Chengdu (AVIC) J-10 (Vigorous Dragon)

Multirole 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft

China | 2005

"The Chengdu J-10 fighter program was denied by China up until early 2007 though the program may have evolved through developments begun in the late 1970s."

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Chengdu J-10A Multirole 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft.

1 x Woshan WS-10A Taihang OR Saturn Lyulka AL-31FN afterburning turbofan engine developing 29,101lb of thrust with afterburning.
Propulsion

1,452 mph
2,336 kph | 1,261 kts
Max Speed

65,617 ft
20,000 m | 12 miles
Service Ceiling

1,118 miles
1,800 km | 972 nm
Operational Range

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Chengdu J-10A Multirole 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft.

1
(MANNED)
Crew

50.9 ft
15.50 m
O/A Length

31.8 ft
(9.70 m)
O/A Width

15.7 ft
(4.78 m)
O/A Height

21,451 lb
(9,730 kg)
Empty Weight

40,786 lb
(18,500 kg)
MTOW

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Chengdu (AVIC) J-10 (Vigorous Dragon) Multirole 4th Generation Fighter Aircraft provided across 11 hardpoints.

STANDARD:
1 x 23mm Type 23-2 internal automatic twin-barreled cannon.

Up to 9,900lb of external ordnance across 11 hardpoints (six underwing, five underfuselage).

SUPPORTED ORDNANCE:
PL-8, PL-9, PL-11, PL-12, and PL-15 Air-to-Air Missiles (AAMs).
PJ-9 and YJ-9K Air-to-Surface Missiles (ASMs).
LT-2 Laser-Guided Bombs (LGBs).
LS-6 glide bombs.
90mm Rocket Pods (unguided).
Conventional Drop Bombs.

OPTIONAL:
2 x 212 gallon drop tanks (underwing) and 1 x 450 gallon drop tank (centerline).

X

Hardpoints Key:

Centerline

Wingroot(L)

Wingroot(R)

Wing

Wingtip

Internal

Not Used

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Chengdu (AVIC) J-10 (Vigorous Dragon) family line.

J-10 (Aircraft 01) - Prototype; Base Series Designation.

Prototype 06 - Prototype model for inflight refueling tests.

Aircraft 05 - Preproduction Model for operational testing.

J-10A "Vigorous Dragon" - Single-Seat Multirole fighter.

J-10B "Super-10" - Twin-engine navy-based variant; features stealth capabilities and thrust-vector control.

J-10C - Improved J-10B; AESA radar set; IR missile support.

J-10CE (FC-20E) - Export J-10C.

J-10AY - Two-Seat Model.

F-10A "Vanguard" - Pakistani Designation for single-seat J-10A model.

F-10B "Vanguard" - Pakistani Designation for two-seat trainer variant.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 10/03/2023 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The Chengdu Jian-J10 (also "J-10" and "Annihilator" but known to the West as "Vigorous Dragon") was originally designed as an air-superiority fighter for China but was later revised to become an all-weather, day/night multirole fighter in much the same vein as the lightweight General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and similar Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum. The J-10 was developed from the now-defunct J-9 attempt and made her maiden flight on March 22nd/23rd, 1998 with introduction into the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 2005. Production began in 2003 and continues as of this writing (2012). The only other known operator of the system is the Chinese Air Force though Pakistan has been interested in procuring the type in squadron-strength numbers.

The J-10 is thought to be a highly-developed Israeli IAI Lavi fighter with Russian-inspired turbofan engines - hence the correlation in many-a-publication of direct (and indirect) Israeli and Russian involvement in the J-10 program. Unlike the Lavi, however, the J-10 does not make use of wingtip pylons for air-to-air missiles.

Development

With funding in place several years before actual development of the aircraft began, the official call from above came in the form of Project 8610 - the requirement for an indigenous Chinese air superiority fighter to combat similar fourth generation systems in Russia and the West. The J-10 program gathered steam in 1986 under the guise of the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute. While the J-10 was indeed developed as the required air superiority fighter, the close of the Cold War saw to it that she be revised more in the form of a multirole performer - capable of tangling with air-to-air targets as well as engaging land-based targets without much loss in overall performance.

