An aviation expert once said a fresh saying, "What kind of aircraft engine you have determines what kind of aircraft you can develop." That is, the development of an aircraft is determined by the engine. If you have a high-performance small bypass ratio turbofan engine, you can b

Introduction: Aero engines are known as the "jewel in the crown of the aviation industry", and they are an important part of determining the development direction of a country's aviation industry. An aviation expert once said a fresh saying, "What kind of aircraft engine you have determines what kind of aircraft you can develop." That is, the development of an aircraft is determined by the engine. If you have a high-performance small bypass ratio turbofan engine, you can create a single-engine medium fighter with excellent performance, or a twin-engine heavy fighter . If you have a large bypass ratio turbofan engine, you can create strategic transport aircraft, civil aviation passenger aircraft, strategic bombers, etc. with strong carrying capacity.

Aviation Engine

1. Development of China's turbofan 10Aviation Engine

Although my country is a major aviation country, its development in the aviation field has been lagging behind in the past few decades. The fundamental reason for this situation is that it has been lagging behind in the development of aircraft engines for a long time and is far from keeping up with the development and manufacturing process of aircraft. A simple example is the development of the J-10 fighter . At the beginning of its development, my country did not have an aircraft engine that could match it. At that time, China's relationship with the Soviet Union was still very delicate. Although it was still in the honeymoon period with European and American countries, it was always very cautious in the output of equipment, resulting in my country's no aircraft engine available when the J-10 fighter was launched in 1986, so it decided to adopt a plan to develop the engine and the aircraft simultaneously.

J-10 fighter

But as time goes by, after entering the 1990s, the problem of engine development not keeping up with the pace of aircraft was highlighted. According to the normal progress, the J-10 fighter has no engine available for its first flight, and the first flight will be delayed by at least about 10 years. This happened to Sino-Soviet/Russia relations. In order to alleviate the huge pressure faced by the Air Force, our country also negotiated with the Soviet Union on the introduction of the Su-27 "Flanker" fighter jet. Fortunately, it went smoothly. Although the Soviet Union did not agree to sell the Su-27 "Flanker" fighter jet at the beginning, it was only willing to provide the MiG-29 fighter jet . But China's attitude has always been very firm. As long as the Su-27 "Flanker" fighter jets are not needed, the MiG-29 fighter jets are not allowed. In the end, the Soviet Union decided to export the Su-27 "Flanker" fighter jets to China under the pressure of domestic economic pressure and international situation, which changed the development of China's aviation industry . While introducing the Su-27 "Flanker" fighter

Su-27 "Flanker" fighter, my country also proposed to import the same engine as the Su-27 fighter to be equipped on the J-10 fighter and accelerate the development process of the J-10 fighter. In 1992, China and Russia reached an agreement on engine development and improvement, requiring Russia to improve the AL31FN engine according to China's needs so that it can meet the design needs of the J-10 fighter. In order to adapt to the AL31FN engine, the fuselage of the J-10 fighter was also redesigned. In 1996, China and Russia officially signed a procurement agreement for the AL31FN engine. Russia began delivery in 1997. On March 23, 1998, the J-10 fighter equipped with the AL31FN engine successfully flew for the first time. This is the first third-generation fighter independently developed by China, which is of epoch-making historical significance.

J-10 A

equipped with AL31FN engine, and my country has not given up on the turbofan 10 engine, and continued to develop while obtaining the AL31FN engine. Adopt the "two-legged walking" method to promote the development of China's aviation industry. First, when the domestic turbofan 10 engine was unable to follow the development progress of the J-10 fighter, the Russian-made AL-31FN turbofan engine was used as an excessive solution to the first flight and equipment problems of the J-10 fighter; second, the development of the turbofan 10 engine will continue, and when it matures, it will completely replace the AL31FN engine and promote the development of China's aero engine, so as not to be delayed.

AL31FN engine

, and the turbofan 10 engine did not pass the initial life test assessment until 2005, marking the successful completion of all the assessment tests of the design and shaping of the engine. At this time, 20 years have passed since the establishment of the turbofan 10 engine.In the following years, the turbofan 10 engine was not equipped in large quantities, and only tested in small batches. The equipment models were mainly on the J-11B. Reliability and service life cannot meet the conditions for the Air Force to be equipped with a large number of equipment, and it has been delayed on the J-10 fighter. The main reason is that the J-10 fighter is a single-engine fighter and puts forward higher requirements for the reliability of the engine. Once the engine is parked in the air, will face the test of life and death, and the twin-engine heavy fighter is much less risky. When one engine is parked, as long as the other engine is still working, it can return smoothly.

