Shenyang's struggle: J-8 story

Here is a synopsis on a rather interesting discussion in the Chinese forums concerning the J-8II and its maker Shenyang (SAC).

It went into the economic, political and military decisions on why the old airframe was a mainstay in the 1990s and is still being made.

1. Until the current Chinese 3rd generation (J-10, FC-1), China has no bvr capable machines aside from J-8II and J-11.

2. Building the J-11 alone is not economically feasible for Shenyang and it needed another product to sell to the PLAAF during the 1990s. The J-11 deal is actually not ideal for Shenyang and is a drag profitwise (probably because of retooling).

3. Shenyang does have officials who want to keep the company alive even as it is losing prestige and business to rivals (especially Chengdu) so the PLAAF still takes them.

4. PLAAF orders for the J-8II has gone down quite a bit and is employed mainly as interceptor.

5. The J-8II ACT FBW program was extremely significant and garnered much interest from the PLAAF. But supposedly two ACT J-8IIs were destroyed in crashes because of then quality control problems. Problems which could be traced to the Cultural Revolution lingering effect on SAC’s then management.

6. Since the opening and reforms, Shenyang is being left to fend more and more for itself. It no longer simply got funds from the state and needed products to gain income. The J-11 is actually a saddle on the company since it was a political deal assigned to Shenyang that creates little income for SAC.

7. Yet, Shenyang is considered the oldest and most prestigious of China’s fighter firms and every effort is made to keep the company up to date. The J-8F/G/H are the currently the lead items. These are not discussed in detail because they are still considered national security issues. But the author said they are far better than the FC-1 (no comparision against the J-10 because the J-10 doesn’t officially exist :D)

It’s an interesting look at a foundation communist firm in a post Communist situation (even though China is still communist by name.)

The J-8II which went through a long design life that was seriously affected by political turmoil is currently going through a long drawn out retirement because of the new market conditions. It has become a synonym for the firm.

It is very interesting because we see another firm Guizhou touting the FTC-2000 which seems an attempt to extend the JJ-7 line. Guizhou was to trainers like Shenyang was to fighters.

Here we see Shenyang attempting to extend the J-8II line.

The world is changing quite fast.