The Israeli Lavi was developed as a multirole fighter for the Israeli Air Force in the 1980's. Though the program was ultimately cancelled, the constructed prototypes went on to see a serviceable life as technology demonstrators for various other flight programs to test avionics and applicable flight systems. It is believed that Israeli involvement in the Chinese program culminated in a similar-looking airframe with multirole capability in the J-10.

Project 8610 is believed to have begun sometime in the mid-1980's. Six prototypes were ultimately constructed and first flown on March 22nd/23rd (depending on the source) 1998 by test pilot Lei Quiang. The flight lasted all but 20 minutes. One prototype was lost in a fly-by-wire incident to which the Chinese government initially denied had happened. Development of the J-10 constituted several phases including aerodynamic testing and live-fire exercises. The J-10 flew as advertized and was actually proven to be a more capable airframe that at first realized. Six production examples soon followed the prototypes. From there, after some 18 years of total development time, the J-10 culminated in an official clearance for operational service and was delivered to the PLAAF in 2004 after spending some time as part of a test regiment squadron during 2003. The aircraft was officially introduced in 2005, unveiling nearly two decades of secrecy and denials by the Chinese government, and solidified the Chinese nation as a premier developer of air arms for the foreseeable future. Some 100 production examples were delivered to the People's Liberation Army Air Force from 2004 into 2006 and current totals of this aircraft in the Chinese inventory range from 120 to 160 examples with some 300 believed to be required. Production has been handled by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAIC), overseers of the firm that designed the J-10.

Engine

The J-10 was originally designed around an indigenous Chinese powerplant designated as the WP-15, a turbojet type engine. Support for the engine project was eventually dropped so the Chinese found a solution in the Russian-made Salyut AL-31F turbofan as a comparable replacement. China had long established a history of arms dealings with the Soviets (and now Russians) and had grown a legacy of purchasing systems and subsystems and re-engineering others to suit their liking. The Russian engine featured a thrust output of up to 27,557 with full afterburning and was essentially a specially-modified version of the AL-31F series that has powered the successful line of Sukhoi Flanker family multirole and air-superiority fighters (beginning with the Su-27 "Flanker") so it came as an already- proven powerplant system for the J-10 program.

While the Russian engine selection has proven successful for early J-10s, the Chinese have once-again taken to develop their own in-house engine with the WS-10A. Though a little larger and lower-rated than the Russian AL-31 series, the 24,729lb thrust (with full afterburn) is a capable propulsion system that makes marketing the J-10 to foreign air forces that much easier for the Chinese (as opposed to receiving clearance from the Russians in re-selling the J-10 with Russian technology). Fiscally and production-wise, it makes complete sense.

General Performance

The J-10 is rated as a Mach 2.2-capable fighter platform when at altitude putting it on par with Western types. The airframe can sustain up to 9 positive and -3 Gs. Maximum range is limited to an impressive 2,113 miles, this without droptanks or in-flight refueling (accomplished via a probe) while a service ceiling of 65,600 feet is reported.

Walk-Around

The J-10 makes use of a "tail-less" delta wing configuration (with forward situated canards) meaning that the planform does away with the conventional horizontal stabilizers common on other aircraft. The delta wings are low-mounted monoplanes with gradual sweep back that run along more than half the length of the fuselage sides. Ventral strake-type fins are added at the main wing bases to the extreme end of the fuselage. The fuselage itself is quite tubular in appearance when view in forward profile and comes complete with a conical nose (housing the radar array) assembly fitted just forward and below the high-mounted cockpit.

The cockpit offers excellent vision at all degrees (with the possible exception of the "six" area due to the semi-raised fuselage spine - made worse in the two-seat trainer model) and features a two-piece curved canopy hinged at the rear. Entry to the cockpit is standardized from the portside via a ground-based step ladder. In the two-seat J-10, an instructor occupies a raised rear cockpit position seeing over and past the student's forward cockpit position. The entire cockpit area is therefore lengthened and both crew sit under a longer, two-piece canopy hinged at rear with a heightened dorsal spine for the additional avionics needed in the second cockpit. The pilot controls the J-10 through a conventional HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle and Stick) arrangement and sits in a "zero-zero" ejection seat - allowing for powered ejections at "zero" speeds and at "zero" altitudes for ultimate safety. The cockpit is dominated by three large liquid crystal multi-function displays (MFD) that help de-cluster the instrument panel while aiding in the pilot's workload.