AL31FN engine

2010 equipped with turbofan 10 engines was finalized and put into service, marking that the turbofan 10 engine officially entered the mass equipment stage, and in the following years, it was equipped on models such as J11B, J11D, J11BS, J11BH, J15, J16 and other models. But at this time, the turbofan 10 engine is still not up to standard in the eyes of in the Western countries. It is believed that the renovation cycle time of the turbofan 10 engine is only 30 hours, while the AF31FN engine in Russia is 400 hours. The gap with the United States is even greater and it is still facing the technical difficulties of material durability. Therefore, the turbofan 10 engine can only be equipped in small batches, constantly testing its reliability in practice, and constantly improving it to improve its service life and reliability. In the past 10 years, models such as turbofan 10B and turbofan 10C have been improved, and their reliability and durability have withstood the test.

J11 equipped with turbofan 10 was tested for

J16

, and on the equipment of J10, it was not until May 2021 that the latest J10C fighter replaced the modified turbofan 10B engine, marking the success of the development of the turbofan 10 engine, and can be fully replaced with all the main domestic models. The engine is no longer a stumbling block that restricts the development of China's aviation industry. In addition to their own use, the J-10CE fighter jet exported to Pakistani has also been replaced with a domestic turbofan 10C engine, which means that China's third-generation fighter jets and engines have officially gone abroad and have been recognized by customers. At this time, it was 35 years since the turbofan 10 was launched, and 23 years later than the first flight of the J-10. It can be seen that the engine development cycle is much longer than the development of the fighter.

Pakistan-procurement of J-10CE is equipped with turbofan 10B

Nowadays, even the domestic fifth-generation fighter J-20 "Veoron" has been fully equipped with a domestic turbofan 10C engine. Compared with turbofan 10A and turbofan 10B, the turbofan 10C engine has been reclassified to the engine's tail nozzle and adopt a serrated design to improve the stealth capability of the J-20 "Veoron" stealth fighter. Moreover, the thrust and reliability are higher than the former two, even surpassing Russia's AL31M2 engine (the engine is still under test, with a maximum thrust of 145 kN, which is also the model with the largest thrust in the family), and the maximum thrust of the turbofan 10C engine reached 147 kN.

The turbofan 10C

is equipped with the J-20, and the maximum thrust of AL31FN was 127 kiloN in the early stage, and the improved model was 137 kiloN. The maximum thrust of the turbofan 10B also reached 140 kN, both higher than the AL31FN engine. It is on the same level as the AL-41F1 (AL-31F improved version) equipped by Russia on the Su57 fighter . It can be seen that my country has achieved success in the development of aircraft engines, and the situation of being controlled by others will become history.

2. What level is the turbofan 10C in the world

According to the published data, the strongest turbofan 10C model in the turbofan 10 family, this engine belongs to the main engine currently equipped by the J-20 "Weilong" stealth fighter, with a maximum thrust of 147 kiloN, about 15 tons. Let’s compare the HP F135 engine equipped with the US F35 "Lightning" stealth fighter, the Saturn AL41F3 engine equipped with the Russian Su-57 stealth fighter (not only the 30 engine), and the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine equipped with the US F22 "Raptor" stealth fighter, and see what level the J-20 "Veoron" stealth fighter is equipped with the turbofan 10C in the engines equipped with these fifth-generation aircraft and how big the gap is.We all know that among the 4S logo of the fifth-generation aircraft, a very important indicator is the supersonic cruise capability. In order to have supersonic cruise capabilities, it puts very high requirements on the thrust of the engine. Therefore, it is crucial to the engine equipped with fifth-generation engines.

J-20 is equipped with the turbofan 10C

①F35 "Lightning" stealth fighter equipped with the Puhui F135 engine. There are three models of the engine, namely Puhui F135-PW-100, Puhui F135-PW-600 and Puhui F135-PW-400. The equipment models are F35A, F35B and F35C respectively. Different models are equipped with different engines. Among them, the largest thrust is the F135-PW-100 model, with a maximum thrust of 191.35 kN, about 19.5 tons. This engine is also the turbofan engine equipped with the largest thrust in the fighter in the world today. The engine's equipment enables the maximum take-off weight of a single-engine F35 "Lightning" stealth fighter to reach 31.8 tons, almost reaching the level of a heavy fighter, and even exceeding the models of Typhoon , Rafale , F18 "Hornet" , and other models that use twin-engine.

