J-20 and Other News from Zhuhai Air Show 2016

China made it official this week that J-20 is coming to Zhuhai air show. All of this is quite interesting when one compares this to how long before J-10 made its first visit to Zhuhai Air Show. Clearly, China has taken a more confident and transparent approach in its military programs in the past 10 years. At this point, J-20 has started Low rate initial production batches, but has yet to achieve IOC. To that end, AVIC must be confident enough in the progress of flight-testing program to allow J-20 to appear in China’s most prominent aerospace exhibition.

A couple of years ago, PAK-FA had an epic failure when one of the prototypes had fire damage while delivering a flight performance in front of IAF officials. Certainly, the pilots were most likely instructed to put on a show to impress PAK-FA’s largest export client, but the aircraft was also clearly not up to task. The result of that embarrassing incident was extensive delays in the flight-testing program while that prototype was getting repaired. More recently, Russia finally officially adjusted the initial induction of PAK-FA to 2018. It had been obvious for quite a long time that they were not going to make end of 2016, since the fixed up prototype and new prototypes have just recently surfaced. I have not kept up to the progress of J-20 units, but it seems like the first LRIP frames may have already arrived at FTTC. FTTC should very soon start training with this new aircraft. IOC may be achieved by late next year. Of course, engine remains to be a major concern for the J-20 program. It’s still not known at this point what is powering aircraft. It would seem to be a special variant of AL-31FN, but this will be an interim solution until WS-15 is ready. At its induction, J-20 will be quite underpowered.

J-20 Black Eagle

Aside from J-20, other big-ticket items like J-10B, KJ-500, Y-20, Z-10K and H-6K will all be physically displayed in the air show. Since a real J-10B came, the serial number was finally allowed to show. Maybe after this appearance, China will allow J-10B pictures to be published without the serial numbers photoshoped. Zhuhai air show has traditionally been an occasion for China to show its latest UAV and missiles (many of which are still in conceptual stage). It will certainly be the case again this time around. While we have already seen well know UAVs like CH-5 and Wing Loong-2, we are also seeing new concepts that could very well make their mark in the export market. The latest one we saw is Cloud Shadow UAV which looks a lot like SkyWing UAVs that have already test flied.

Finally, a recent national day parade in Turkmenistan showed that all of its SAMs, missiles, radar systems and UAVs are all imported from China. All of this is quite unexpected since Turkmenistan has traditionally been under the overwhelming presence and influence of Russia. At this point, China is clearly making inroads against Russia in many export markets.

China, Pakistan to deploy warships to safeguard Gwadar port

China will deploy its naval vessels in coordination with the Pakistan Navy to safeguard the Gwadar port in Balochistan and trade under a bilateral trade corridor, according to a media report on Friday.

Besides the joint deployment of warships, Pakistan is considering the purchase of super-fast vessels from China and Turkey for a special squadron to be positioned at Gwadar to secure the deep sea port, an unnamed Pakistan Navy official was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

“A squadron may have four to six warships,” the official said on the sidelines of the IDEAS 2016 defence exhibition in Karachi.

The super-fast vessels would be “bought soon” in view of their immediate need in the fleet and two warships had already been deployed at Gwadar, the official said.

The role of Pakistan’s maritime forces had increased since the country made Gwadar operational and expedited up economic activities under the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the official said.


India has for long expressed concerns about the Chinese Navy’s involvement in the Gwadar port, which is at the heart of the CPEC.

The Tribune quoted another unnamed naval official as saying that Pakistan has kicked off the process of establishing the region’s largest shipyard at Gwadar. A similar ship-building project is being considered for Port Qasim in Karachi.

The two advanced shipyards will design and develop ships and other security equipment for the Pakistan Navy.

“The existing shipyard, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, lacks capacity to meet new requirements of the force. Its (PNSC) performance, however, would improve in competition with the two under consideration,” he said.

Pakistan and France sign MoU on technical collaboration for JF-17 Thunder

KARACHI: Pakistan Air Force signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a French company on technical collaboration in production of JF-17 Thunder jets during the ongoing IDEAS 2016 defence expo on Thursday.

As per the MoU, the French company will provide technical assistance to Pakistan Air Force for electrification of JF-17 Thunder jets.

Air Commodore Waqar Haider signed the said MoU with the French company.

Earlier at the expo Pakistan also signed an agreement with Turkey to sell 52 Super Mushak basic trainers and is preparing Super Mushak jets for Nigeria and Qatar.

Vixen-1000E AESA with IRST showcased at IDEAS 2016 at Karachi

At IDEAS 2016 Leonardo showcases its Vixen 1000E with IFF and SkyWard.
Vixen 1000E is a high performance AESA radar designed for fighter/interceptor aircraft building on over 60 years of Selex ES’s fire control radar experience. At IDEAS 2016, Leonardo showcases the Vixen 1000E radar coupled with the company's SkyWard infrared search & track system and the Selex ES SIT426 Active Electronically Scanned Identification Friend-or-Foe (E-Scan IFF).

