This is The Best Flanker in the World

Millennium7* History & Technology

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Transcript

00:00Suhoy 27 or, for us who live in the anglo-sphere of NATO designation, Flankers.

00:06Telling the story of the Flankers is not difficult, it is just impossible.

00:11It is one of those aircrafts like the F-4 or the F-16 or the MiG-21 which are pretty

00:18much cornerstones of the history of aviation.

00:22In fact there are so many variants in so many different nations and in fact some Flankers

00:28are merely shaped like a Flanker, more than variants, they are actually descendants.

00:36And this is definitely the case for the largest Flanker user in the world.

00:41No, definitely it's not Russia.

00:48We talk a lot about the J-20, the J-10, the coming J-35, but the core of the Chinese Air

00:56Force is made of Flankers.

00:59There are about 450 J-11, about 170 J-16, 71 Su-30MMK, 24 Su-35s and 32 Su-27UBK.

01:15This is a total of about 750 Flankers, a total of J-20 and J-10 doesn't reach 700.

01:24Oh, and I forgot the Chinese Navy that has about 130 Flankers in service of various types

01:30including about 30 J-15s that are carrier capable.

01:35What?

01:36Oh, you don't know what a J-11 is?

01:39Well, no worries, we are here to explain.

01:47The Chinese relationship with Flankers starts in 1992.

01:52Chinese were aware of the dangerous backwardness of their aeronautical industry and their Air

01:59Force, so in a typical Chinese fashion, they started a long-term program to modernize both.

02:07A big part of this modernization effort was centered around the Russian Flanker.

02:13The first aircraft to be delivered were Russian made Su-27UBK for training, and they were

02:19followed soon after by other Su-27s that are now no longer in service.

02:25The J-11 though started in 1996, while 200 aircraft had been purchased from Russia, but

02:34those aircraft have been delivered as kits to be assembled.

02:39In this first stage, the J-11 was a version of the Russian Su-27, and it was designed

02:46to be an air superiority fighter.

02:49During the Chinese aircraft industry, what it was at the time, they had to wait 2003

02:54before acceptable quality Flankers could be assembled.

03:00And even in this case, some of the aircraft components had to be replaced with Chinese

03:05made components, slightly different than the original, just to be able to complete the

03:13aircraft.

03:14The cooperation with Russia on this project ended in 2004, when the Chinese started doing

03:19what they were extremely good at at the time, building replicas under the name of J-11B.

03:27This indeed irritated the Russians, because this initiative was violating the intellectual

03:33property provisions in the original agreement.

03:37So the Russians reacted very badly, and they, well, just kept selling stuff to China because

03:42they were their best customer, and they just couldn't shun them.

03:47The Chinese, on the other hand, kept acquiring know-how and experience improving the aircraft.

03:53They integrated new weapons, they integrated new electronics, they made it lighter, and

03:58they started developing an indigenous engine.

04:01When they got to the fourth production block, with the indigenous WS-10 engine and Chinese

04:08avionics, well, that was something utterly different from the original Suhoy-27.

04:15Well it still is, because most of the J-11s have been brought to the latest standard,

04:21and the older ones are being delivered to flight academies, but well, this is another

04:26story.

04:27The J-11B keeps the formidable aerodynamics and general configuration of the Flanker,

04:33but the inside is completely different.

04:37It is now a multi-role aircraft, even though the main mission remains air superiority,

04:43and the systems are Chinese systems, indigenous Chinese systems.

04:49But the story doesn't end here, because the J-11D is going to enter service soon, the

04:56prototypes are flying.

04:58Probably as we speak, some units are already being delivered.

05:01Analysts believe that this is the best Flanker existing in the world, even better than the

05:08Russian Suhoy-35.

05:09We will have time to delve deep into the design of the J-11D, but for now, let's go back to

05:162011.

05:17In fact, in 2011, a strange two-seater Flanker took the skies for the first time.

05:30The J-16 is designed to be a multi-role strike fighter.

05:34It is capable of air-to-air combat, but its main mission is ground attack.

05:39Some analysts say that the J-16 stays to the J-11, as the F-15E stays to the F-15C.