PuH & Whitney F135-PW-100 engine

is also far superior to models such as J-10 and F16, which use single-engine, which is due to the huge thrust of the PUH & Whitney F135 engine. This engine is a model developed by the derivative development of F-119 (used by F-22), and was developed by Prat Whitney, the United States. Although this engine is powerful, it is limited to the design of the F35 "Lightning" stealth fighter. Its maximum flight speed is only Mach 1.6, which is lower than the mainstream fighter jets in the world today. It can only cruise at supersonic speeds at a speed of Mach 1.2. The flight performance at high altitude and high speed is not ideal.

F35 fighter

②Saturn AL41F3 engine (product 30 engine) designed by the Su-57 stealth fighter is a large thrust engine specially developed by Russia for the fifth-generation stealth fighter of the Su-57. At present, the Russian Su57 stealth fighter mainly uses the AL-41F1 engine based on the AL-31F engine . The maximum thrust of the engine is 147 kN, about 15 tons, which does not meet Russia's demand. In order to obtain greater thrust, better maneuverability and supersonic cruising capability, Russia has carried out the development of the AL41F3 engine (product 30 engine) at the beginning of the development of the Su-57 fighter.

AL-41F1 engine engine

product 30 engine can reach 180 kN, which is about 18.36 tons. The maximum thrust of a single unit is 3.36 tons higher than that of the AL-41F1 engine, close to the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, exceeding the F119 engine used by the F22 Raptor engine. Once the Su57 is equipped with this engine, it will have a supersonic cruise capacity of Mach 1.5, which is very close to the maximum flight speed of Mach 1.6 of F35. At present, Russia is conducting small-batch trial installations of the engine and is expected to be equipped in large quantities on the Su-57 fighter jets in the near future. At that time, the Su-57 fighter jets will become one of the world's most maneuverable fighter jets.

Su57 fighter

③ F22 Raptor stealth fighter equipped with the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine, F119 engine, is an engine specially developed for the F22 Raptor stealth fighter. It was developed by Pratt Whitney and was developed almost simultaneously with the F22 Raptor fighter. It was first tested in October 1986. On September 7, 1997, the F22 fighter completed its first flight with the engine. After the F22 was put into service, it became the standard engine. The biggest feature of this engine is the use of two-dimensional vector technology, which allows the F22 to obtain better maneuverability and stealth capabilities.

The F119 engine on the experimental bench

F119 engine has also very strong thrust, with a maximum thrust of 156 kiloN, which is about 15.9 tons. This allows the F22 Raptor stealth fighter to obtain a maximum flight speed of Mach 2.25 and a supersonic cruise capability of Mach 1.82. Although it has been equipped for nearly 20 years, this engine is still one of the most advanced engines in the world today.

F22 fighter

④ The strongest turbofan 10C engine in the turbofan 10 family. This engine is currently mainly used with the J-20. The engine tail nozzle adopts a jagged design, which can improve the J-20's stealth capability. The maximum thrust of the turbofan 10C reaches 147 kN, about 15 tons, which is still lower than the F119 engine in the United States, and the gap is even greater than that of the product 30 engine. However, this engine can basically meet the J-20's supersonic cruise needs. The truly matching J-20 is the turbofan 15 engine, which is still under development. According to data speculated by the outside world, the maximum thrust of turbofan 15 in the future will reach 181 kN, about 18.5 tons, which is at the same level as Russia's product 30 engine and exceeds the maximum thrust of the F119 engine. Once it is achieved, the maneuverability of the J-20 will be further improved. The engine has entered the testing stage and is expected to be equipped and used by 2025. By then, China will shorten the gap with the United States and Russia in the development of aircraft engines.

The turbofan 10C

The mainstream engines of the J-20 are in thrust. The Russian AL-41F1 engine has a maximum thrust of 147 kN (about 15 tons), F110-GE-132 engine, a maximum thrust of 144.6 kN (about 14.7 tons), turbofan 10B engine, a maximum thrust of 144 kN (about 14.68 tons), and AL31FM engine, a maximum thrust of 135 kN (about 13.77 tons). Later, there are the F110-GE-129 type of the United States, the F414 type, the EJ200 of European Airlines, the Russian RD33, the French Snekema M88 engine, etc.

Overall, China's aero engine has gone from having no reliable engine available to now become independent. Its most advanced turbofan 10C engine has reached the fourth level in the world in terms of thrust. China is moving closer to the United States and Russia in the development of small bypass turbofan engines. In the future, once the turbofan 15 can be successfully equipped and used, we believe that my country's development of aircraft engines can be on the same level as the United States and Russia, greatly improving the maneuverability of Chinese fighter jets. For this, let's wait and see.

Note: The above content only represents personal opinions, the data comes from the Internet, and is for reference only!

(Animalist on November 27, 2022, please do not reprint without authorization, plagiarism will be prosecuted!)