Vixen 1000E features an innovative roll-repositionable AESA antenna to provide a full ±100º field of regard allowing maximum situational awareness and platform survivability. This Wide Field of Regard (WFoR) allows the aircraft to turn away after missile launch, whilst still maintaining datalinks to the missile.

The AESA antenna is coupled to fully digital multi-channel exciter/receiver and processor Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). These provide a comprehensive mode suite which includes air-to-air, air-to-surface, interleaved and support functions, which can be readily adapted or extended in software to meet future needs.

Vixen 1000E

The SkyWard is an Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system. It has been designed and developed to satisfy the more demanding requirements of 5th generation fighter aircraft with an embedded solution. A pod configuration is also available to allow easy installation on existing platforms. It comprises two Line Replaceable Units (LRU) - a Sensor Head Unit (SHU) and a Processor Unit (PU).

The Selex ES SIT426 Active Electronically Scanned Identification Friend-or-Foe (E-Scan IFF) Interrogator is a state-of-the-art solution, which allows effective exploitation of the new capabilities offered by next-generation AESA radars, such as the SELEX Galileo Raven.

Pakistan's New Chinese Submarines will likely carry Nuclear-Capable CJ-10K LACMs

In a brief report published by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, a Pakistani-government-funded think tank, more details of Pakistan's new Chinese submarines have been disclosed. The report also assesses Pakistan's pursuit of developing nuclear submarine and desire to acquire ASW capability.

Excerpts:

To counter Indian naval buildup, Pakistan agreed to purchase eight new submarines
from China in March 2015, which will be equipped with a Stirling-cycle Air-independent propulsion (AIP)system and will be able to carry up to three nuclear warhead-carrying CJ-10K land attack cruise missiles (LACMs) each.

It has been assessed that Pakistan’s nuclear submarine is likely to be based on the Qing
Class Chinese SSK (diesel-electric submarine). Highly advanced electric propulsion system of Qing Class Chinese SSK will enable Pakistan to replace diesel engine power generation with a nuclear power plant.

In 2014-2015, Pakistan signed an agreement with a German firm “Rheinland Air Service (RAS)” to upgrade two Pakistan Navy-regional air transport (ATR-72s) into maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. According to the Ministry of Defence Production, these ATR-72s will be ready for Pakistan by 2017-2018. Furthermore, it is possible that a third ATR-72 will ultimately be sent for conversion, especially since the platform is considered a key part of the Navy’s Aviation Vision 2030 plan.

China to Get 4 Su-35 Fighter Jets from Russia in 2016 and They Will Study the AL-117S Engine

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Air Force (PLAAF) is slated to receive the first four out of 24 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai, a federal subject located in the Russian Far East, said in a speech during the opening of a new aircraft production plan on September 15, according to local media reports.

From 2016 to 2018 the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production plant will deliver 24 Su-35 combat aircraft to China, the governor said.

The Su-35 (NATO reporting name: Flanker-E) is a Fourth++ generation, twin-engine, highly maneuverable multirole fighter jet powered by two AL-117S turbofan engines. The Russian aircraft’s powerful turbofan engine is also the most likely reason why China is interested in acquiring Su-35 fighters

 AL-117S Engine

The most advanced Chinese-made military turbofan currently in use is the WS-10, which, however, also underperforms, according to some reports

The izdeliye 117S (AL-41F1S) is an upgrade of the AL-31F that uses technology from the AL-41F. The engine produces 142 kN (32,000 lb) of thrust in afterburner and 86.3 kN (19,400 lb) dry. It features a fan 3% larger in diameter (932 millimetres (36.7 in) versus 905 millimetres (35.6 in)), advanced high- and low-pressure turbines, an all-new digital control system, and provisions for thrust-vectoring nozzles similar to the AL-31FP.

French DCNS in Indian Scorpene Submarine Leak Scandal

A massive leak of documents containing top-secret technical details of the Indian Navy’s Scorpene-class submarines has hit the French defense company DCNS which is set to build new Australian submarines.

The documents, first revealed by The Australian, contain 22,400 pages and detail secret combat capabilities of the six Indian Navy submarines designed by DCNS.

The Indian government said available information was being examined by the country’s Ministry of Defence noting that that the source of leak appeared to be from overseas and not from India.

While The Australian decided to edit sensitive information from the documents showing only a small portion of them, the news site said the documents revealed everything related to the submarine’s underwater and above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and communication and navigation systems.

Indian Scorpene submarine

This scandal is likely to cause concerns in Australia since DCNS won a AU$$50 billion contract to build a fleet of new submarines for the Australian navy in April.

Even before the scandal, U.S. officials have been reported as saying that the U.S. feared the French defence contractor DCNS, who would be building the submarines, would leak confidential information about the U.S. technology that would be fitted on the subs.

Seeking to reassure Australia of the confidentiality of its submarine program, DCNS appeared to be blaming India for the leak.

“Multiple and independent controls exist within DCNS to prevent unauthorised access to data and all data movements are encrypted and recorded. In the case of India, where a DCNS design is built by a local company, DCNS is the provider and not the controller of technical data. In the case of Australia, and unlike India, DCNS is both the provider and in-country controller of technical data for the full chain of transmission and usage over the life of the submarines,” DCNS was quoted as saying by The Australian.