W.E.B. Du Bois
12-03-2010, 11:15 AM
2010 has been a major year in the development of the Chinese military. Among the most notable accomplishments were the production of a prototype stealth fighter, the announcement of construction of two aircraft carriers (one of them being totally indigenous), the production of Aegis guided missile destroyers, advanced diesel submarines and the mass production of sophisticated stealth air defense frigates.
China's long term strategy is superior to the Soviet military strategy. The Soviet military strategy was to employ quantity over quality. The bulk of China's current forces are very low quality, but the direction it is moving in is very clear: towards a level of sophistication and quality that is on par or greater than those fielded by NATO armies. The medium term (next 50 years) objective for China's military is to prevent the declaration of independence by Taiwan, an island which China contends is essentially occupied territory from an illegitimate government and the last vestige of its Civil War which was won on the mainland of China in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party. Taiwan is a large island, located 100 miles to the southeast of mainland China. To prevent Taiwan's independence therefore necessitates a strong air force and navy, which is why the major technological breakthroughs have been occurring in that branch of the service.
The most important technological hurdle for the past 30 years of the Chinese air force has been the manufacture of an advanced fourth generation fighter engine. In many air forces, a single engine powers multiple fighters. For example, the US Pratt & Whitney F100 powers the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter and the F-16 Falcon multirole fighter. In Russia, the Lyulka AL-31F powers the Su-27 Flanker and the core engine for the T-50 stealth fighter. China's attempted fourth generation engine is the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's WS-10A Taihang. China hopes to use it in its counterparts to the F-15 and F-16: the Su-27 (called J-11 in China's People's Liberation Army Air Force or PLAAF) and J-10 Vigorous Dragon. China may also be using it for its stealth fighter prototype called the J-20 Black Eagle.
http://www.myphoto.com/photos/812492/21747/128359/xhttp://piczasso.com/i/59oa9.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
WS-10A Engine on Display (left), J-10 fighter in flight (right)
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-20f.jpg
http://piczasso.com/i/4hgc6.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
J-11B, a copy of the Russian Su-27SM, (left), Artist's conception of future stealth fighter J-20 (right)
The WS-10A is built with a 7-stage high pressure compressor, short annular combustor with air blast atomizer, air film cooling blade, and single crystal nickel-based turbine blades. It provides 13,200 kg of thrust. The WS-10 development's began in 1987 by Shenyang Aeroengine Research Institute (606 Institute) of the China Aviation Industry Corporation. In 2002, the engine was modified and improved and given the designation WS-10A. It was certified for production in 2006 and by late 2007 was installed in the J-11 (Chinese copy of the Su-27). The engine's reliability was poor and it's use was abruptly halted. While China's recent order of several hundred Al-31F engines (which are similar but slightly superior to the WS-10A) indicates that the WS-10A has not been sufficiently improved to be mass produced, recent photographs taken by Chinese military enthusiasts reveal that the engine has likely been modified and re-installed on several squadrons of J-11's. Furthermore, recent comments by Alexander Mikheyev, the deputy director of the Russian government export agency Rosoboronexport stating that Russia will sell its most advanced version of the Su-27 to China, indicate that if China cannot make the final modifications on their engine, then perhaps the Russians will either step in to finish the job or help China to build the Al-31F.
054A
052C x2
Yuan SSK
Aircraft Carrier
China's long term strategy is superior to the Soviet military strategy. The Soviet military strategy was to employ quantity over quality. The bulk of China's current forces are very low quality, but the direction it is moving in is very clear: towards a level of sophistication and quality that is on par or greater than those fielded by NATO armies. The medium term (next 50 years) objective for China's military is to prevent the declaration of independence by Taiwan, an island which China contends is essentially occupied territory from an illegitimate government and the last vestige of its Civil War which was won on the mainland of China in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party. Taiwan is a large island, located 100 miles to the southeast of mainland China. To prevent Taiwan's independence therefore necessitates a strong air force and navy, which is why the major technological breakthroughs have been occurring in that branch of the service.
The most important technological hurdle for the past 30 years of the Chinese air force has been the manufacture of an advanced fourth generation fighter engine. In many air forces, a single engine powers multiple fighters. For example, the US Pratt & Whitney F100 powers the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter and the F-16 Falcon multirole fighter. In Russia, the Lyulka AL-31F powers the Su-27 Flanker and the core engine for the T-50 stealth fighter. China's attempted fourth generation engine is the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's WS-10A Taihang. China hopes to use it in its counterparts to the F-15 and F-16: the Su-27 (called J-11 in China's People's Liberation Army Air Force or PLAAF) and J-10 Vigorous Dragon. China may also be using it for its stealth fighter prototype called the J-20 Black Eagle.
http://www.myphoto.com/photos/812492/21747/128359/xhttp://piczasso.com/i/59oa9.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
WS-10A Engine on Display (left), J-10 fighter in flight (right)
http://cnair.top81.cn/fighter/J-20f.jpg
http://piczasso.com/i/4hgc6.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
J-11B, a copy of the Russian Su-27SM, (left), Artist's conception of future stealth fighter J-20 (right)
The WS-10A is built with a 7-stage high pressure compressor, short annular combustor with air blast atomizer, air film cooling blade, and single crystal nickel-based turbine blades. It provides 13,200 kg of thrust. The WS-10 development's began in 1987 by Shenyang Aeroengine Research Institute (606 Institute) of the China Aviation Industry Corporation. In 2002, the engine was modified and improved and given the designation WS-10A. It was certified for production in 2006 and by late 2007 was installed in the J-11 (Chinese copy of the Su-27). The engine's reliability was poor and it's use was abruptly halted. While China's recent order of several hundred Al-31F engines (which are similar but slightly superior to the WS-10A) indicates that the WS-10A has not been sufficiently improved to be mass produced, recent photographs taken by Chinese military enthusiasts reveal that the engine has likely been modified and re-installed on several squadrons of J-11's. Furthermore, recent comments by Alexander Mikheyev, the deputy director of the Russian government export agency Rosoboronexport stating that Russia will sell its most advanced version of the Su-27 to China, indicate that if China cannot make the final modifications on their engine, then perhaps the Russians will either step in to finish the job or help China to build the Al-31F.
054A
052C x2
Yuan SSK
Aircraft Carrier