For the first time, the Chinese Air Force flew "one-stop non-stop", and seven J-10C fighters crossed the country and flew directly to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. According to a report by Huanqiu.com, the Chinese Air Force used the Y-20 for the first time for in-flight refueling during the transfer of missions overseas. In addition, the fighter plane formation took off in China, crossed the airspace and sea areas of several countries, and flew directly to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, without landing on the way.
On January 29, seven J-10C fighters of the Chinese Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team took off from an airport in northwest China and went to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, to participate in the second Saudi International Defense Exhibition held from February 4 to 8 and perform a flight show. This is the 10th time that the Air Force Bayi Air Show Team has flown out of the country.
The J-10C carries large auxiliary fuel tanks, and the maximum transfer range of the J-10C is only 3,200 kilometers without air tanker refueling. The J-10C fighter of the Air Force Bayi Performance Team flew directly from the mainland to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, first from an airport in Tianjin to the northwest, and then took off from an airport in the northwest (most likely Kashgar), with a flight distance of nearly 4,000 kilometers abroad, and flew over the airspace of Pakistan and Iran in the middle, and needed to be refueled in the air at least once on the way. The full flight can take about 5 hours.
Through in-flight refueling, remote transfer to perform tasks. The 4,000-kilometer direct flight from China to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, is a test of the actual combat training level of our air force.
Previously, in November 2023, 7 J-10Cs of the Chinese Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team went to the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and were invited to participate in the Dubai Air Show, which was the first appearance of J-10C fighters in the Middle East. This visit counted the total range of about 7,000 kilometers of domestic flights, and the J-10C made transfers and breaks at at least one domestic airport and two foreign airports during the flight. The liaison, coordination, and support work is very cumbersome.
The transfer of the J-10C to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was guaranteed by the tanker-20 tanker for an in-flight refueling, and it was possible to fly directly to Saudi Arabia without landing, which was very convenient to complete the leap of thousands of kilometers, without the need for the plane to land at the airport, reducing the dependence on ground airports. A long-distance flight spanning thousands of kilometers, the J-10C fighter needs to be maintained, maintained, and tested, and the pilot also needs to rest, so it needs to be accompanied by air tankers and large transport aircraft, which is a test of the Air Force's long-range combat capability.
In the past, the take-off and landing time of our Air Force fighters was not too long, and the J-7 fighter era was only about 1 hour. At present, advanced fighters can carry out ultra-long endurance flights with the support of in-flight refueling, and the endurance time of fighters has been greatly improved.
With the increase in heavy warplanes and air tankers, our Air Force is flying more and more long-endurance. Long-range mission flights are also a test for fighter pilots, who have a small cockpit space, and pilots need to maintain a position for long periods of time and require a high degree of mental concentration, which is a huge drain on energy and physical strength.
In order to complete an ultra-long endurance flight of 8~10 hours, it is a great test for the technical level of the fighter itself, in-flight refueling technology, combat support, and pilots. This requires that the fighters be particularly reliable, the support is very powerful, and the pilots are particularly skilled in long-range flight.
Air Force fighters make long-endurance flights, how to solve the problems of eating, drinking and going to the toilet?
Generally speaking, Air Force pilots carry special long-endurance food that can be eaten during the flight to ensure sufficient physical strength. Pilots of different aircraft types will carry different food for the voyage.
Fighter pilots in our Air Force tend to carry Type 03 fighter food for long voyages, and because the cockpit space of the fighter is very limited, there is no food heating equipment. Generally, some high-calorie energy supplement foods are consumed, such as chocolate, energy bars, etc. Improvised meals in the air are characterized by low quantity, high energy, and low residue. Therefore, the Type 03 fighter voyage food is relatively simple, and the main ingredient in it is air crew chocolate, which will be made into small pieces to facilitate fighter pilots to eat quickly in a small space. There are also bags of drinking water that can be drunk directly.
As for the pilot's personal convenience, it is also easy to do, and it will be equipped with diapers and additional urine bags when flying long-distance, which is very convenient and has a good sense of experience. Due to the cramped cockpit of a fighter jet, a large size is not possible, and it is usually up to the aviation doctor to decide what to eat for the flight the day before the mission, have a special physical examination, and try to empty the body before getting on the plane. In this way, you can control the absence of bowel movements for a few hours or more than ten hours, and avoid embarrassment during the flight mission.
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Hampton of the U.S. Air Force's "Wild Weasel" squadron wrote a memoir, "Pilot of the F-16 Viper," in which he described his experience on a long-endurance anti-radiation combat mission in the Iraq War, in which he flew an F-16C fighter jet and flew a ground suppression mission for more than eight hours without eating or drinking.
However, what if there is a situation of stomach diarrhea, then you have to pull your trouser pocket, which is not ashamed, and there are such incidents in the air forces of various countries. The job of a pilot is not so easy.
For example, when India received the second batch of three Rafale fighters in 2020, Indian pilots flew the three Rafale fighters that had just been received, took off from France, flew more than 7,000 kilometers non-stop through several air refueling, and took 9 hours to fly to India.
A few years ago, our Air Force's Su-30MKK heavy fighter plane also completed an ultra-long endurance challenge of 10 hours of continuous flight, setting a new record for the longest flight duration of a single flight of our army's fighter plane. Some experts believe that a single 10-hour endurance flight of fighter jets should be at the top level in the history of long-range and long-range flights of fighter jets in the world. And now, we believe that the level of long-range and long-endurance flight of fighters of the Chinese Air Force has made even greater progress.
The long-range deployment of fighter jets by the advanced air force is inseparable from long-range transport aircraft and tankers with advanced performance. For example, if the Chinese Air Force wants to quickly deploy J-10C or J-16 fighters to Africa or the Middle East, then it needs the support of a large number of Y-20 transport aircraft and Y-20 tankers.
For example, the German Air Force recently sent 6 EF-2000 "Typhoon" fighters to the Asia-Pacific region to participate in the "Pitch Black-2023" military exercise, and Germany sent 4 A400M transport aircraft and 3 A330 air tankers at the same time, a total of 13 military aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region.
For the long-range rapid deployment of fighter jets, large transport aircraft must be used to transport support vehicles and supplies, and large air tankers must be used to provide fuel support. With the introduction of a large number of Y-20 transport aircraft, the long-range combat effectiveness of the Chinese Air Force has also been fundamentally improved, marking the transformation of the Chinese Air Force into a strategic air force in the true sense. The long-distance transfer of the J-10C fighter formation was accompanied by a domestic tanker-20 tanker, which reflects the achievements of the Chinese Air Force's strategic transformation.
We can imagine that a group of J-10C fighters of the Chinese Air Force could be quickly deployed to operate in Angola, Africa in two days (half of Angola's oil exports are sent to China, more than 40 million tons per year, making it one of China's most stable oil suppliers)......