The J-10 Firebird is a cornerstone of the Chinese Air Force. Let's learn more about it!
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LearningTranscript
00:00I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song, and then I'm going to play a little bit of this song,
00:30Hey, when in 2006 the J-10 was officially declassified, and pictures started circulating
00:44around the world, well, nobody was really surprised.
00:48Western Intelligence Services had known for about two decades that the Chinese were up
00:54to something, and in the end, they had a pretty good picture of what the Chinese were up to
00:59too. Actually, it was what happened between 2007 and 2016 that was unexpected.
01:13Welcome to Millennium Seven Star, the channel that helps you make sense of military history
01:16and military technology, and please stay with me till the end, because the stuff that we
01:20discuss here is quite difficult to find anywhere else on YouTube. I haven't been saying this
01:25for a while. The J-10 is currently one of the staples of the Chinese airpower. About
01:32500 units are estimated to be in service right now, more than any other model, even counting
01:39all the Flanker variants altogether. The translation of the Chinese name is Vigorous Dragon, which
01:45actually sounds like a male performance enhancer, so I actually prefer the NATO moniker, which
01:52is Firebird. The program started in 1988, the first flight was in 1998, and the aircraft
02:05reached the initial operational capability in 2006. The development time hasn't been
02:12exceedingly long, to be honest, but there have been many hiccups along the way, because
02:19this was the first time that the Chinese were trying to design something modern entirely
02:25in-house. Some believe still to this day that the aircraft is actually a variant of the
02:30aborted Israeli Lavi fighter, but this is quite far from the truth. Yes, it's true the
02:37two aircraft share the same general configurations, but one of the purposes of the J-10 program
02:45was to develop the know-how to produce a modern four-generation aircraft in China. To do this,
02:52the Chinese had to acquire or consolidate some technologies that weren't really developed
02:58at the time, so they worked with Israel and Russia for this purpose. What actually happened
03:04was something pretty common, that is a technology transfer. They didn't just redevelop an already
03:13existing project. And by the way, speaking of copying aircraft, it happens quite often.
03:26If two aircraft share some similarities, share the same general configurations, some observers
03:33tend to reach the conclusion that the younger is a sort of a copy of the older, or at least
03:39it has been inspired by the older. First thing, considering the timelines required to develop
03:45a combat aircraft, there probably should be at least five to ten years between the two
03:51projects for the technologies and the design of the older becoming available to the newer.
03:58Copying is really useful if you can really avoid doing a chunk of development. If the
04:06shape and size of the aircraft is different, then the aerodynamic design cannot be copied.
04:12Moreover, the airfoil is probably the most critical part of the design and it is really
04:17really difficult to copy just looking at pictures. If the overall shape and structure is different,
04:25then even the structural design cannot be reused. If the engine is different, then there
04:30are structural implications and also a lot of internals need to be redesigned, hydraulics,
04:37electrics, air ducts and so on. If the avionics is different, then you need to redesign antenna
04:43housing, the internal layout of the avionic base, the electrics, the connections. If the
04:50weapons are different, this is even more redesign and this is a big one. Either you copy almost
04:58everything or you copy an isolated subsystem. Otherwise, copying is not worth it. Moreover,
05:05the world is full of clever and well-educated people that can find their way through this
05:09kind of project with just some help. Some people seem to think that you can find competent
05:16people just in a few places around the world, but that's actually not true. There are clever
05:22people all around the world, there's no divine right to technological superiority.
05:32J-10 is a single-engine single-seater delta canard. This configuration is typical of the
05:38contemporary non-stalled projects. We have already discussed this configuration many
05:43times on the channel and there are several videos available if you want to dive deep
05:47into this subject. For now, it is enough to say that this kind of configuration has
05:53a performance sweet spot exactly at the speeds where most of the military and combat operations
06:01are conducted today, between 0.7 and 1.2 Mach. The J-10 is also an unstable design like all
06:09the fighters of its generation. It has closed coupled canards like many fighters of its
06:15generation. The construction is a mix of aluminum, titanium and composites like all
06:23the fighters of its generation. While overall it is a pretty unremarkable design, it's very
06:29similar to all the other fighters of the fourth generation which are not designed to be stalled.
06:35Put the J-10, the Rafale, the Eurofighter, the Gripen and the Lavi side by side in a picture
06:43and you have a family picture.
