On the morning of January 29, 2024, in a whistling sound, seven J-10C fighters of the Chinese Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team took off from an airport in the northwest of the mainland and flew to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by a tanker-20 tanker. The purpose of their trip is to participate in the second Saudi International Defense Exhibition, which will be held from February 4 to February 8, where they will perform an air show.
From the northwest of the mainland to Saudi Arabia, the flight is about 4,000 kilometers, far exceeding the maximum range of the J-10C fighter. In the past, when the Bayi air show team went to Saudi Arabia to participate in the exhibition, the aircraft needed to stop at an airport on the way. However, due to the use of a tanker-20 tanker to ensure the whole process, there is no need to stop at any airport on the way, and the plane will land directly in Riyadh. This is the first time that the Chinese Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team has made a direct flight to Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, this flight is also a microcosm of the development of the Continental Army's commercial aviation industry in recent years, fully reflecting the tremendous improvement of the manufacturing level of the Continental Army's commercial aviation industry and the Air Force's support capability. The continental army's aviation industry has achieved great results in recent years, whether it is fighter aircraft, transport aircraft, helicopters, or aero engines, all of which have reached or approached the world-class level.
In the field of fighter planes, which most intuitively reflect the level of equipment of a country's air force, the mainland, together with the United States, has become the only country in the world that designs and manufactures its own fighters and has installed a large number of fifth-generation stealth fighters.
Why is there no Russia here? Because the stealth capability of the Su-57 fighter has always been questioned, and in combination with the stealth design and manufacturing process, many experts believe that it does not have the same level of stealth capability as the J-20, F-22, and F-35. Moreover, the number of Su-57 fighters equipped by the Russian Air Force is only a few to a dozen of them, and the annual production may be only a pitiful few.
On the other hand, China and the United States, so far, the US military has been equipped with more than 600 stealth fighters, including more than 180 F-22 fighters, about 450 F-35 fighters of various types, and the annual output of F-35 fighters is hundreds, and foreign media speculate that China is equipped with about 150-200 J-20 fighters, and the annual output may be 50-60 aircraft.
In addition, although US allies such as Japan, South Korea, and Israel are also equipped with a lot of F-35 fighters, the scale of their equipment is far smaller than that of China and the United States, and second, the F-35 fighters of these countries are all made in the United States, and they themselves do not have the ability to design and produce stealth fighters, so these countries cannot be compared with China and the United States. Moreover, we are about to equip the J-35 stealth carrier-based aircraft, and at that time, the mainland, like the United States, will become a country equipped with two stealth fighters at the same time. Therefore, in the field of fifth-generation stealth fighters, China and the United States are currently the only ones in the world.
At the same time, this also means that after a lapse of more than 70 years, the Chinese Air Force has once again climbed to the world's top level in terms of fighter weapons and equipment. In the 50s of the last century, China imported 2,470 MiG-15 and MiG-15 Bis fighters from the Soviet Union, becoming the world's third largest air force in one fell swoop, and it was a period when the level of fighter equipment was relatively small and the gap between the US military and the United States. More than 70 years later, the fighters of the Chinese Air Force are again on the same level as the US Air Force.
We are not only at the world's leading level in the design and manufacture of fifth-generation stealth fighters, but also in the manufacturing capabilities of fourth-generation fighters. The J-10C mentioned above is an excellent medium-sized fourth-generation and a half fighter independently designed and manufactured by the mainland. The J-10CE fighter, the export model of this fighter, has been equipped with the Pakistan Air Force and is gradually replacing the American-made F-16C/D fighter and becoming the core equipment of the Pakistan Air Force. According to Pakistani media reports, in the recent "ZILZAL-II" joint air confrontation exercise in Qatar, the J-10CE fighter of the Pakistan Air Force defeated the EF-2000 Typhoon fighter equipped by the Qatar Air Force with a disparity of 9:0.