Canards (smallish wing-type implements) are fitted to either side, aft and below the cockpit- and add forward stability. The forward fuselage elegantly contours into the base of the single large-area vertical tail fin adorning the empennage. The lack of horizontal planes on the tail mean that the main wing assemblies straddle either side of the engine exhaust at rear. A static fuel probe is situated to the forward starboard side of the fuselage. Construction of the fuselage includes use of composite materials throughout.

One of the more distinct design elements of the J-10 is the rectangular under-fuselage intake opening feeding the single engine (ala the General Dynamics F-16, an aircraft the Israelis have much experience in working with). The intake forces the forward fuselage to be elevated to some extent, giving the J-10 its unique "raised" profile when at rest. The undercarriage is of a conventional tricycle arrangement made up of two single-wheeled main legs and a two-wheeled nose leg. The nose landing gear is fitted under and aft of the intake opening and retracts backwards in a housing. The main landing gear legs retract in a forward fashion along the sides of the fuselage at about amidships.

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Inherent Instability

Due to the nature of the J-10s unique wing layout and fuselage design, she remains an inherently unstable airframe, relying largely on fast-processing digital computers through fly-by-wire technology. This supplies system redundancy and assistance to the pilot in the form of stabilizing an unruly airframe through a given maneuver while preventing the aircraft from entering into potentially fatalspins or stalls. As in late-generation aircraft of other global air forces, the J-10 features an extensive fly-by-wire suite allowing for quick-response agility. The system is said to be of Chinese origin but may have had influence from an Israeli design.

Armament

While standard armament for the J-10 is a twin-barrel Type 23-3 23mm cannon (offset to port under the intake near the nose landing gear) the bread and butter of any multirole aircraft is in its ability to field a wide variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground stores. The J-10 makes use of no fewer than eleven hardpoints (emplacements along the airframe cleared for munitions mounting) made up of six underwing (three to a wing) and five under-fuselage positions. The five underfuselage positions include a centerline hardpoint, a pair of forward-mounted hardpoints (near the intake opening) and a pair of aft-mounted hardpoints (about mid-fuselage) all centered around the external structure that makes up the intake assembly. Total munitions load has a reported limitation of up to 9,900lbs.

In the air-to-air mode, the J-10 can make use of the PL-8, PL-9, PL-11 or PL-12 line of short- and medium-range air-to-air missiles. The PL-8 is a dual air-to-air/air-to-ground solution and based off of the Israeli Python 3. The PL-9 is a short-range air-to-air missile with infra-red homing capability that can exceed speeds of Mach 3.0. The PL-12 is a "beyond visual range" (BVR) medium-range air-to-air missile comparable to the American AIM-120 AMRAAM.

Air-to-surface weaponry is provided for by way of the PJ-9 and YJ-9K missiles. Conventional munitions are composed of general air-to-surface rocket pods (90mm caliber), laser-guided smart bombs (such as the LT-2), glide bombs (the LS-6, a satellite-guided munition) and traditional drop bombs of varying sizes (250kg to 500kg).

In addition to arms, the J-10 can sport up to 3 x external jettisonable fuel tanks for increased operational ranges. One such implement is carried along the centerline fuselage (about 450 gallons) whilst the other two can be fitted on cleared underwing hardpoints (212 gallons each).

External Help

In addition to mounting destructive weaponry across its 11 hardpoints, the J-10 can also field several avionics pods to help along in any given sortie. This includes the FILAT (Forward-looking, Infra-red Laser Attack Targeting) pod, the Blue Sky navigation/attack pod, the BM/KG300G jamming pod, the KZ900 electronic reconnaissance pod and the Type Hongguang infra-red search and track pod. The BM/KG300G is of indigenous origin and primarily serves to combat all types of airborne and land-based pulse Doppler radar systems. The KZ900 is a relatively recent addition (late 1990s) to the Chinese military and is a fully-automatic reconnaissance pod designed to collect radar signals and provide for real-time order-of-battle. Blue Sky is thought to be based on Western design after China received such a system by way of Saddam Hussein after claiming a downed Allied aircraft in the Gulf War. FILAT is thought to be the Chinese equivalent of the Western AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod.

