18 December 2020, Shenyang Aircraft Co., Ltd. completed all the test flight tasks of the annual scientific research and batch production aircraft ahead of schedule. A photo posted on AVIC's Weibo account shows a J-11B fighter jet with a white radome, according to CCTV's military program Weihutang. The report noted that the radomes used by most J-11B fighters were black.
While the Air Force has seen some J-11Bs with white radomes in recent reports, it's unclear if they're temporary paint or part of a technology demonstration. Weihutang said that since AVIC stated that the aircraft was in mass production for scientific research, it meant that the upgraded version of the J-11B with the white radome was confirmed to have entered mass production. It is not known what improvements this new J-11B variant has received, but analysts say it could be equipped with an advanced active phased array (AESA) radar to replace the previous pulsed Doppler radar.
The airborne radar originally used by the J-11B fighter jet is a domestic pulse Doppler radar, which is also a radar system commonly used by standard fourth-generation aircraft. Compared with the pulse Doppler radar, the active phased array radar uses a new System and structure, through the use of new antenna units composed of thousands of T/R components, the multi-task performance that pulse Doppler radar does not have is realized. Different antenna units can perform multiple different tasks at the same time, so that the aircraft has outstanding multitasking ability.
At the same time, compared with pulsed Doppler radar, the active phased array radar has a significant increase in radar power, and the effective detection, tracking and locking distance of the target is greatly increased, which doubles the target detection distance of the fighter and improves situational awareness. Ability and long-range engagement capabilities have been significantly improved.
It had been widely speculated that the color change to the radar dome indicates that the J-11B has received an upgrade to its radar, possibly switching from the old pulse Doppler radar to the new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. This, together with other changes, will allow the upgraded J-11B to enjoy a longer detection range, identify more targets and enable the use of more advanced weapons like the PL-10 short-range combat missile and the PL-15 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, Chinese analysts said.
Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times that China operates a large number of J-11B fighter jets, and their upgrades will significantly enhance the PLA's combat capability. The latest drills indicate that not only the Air Force, but also the Navy are getting the upgraded J-11B, observers said. The PLA Navy's J-11Bs are also getting China's domestically developed WS-10 engines. With the improvements, the fourth generation J-11B will reach a fourth-plus generation level, and remain in active service with high competitiveness for a long time, Chinese analysts said.
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