Both fighters are equipped with advanced active phased array radars and helmet-mounted sights, which support the PL-15E air-to-air missile and the Meteor air-to-air missile, respectively, and theoretically belong to the same class and generation of fighters. Therefore, this victory of the Pakistan Air Force is enough to show that the four-and-a-half-generation fighters manufactured by the mainland can already match or even surpass the same type of fighters in Europe, which was almost unimaginable 20 years ago. In addition, the mainland can also manufacture J-16 twin-engine heavy four-and-a-half generation fighters, J-15 carrier-based aircraft, J-11B fighters and other models of fourth-generation fighters, and has a huge production capacity.
Military transport aircraft have always been our shortcomings, but the design and mass production of the Y-20 strategic transport aircraft has enabled the mainland to successfully rank among the world's top three in the manufacture of large military transport aircraft. Before the birth of the Y-20 transport aircraft, there were only two military transport aircraft of this class in the world, that is, the American C-17 transport aircraft and the Russian Il-76 transport aircraft. Now that the C-17 has been discontinued, and the Il-76 is stuck in the Russian recession and has limited production capacity, the Y-20 is currently the only transport aircraft of this class with mass production capabilities.
In addition, the Y-20 transport aircraft has been replaced with WS-20 engines, and its performance has far surpassed that of the Il-76 and is close to that of the C-17 transport aircraft. Therefore, the Y-20 transport aircraft will not only be able to meet the equipment needs of the mainland air force, but also have extremely strong strength and an excellent opportunity to open up overseas markets. Perhaps in the near future, we will see good news about the export of the Y-20 transport aircraft.
Helicopters, like military transport aircraft, used to be our shortcoming. For a long period of time, the continental air force and army aviation were equipped with the following helicopters: the Z-9 helicopter imitating the French SA-365N/N1 Dolphin helicopter, the Z-8 helicopter imitating the French SA-321 Super Wasp helicopter, the Mi-17 helicopter imported from Russia, and a small number of Black Hawk helicopters imported from the United States. At that time, we did not have professional helicopter gunships, and basically all of them were cameos by Z-9 helicopters. It is said that most of these helicopters are only suitable for use in the plains, and when they reach the southwest plateau, only the Black Hawk helicopter and the Mi-17V7 helicopter specially equipped with the BK-2500-02 engine still have good performance.
Therefore, at that time, transportation and the lack of armed helicopters in the southwestern plateau were big problems that plagued our army. Nowadays, the Z-20 general-purpose helicopter produced by the mainland has been installed in large numbers in the troops, and its vigorous and powerful posture can be seen everywhere on the plateau or in the sea frontier. Its performance has long surpassed the introduced Black Hawk helicopters, and plateau transportation is no longer difficult for our army. We also have our own professional helicopter gunship Z-10 for a long time, and we no longer need to let the Z-9 hang a rocket nest to wash the floor.
In addition, in the field of aero engines, the core technology of the development of the military aviation industry, we have been able to be self-sufficient and produce aero engines with excellent performance, and the "heart disease" that plagues the military aviation equipment has been basically overcome. We have manufactured and improved the WS-10 "Taihang" series engine, which guarantees the power of almost all third-generation fighters in the mainland; will soon be or have already been equipped with the WS-15 "Emei" engine and WS-19 engine, which will make the continental J-20 and J-35 fighters more powerful; and produced the WZ-10 engine and WS-20 engine, so that the Z-20 and Y-20 have excellent flight performance. We are also continuing to develop variable-cycle engines for future sixth-generation fighter jets.
On the whole, the current situation of the continental army's commercial aviation industry is that "the light boat has crossed the ten thousand mountains", the most difficult and difficult period has passed, and we have successfully ranked among the top in the world.
But we still have many shortcomings, for example: we still lack a C-5 and An-124 class strategic transport aircraft, as well as heavy gunships, heavy utility helicopters, we do not have vertical short take-off and landing aircraft like the F-35B and V-22 "Osprey" tiltrotors, we also need more powerful turbofan engines and turboshaft engines, and so on. Therefore, our military aviation industry still needs to make persistent efforts to make further progress.
I believe that our military aviation industry will be able to achieve more brilliant results in the future and bring us greater surprises!