Tracking Eyes Want to Know

The J-10 makes use of a multi-target tracking and engagement suite. The fire-control system is of an indigenous design and features a radar system capable of tracking up to 10 targets simultaneously with multiple target engagement possible depending on the missile seeker type (two targets when using a semi-active radar homing and four targets when using an active radar-homing air-to-air missile). Its complexity and technical nature are believed to be on par with that as found on Western-type fourth generation fighters.

J-10s Over Pakistan

The Pakistani Air Force will designate their J-10 fighters as the FC-20 "Vanguard". At least 36 FC-20s are known to have been purchased beginning in 2006 with deliveries commencing in 2009. Pakistan has already made clear their intent to purchase additional FC-20s in the near future, no doubt escalating tensions with neighboring India but at the same time modernizing its air force. The FC-20 will be fielded alongside the Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 "Thunder" development which has already entered service with the Pakistani Air Force (2012). Pakistan may procure as many as 150 FC-20 fighters.

Hands in the Cookie Jar

It is suspected that Israel and Russia both played a part in the development of the J-10 to which China has repeatedly denied, claiming it as an all-indigenous fighter design. Several sources claim otherwise, however, and associated the J-10 directly to the cancelled Israeli IAI Lavi with the Russians assisting in a "scientific" nature. As the J-10 originally fitted Russian AL-31 engines, consent was needed from the Russians before the J-10 could actually be sold to foreign markets. These claims more than likely ring true - despite the denials - when considering the arms embargo placed upon China by the US and European Union in the 1990s. Money talks.

Known Variants

The J-10 has been developed into a handful of variants. The J-10A remains the principle single-seat multirole aircraft platform and is marketed under the designation of F-10A on the export stage. The J-10S is the two-seat version suitable for training J-10 pilots-to-be yet they retain the full ground strike capabilities of the base J-10A multirole fighter. The J-10B is thought to be an upgraded version of the base J-10 and feature a distinctly redesigned intake opening, revised ventral fins and a redesigned vertical tail as well as an integrated infra-red search and track sensor. A new nose assembly is also reportedly housing an all-new radar suite.

Conclusion

While the J-10 is more or less just starting to take hold in the Chinese Air Force (260 have been delivered), it is expected that the system will live on for some time through modernization programs and improvements to its underlying systems. At least on paper, she remains a lethal 4th Generation adversary that would surely be called upon to action in a time of war. Her numbers should only increase in strength within time and form a major part of the Chinese air arm for the near future.

Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.

January 2014 - The J-10B production model is the first Chinese fighter aircraft to incorporate Active, Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) radar. This is the same radar type fitted to American F-15 Eagles and F-22 Raptors - the only American aircraft to feature AESA.

November 2018 - A J-10B test aircraft equipped with Thrust-Vectoring Control (TVC) was publicly debuted at Zhuhai.

February 2020 - The J-10A made its debut at the Singapore Air Show.

June 2020 - China has begun equipping its J-10 fleet with the new PL-15 active, radar-guided very-long-range air-to-air missile.

February 2022 - Chinese social media has published pictures of a J-10CE in Pakistan Air Force colors, making Pakistan the first export customer of the aircraft. The J-10CE is the export model of the J-10C, which itself is an improved J-10B variant.

March 2022 - The Pakistan Air Force has officially revealed its new J-10C variant fighter.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Chengdu (AVIC) J-10 (Vigorous Dragon). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 350 Units
Contractor(s): Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAIC) / Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) - China

[ China; Pakistan (FC-20) ]

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Image of the Chengdu (AVIC) J-10 (Vigorous Dragon)

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

2 / 10

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

3 / 10

Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense.

4 / 10

Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense.

5 / 10

Image from the Chinese Ministry of Defense.

6 / 10

Image copyright www.MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.

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Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

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Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

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Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

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Image showcasing an early-form J-10 fighter jet.

❮ ❯

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