Originally posted by BruteGorilla
😀 JH-7? Is it sucessfull? Wasn’t it pushed down PLAAN’s thoat? Didn’t soviets intervien to make that aircraft reliable? Aren’t the engines used co[ies o british engines? The weapons and avionics used in the aircraft are russian stuff copied.
read this. Forget who wrote it or where its written, everything written has relevent links. Check the number of failures. Its embarassing. Similar thing could be said about Indian projects.
From that link you gave
———————————————————————————-
FBC-1/ JH-7 Xian Fighter-Bomber project (The “Flying Leopard”)
In 1973 the PLAAF put in a requirement for a tandem-seat fighter-bomber with the Xian Aircraft Company and the 603 Institute. This project was designated as the H-7 and secured government approval in 1977. The emphasis was on an all weather airplane capable of night operations. At some point the PLANAF also expressed interest in the project for possible anti-ship roles and this created a number of complications. Finally the PLANAF was able to take the lead and a prototype first flew in December 1988[xxxiii].
A long period of testing followed the first flight. In this period one prototype crashed and two test pilots were killed due to engine failure. The first squadron was believed to have been raised in 1996 but the due to the old design and its lack of adequate power plants the design was rejected by PLAAF in favor of Su-30MKK. The PLANAF continued to support the project and it is believed that the at least 18 new JH-7 powered by Rolls Royce Spey Mk 202 engines are in service with the PLAN. Its export version is dubbed FBC-1 (Fighter/Bomber Export-1), which was unveiled at Zhuhai International Airshow in November 1998, but has yet to attract any foreign customers[xxxiv].
The XAC also built the JH-7A (Flying Leopard II), an improved variant where the engines have been replaced by indigenous WS-9 turbofans. An instrument pod (Russian AKR-8) provides enemy radar emission parameters to the Russian Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles that are carried on the platform. Two prototypes have been built so far. The first JH-7A prototype flew on July 1, 2002[xxxv].
The JH-7 project is China’s first dedicated maritime strike aircraft. Though the project’s future is somewhat cloudy given the PLAAF’s lack of interest, it is important to note that the JH-7A variants have given the PRC aviation community experience in integration of modern ground targeting systems and ECM packages. The JH-7 project will influence the PLANAF’s handling of future aviation projects.
———————————————————————————–
It actually doesn’t sound that bad, specially being from Bharat-rakshak. It can fire the C-80X series missiles. Yes, it is no match for western or russian aircrafts, but its still a decent achievement. The JH-7 did not get any russian assistance (They weren’t exactly friends those days). And it uses Rolls Royce Spey Mk 202 engines. So its not copied stuff. I read somewhere (I think in this forum some time back) that a new batch of of JH-7 were delivered to the PLANAF. They got second hand spey engines. JH-7A is a different story though.
Sign In