05:46With this Flanker variant, the Chinese really cut their teeth against the extremely difficult

05:52task of designing a cutting-edge modern combat aircraft.

05:58The aircraft is lighter than other dual-seater Flankers, because composites are used extensively.

06:05All the avionics, all the combat systems are made in China, and there is no dependency

06:10left from Russian-made components.

06:13RCS reduction measures have been taken, including painting the aircraft with rather absorbing

06:19materials.

06:20The radar is a new Chinese AESA radar, and the armament is a panoply of everything available.

06:28The J-16 is still in production, and their numbers keep growing.

06:34From 2021, a SEAD version has been delivered, equipped with several electronic warfare pods

06:41and anti-radiation missiles.

06:43Its capabilities are yet to be assessed, but it definitely shows an increase in sophistication

06:50in the Chinese industry.

06:51We have covered in previous videos the Chinese air-to-ground weaponry, and if you are interested,

06:55I suggest you to have a look.

06:57Links above and below.

06:59Some thought that the J-16 was going to become the centerpiece of the Chinese Flanker fleet,

07:05but the recent introduction of the J-11D shows that the Chinese are developing the two aircraft

07:11in parallel, and they will both remain essential components of the Chinese Air Force for the

07:17foreseeable future.

07:19We can think that the Chinese are trying to reproduce an high-low mix with their indigenous

07:23aircraft, but the jury is still out, so we'll see.

07:28J-15 is the carrier-capable version.

07:34We have already discussed the aircraft when we discussed the new aircraft carrier Fujian.

07:39As usual, links above and below.

07:41For the new carrier, the J-15B, which is actually catapult compatible, is undergoing tests,

07:48and it seems that the Chinese took the opportunity to hugely modernize the aircraft.

07:53In fact, it seems to have inherited some of the systems of the J-11 and the J-16.

07:59And indeed, the J-15 actually needed some care, because it has never been a particularly

08:04brilliant aircraft, and the current version is basically obsolete.

08:14Although China is no longer dependent from Russia for most of the aerospace technology,

08:20there are still some Russian-made flankers in service in China.

08:24Twin-seater Su-30MMKs have been part of the deliveries in the early 2000s.

08:31They are a derivation of the Russian Su-30 adapted for Chinese specifications.

08:37And indeed, this adaptation included adopting some of the Su-35 systems, creating an overall

08:45very capable aircraft.

08:47In fact, despite their age, the Chinese seem to consider them still very effective platforms.

08:53We may expect that they will be replaced by the J-16s in the future, but for the moment

08:57they are still up and running, despite their age.

09:00I mean, it is 20 years old.

09:03We live in a day and age where the average lifespan of an aircraft is about 40 years,

09:10and this is true everywhere but in China.

09:13The speed of their development is mind-boggling.

09:16The early 2000s for them is already legacy.

09:19China also have in service 24 Su-35 made in Russia, but these aircraft are sort of a different matter.

09:28They are operational, they are assigned to operational units, but they are very different

09:33from other Chinese flankers and they are not fully integrated with the rest of the Chinese Air Force.

09:40Some sources report, for example, that they have incompatible data links with pretty much

09:45any other Chinese aircraft.

09:47They basically exist just because the Chinese wanted to reverse engineer some of the systems

09:54of the Su-35 and in particular the AL-41 engine.

09:59There are unconfirmed voices that the Chinese on purpose tampered with the aircraft in order

10:05to break it, triggering the anti-tamper protections, only to see how the Russians brought the aircraft

10:12back online and find a workaround these protections.

10:16And apparently the Russians were well aware of what the Chinese were doing, but they just

10:21looked the other way, because it was still a good business.

10:26Now I'm sure that you want to get into the details of the J-11, the J-16 and the other aircraft,

10:30and be patient, there are other videos in the making.

10:33A big big thank you to all those who are supporting the channel on Patreon by being a member or

10:38giving some donation on PayPal.

10:40You can also support the channel by buying a model from Air Models, there is an affiliate

10:45link below, I have a small percentage and there is no extra cost for you.

10:49In the meanwhile I have plenty of videos on the most modern aircraft of China, like the

10:56J-20 or the J-10, and those videos are going to appear beside me.

11:01In the meanwhile, thank you very much for watching and see you there!

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