They realy are pushing J-10 production. Based on all the photogrphic evidence out there it is entirely plausable that there are over a 100 of the type produced so far and the rumoured THREE production lines do exist.

The planes are clearly regiment “0” of the 3rd Division, which makes it the leading formation. Since the 3rd Division also hosts a regiment of Su-30MKKs, putting that “0” gives the J-10 a new status higher than the Su-30MKKs. Given the 1054X and the 107XX number spread, that is at least 20 planes or the minimum of a regiment.

For now, photo evidence suggest the existance of 3-4 regiments. This subtle official PLA report suggests more grounds to support 2 regiments on the Chengdu MR alone. These plus the one on 13th Trials Regiment on the FTTC located in the Beijing MR, and the new regiment on the 3rd Division makes it four. The minimum size of each regiment is around 20, but given the sighting of numbers “21” and “22” among the 44th Division planes, it’s clear that the J-10 regiment numbers at least 22 planes.

Given this, the operational number of planes should be around 80-90. Then you add the 1 to 12 prototypes on top of that, and you reach a hundred.

“Electronic judges” used to assess pilot performance in air exercise

PLA Daily 2006-08-30

New type of fighter planes attacking ground targets
Photo by Liu Yinghua

　　In late August, the air force of the Chengdu Military Area Command organized its two units equipped with new-type fighters to stage an aerial confrontational exercise under war conditions. What makes it different from its previous exercises is that “electronic judges” instead of judges panel made the appraisal of the exercise. The “automatic appraisal system for flight parameters of new type of fighters”, a system independently developed by the air force of the Chengdu Military Area Command, was the “final judges” in this exercise.

　　At an airfield of the “Red Army”, the reporters saw that whenever a fighter returned from the confrontation exercise, the ground crew needed only to connect its “automatic appraisal system for flight parameters of new type of fighters” to the computers placed in the hangar, the flight parameters of the fighter would automatically download into the information network of the flight command center, and then the “automatic appraisal system for the flight parameters of new type of fighters” would appraise the flight parameters, such as flight path, banking angle, speed, radius of turn and attacking posture, etc. and then gave marks. The whole process lasted only a few seconds. At the same time, through simulated three-dimensional picture we could also see the whole flying process of the fighter from takeoff to landing, including pilots’ movements in the air. All these flight parameters will be stored up in pilot’s dynamic electronic training files, which would serve as the basis for assessing pilots’ training performance and for giving guidance to pilots in their tactical and technical trainings.

　　By Lu Xi and Lu Feng

　　(Aug 30, PLA Daily)

Zimbabwe to buy more Chinese aircraft
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Published: August 24 2006 05:59 | Last updated: August 24 2006 05:59

Zimbabwe has managed to buy six more military aircraft from China despite its financial troubles, the government revealed on Wednesday.

The purchase follows another order for six Chinese aircraft made last year and backs up President Robert Mugabe’s intention to boost the country’s ties with Beijing and other Asian countries following the imposition of sanctions by the EU and US.

The Harare government has been criticised for its human rights record, its alleged rigging of elections and its land distribution programme.

The president said in a speech last week that the country was benefiting from his “Look East” policy aimed at strengthening economic and political ties with Asia.

However, some business leaders, who have had to shut down operations because of fuel shortages, were angered by the purchase. Zimbabwe’s economy has shrunk by more than a third since the late 1990s, with inflation at more than 1,180 per cent and unemployment at about 70 per cent.

Trust Maposa, secretary of the Zimbabwe ministry of defence, told a parliamentary committee that the airforce would be getting the aircraft from China before the end of the year but did not specify the cost. He said the aircraft could be used for training as well as “low intensity” attacks.

Mr Maposa said the government was in arrears with three Chinese defence companies that had supplied jets and military equipment. But he indicated the central bank had plans to pay the debts and thanked it for providing US$4.7m (€3.6m, £2.5m) to help fund imports of military hardware.

Mr Maposa also said the finance ministry had increased its allocation to the defence ministry by more than 80 per cent in May this year.

Economists said that would have increased the military’s share of the total budget to 12 per cent from 6.5 per cent in the original budget.

Related link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2e1e67c6-332a-11db-87ac-0000779e2340.html

You forget to mention that subsonic AshM, is easier to do evasive maneuvers just above water.

Depends what you mean by slotted array. Do you mean a PESA system? Or a slotted array radar?

If you mean the latter, the advantages are many. A slotted waveguide is unable to change the shape of its frequency/radiation pattern. It relies on a motor to move it and direct the beam, making the beam much less accurate/reliable when compared to a phased array system.

Although, a slotted array radar uses many of the principles of the same principles of diffraction to generate a coherent beam. Think of it as an phased array radar, except everything is fixed in place, and to steer it, a motor is used.

A slotted waveguide is just a lightweight directional antenna.

A slotted array radar is something you already described on the bottom.

Now, back to the phased array. Each individual antenna on a phased array acts as a slit – emitting a semicircular signal. Most importantly, the signals are either identical or close to eachother in frequency. This allows for combining the waveform. A phase shift between the T/R modules will allow for a small change in direction.

Except that a slit is actually a real physical slit!

The advantage of slotted array radars comes from the fact it does not degrade over a wide FOV. Mainly because the motor swings the entire antenna around, and in some cases like Russia’s Zhuk-MSE, it can do a complete hemispherical coverage.

Electronic scanning cannot do that because the further off center the scanning goes, the crests and throughs of the waves become closer and closer to each other to the point they will degrade at first, then gradually degrade more till they completely cancel each other out. Hence PESAs and AESAs do have some mechanical assistance to increase FOV, but at best, that’s a compromise.

As for range, for sheer sensitivity and receptivity, nothing beats your good old parabolic antenna.

Thanks. Looks like the system on 052C is actually Ukrainian. Also:

http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/specialaircraft/y8balancebeam.asp

they just say it’s a phased array they don’t say anything about it being an AESA (which would be notable).

It may have had Ukrainian assistance on the design of the array (kind of doubtful), and the array the Ukrainians have said to develop is active (Kvant). However the design of the array face in the Kvant and the 052C show no resemblence at all, primarly maybe because the Kvant is only a search radar while the 052C radar has search, track, illumination, and fire control functions all in the same array while supporting sensor fusion. Even the AEGIS SPY-1 does not have illumination functions in the main array faces and uses seperate illuminators. The lack of any visible illuminator domes in the 052C only leads you to two direct conclusions: the TVM illumination required for the missiles comes from the main arrays if TVM is used; and second, if not, then the SAM guidance is active radar seeking.

I can’t recall any phase array that would generate such heat that would presence of large cooling systems and ducts as seen around the prototype used in the test ship 870. The frame around the array itself has like two large openings on each side to allow for coolant.

Do you have any sources on the 052C because from what I’ve read it’s not even on the level of Aegis. The Y-8 is a cargo aircraft. Which Japanese ships have AESAs?

I kind of doubt that what you have read is anything authoritative about the 052C. At this point, we have no clue as to the capabilities of the 052C’s radar. But it does appear to be an early generation AESA given the physically verifiable cooling equipment built around the array.

As usual, more to the pockets of lobbyists and politicians.

sounds more like the 90 F-5s are to be replaced.

I would assume these 66 F-16s are that of the Block 52 Plus model.