Ten J-10 fighter-bombers, a type long expected by military equipment fans, were firstly put into service in the Nanjing Military Command, according to the Hong Kong-based Asia Week, December 2.
J-10 is by now the most advanced fighter developed by China. With sophisticated aerodynamics design the fighter is even superior to the mobility-noted Su-27, foreign expert estimated.
Another character of J-10 is big weapon load. As estimated, its maximum taking-off weight is around 18 tons, including 7 tons of weapons, equivalent to that of heavy fighter B-29 used during the World War II, and this is quite distinguished among light fighters. With strong external loading capacity it can effectively launch attacks towards the ground and sea. What's more, made of many compound materials J-10 presents a self-weight a little lighter than F-16 but equivalent engine capacity to the latter, which made it quite agile in air fighting.
Besides the China-made PL series air-to-air missiles and YJ series missiles, the J-10 fighter will also be quipped with the Russia-made R-73, R-27 air-to-air missiles introduced in together with S-27. The electronically scanned phased-array radar installed on J-10 could track 24 targets at the same time and launch attacks on four of them.
Developed in later time and benefited from the state-of-the-art technology, J-10 would turn out superior in many aspects to the F-16 and Mirage 2000 dominating the 1980s. The J-10 will become the main equipment of China's air and navy forces in the 21st century.
(People?s Daily December 13, 2002)
