J-10 was exposed. The back of the machine is as high as a spine, which has attracted great attention at home and abroad. According to India's "Eurasia Times", a brand new J-10 fighter recently appeared at the Chengdu Aircraft Test Field.
Note: Eurasia Times reported
Unlike previous J-10s with smooth body curves, the J-10 in the photo has an obvious bulge on the back, extending from the rear of the cockpit to the tail. Since the body structure is completely different from the previous J-10 series fighters, this aircraft is also temporarily called "J-10D" by netizens.
Note: The exposed J-10 fighter has obvious features on the back
As expected, this photo has aroused heated discussions as soon as it was exposed. Many people are speculating whether the J-10D will transform from an air superiority aircraft into a multi-purpose fighter. . Because before the appearance of the J-10D, there was already an aircraft that improved its multi-purpose combat capabilities by increasing the back of the aircraft. This is the American F-16D Block 52 fighter jet.
Caption: US F-16D Block 52 fighter jet Caption: US F-16D Block 52 fighter jet
Like the J-10D exposed this time, the biggest feature of the US F-16D Block 52 is also the high bulge. back. Although the added back destroys the aerodynamic shape of the fuselage, it also adds about 850 liters of internal space to the fuselage, which allows the Block 52 to carry more fuel and electronic equipment, greatly improving the aircraft's multi-purpose combat capabilities. By analogy, the J-10D that adopts similar changes will naturally have the potential to develop into an all-rounder on the battlefield.
However, judging from the information disclosed so far, the J-10D may not be a multi-purpose fighter like the F-16D Block52.
The reason why the United States will continue to improve the multi-purpose combat capabilities of F-16 is not because the United States needs to use F-16 to attack the ground, but because other countries need it. As one of the most exported fighter jets from the United States, the F-16 is the main fighter for most NATO countries. The air force of these countries is small in scale and often requires one aircraft to take care of various tasks at the same time. Therefore, there is a high demand for the F-16's multi-purpose combat capabilities.
Note: The Israeli F-16D is mainly responsible for ground attack. In contrast, the Chinese Air Force has a relatively complete combat system, with J-16 and JH-7A models that specialize in ground attack missions. , there is no need to develop a multi-purpose combat model of the J-10. After all, no matter how many bombs the J-10 has, can it have as many bombs as the J-16?
What's more, the F-16D Block52 is a two-seater aircraft with a professional weapons operator in the back seat to perform ground attacks. The J-10D is still a single-seat aircraft. Although it also has the ability to conduct ground attacks, its efficiency is definitely not as good as that of a two-seat aircraft.
Taking all things into consideration, the J-10D is most likely still an air superiority fighter, but a fighter that has greatly improved its electronic countermeasures capabilities and is even capable of conducting a certain degree of electronic warfare .
Because in modern warfare, non-stealth fourth-generation aircraft still occupy a dominant position, future air combat will still be a small number of fifth-generation aircraft paired with a large number of fourth-generation aircraft. However, as the air defense system continues to be upgraded and can even pose a threat to fifth-generation aircraft, the battlefield survivability of fourth-generation aircraft has reached a level that cannot be lower. If you want fourth-generation aircraft to survive in modern air combat, the best way is to use electronic warfare aircraft to interfere with or destroy the enemy's air defense network, making it unable to operate normally.
Illustration: The J-16D electronic warfare aircraft has excellent performance but is also very expensive.
However, professional electronic warfare aircraft are expensive, even more expensive than fifth-generation aircraft, and it is impossible to equip them on a large scale. Therefore, the People's Liberation Army has every reason to develop an aircraft that is cheaper than professional electronic warfare aircraft and has slightly worse performance but is sufficient to protect itself.
Of course, these are just speculations. What is the real purpose of the J-10D still needs to be answered by the official. Maybe even the code name "J-10D" will be wrong in the end.
However, we can also see from the exposure of the J-10D that the Chinese Air Force already has enough room to explore new development paths. I believe that in the near future, we will see more J-10 derivatives, and like the F -16 spreads its branches to the whole world.