06:57However, there are a couple of speculations that we can do about the aircraft just looking at its
07:04general layout. The wing has a variable anhedral angle and also pretty large fairing with the
07:13fuselage and the internal part seems to be quite thick. It is a rather unusual choice and it is
07:23not entirely clear why this complication was adopted. It may remind some inverted gull
07:30configuration of old but those were justified by ground clearance mostly and the J-10 doesn't
07:39seem to have any particular problem in this department. It could be a way of actually
07:45controlling the point where the delta wing vortices form on the upper surface of the wing
07:52but we definitely can't be certain. Another curious element is the presence of two counted
07:59surfaces below the tail. These are fixed surfaces with a superficial similarity with those mounted
08:07on the F-16. Their presence seems to suggest some problems with the lateral stability at high angles
08:15of attack. I actually have the impression that the vertical stabilizers is a little bit smaller
08:23than the other designs but again the reason why there was this split in three of the vertical
08:32surfaces it's difficult to say. So apart a couple of curious choices the aircraft is pretty
08:41remarkable or if you want it is as remarkable as the other Eurocanards are. Well, judge for yourself.
08:50What was not conventional and definitely remarkable though
08:53was what happened between 2007 and 2016.
09:03The initial variant the J-10A was designed having the European Delta Canards in mind
09:08not to copy them but because it was supposed to have the same performances and the same technology
09:15level of those aircraft. So the J-10 came with the four panoramic displays in the cockpit
09:22handsome throttle F-6 commands and a panoramic head-up display. It was fitted with the Russian
09:29engine and with an air intake with the mobile ramp and even the radar was a mechanically scanned
09:35Russian radar and when it entered service the pilots loved it and it was quickly clear that it
09:42was not even close to the other European designs. Well to be honest the Chinese have been aware of
09:50the problem for a few years because the design of the B variant actually started even before the A
09:58variant was being produced. The J-10B received an improved and uprated AL-31 engine fed by
10:08this time a DSI intake. Probably the similarity with the intakes of the F-35 is one of the biggest
10:16sources of the the Chinese can only copy means. DSI intakes are nothing new they have been invented
10:22in the mid 50s by an Italian Antonio Ferri and they make sense now for combat aircraft applications
10:29because speed is no longer as important as it used to be in the 60s or the 70s. DSI intakes
10:37have a performance sweet spot at low supersonic speed and they are simpler lighter cheaper and a
10:46bit more stealthy than conventional air intakes. I have an entire video dedicated to DSI intakes
10:52and if you are interested in this subject you can watch it on the channel. But the improvements with
10:56the J-10B didn't stop there. The entire fire control system was rebuilt around an indigenous PESA radar
11:05and a new infrared search and track. One way to recognize a J-10B is because the radome is
11:12different from the J-10A which was necessary to house the new antenna and it also doesn't have
11:19the pitot tube at the tip. In this B version it is clearly visible the tilting of the antenna upwards
11:28which is a feature common to various fixed antenna implementations. In this way the antenna's
11:34radar reflection is pointed away from the emitter with the effect of reducing the frontal rcs of the
11:41aircraft. It is little known but radar antennas are a very very good radar reflector for the same
11:47reason that they are a very very good rudder emitter and they are impossible to hide behind
11:53for example a layer of radar absorbing materials because otherwise well they simply wouldn't work.
11:59But we're not over yet because on the tail of the aircraft the sensors housings and antenna
12:05actually proliferated showing the presence of a relatively complex and probably integrated
12:13electronic warfare suite where the J-10A just had a radar warning receiver. And finally a missile
12:20approach warning system was installed making the aircraft more survivable. And I was forgetting
12:27all these systems were indigenous systems developed in China probably with some external
12:33assistance but they have been developed in China. And in fact since they have been built in-house
12:39we know very little about them. It is not clear when the J-10 reached the initial operating
12:44capability but this should have happened around 2010. But this is not the end because in 2016 or
12:492017 the J-10C, a new variant, actually reached its initial operational capability. So the J-10C
12:58is the current 2022 production version and it is becoming mainstream. It features an indigenous
13:05WS-10 engine, an indigenous AESA radar and an indigenous helmet mounted sight. And the new
13:13antennas have been spotted and the old ones have been rearranged hinting to some improvements in
13:21the electronic warfare area too. So in 10 years the J-10 went from being a pretty ordinary
13:284th generation aircraft to becoming a modern 4++ generation combat aircraft, ticking pretty
13:36much all the boxes. The development underwent by the platform is definitely remarkable and I don't
13:43think I can find any other example of so much being developed in so little time. Now I know
13:52that you're waiting for some juicy details about the specifications, the systems, the weaponry
13:57and we are going to dive deep into these subjects for what is possible to know in the next video.
14:02While you wait there are several videos about China and Chinese Air Force on this channel
14:06and they're going to appear beside me. So thank you very much for watching and see you there!