In recent years, the Chinese armed forces have rapidly updated their weapons and equipment, which has also brought about a problem, that is, a large number of Russian-made equipment introduced before has become less and less suitable for the needs of modern warfare, and it is becoming more and more difficult to integrate into the combat system of the Chinese armed forces. So from today, let's talk about how China has allowed these Russian-made weapons to exert their residual heat. #MCN首发激励计划#
Let's start with Russian-made fighters. The Chinese Air Force is currently mainly equipped with three types of Russian-made fighters, namely the Su-27 and the domestic models J-11, Su-30MKK/MK2 and Su-35.
1. Su-27
China ordered three batches of Su-27 fighters from the Soviet Union and Russia, including 36 single-seat and 42 double-seater, a total of 78 fighters, which were delivered in 1992, 1996 and 1999 respectively. The life of the Su-27 is about 25-30 years, but because this is the first third-generation aircraft of the PLA, in order to train more seed pilots and explore tactical tactics, the use intensity is extremely high, the first two batches of aircraft have been decommissioned, and the third batch is expected to be retired from active service in a few years. Since the third batch of Su-27s is all two-seaters, it is mainly used for pilot training.
II, JO-11
From 1998 to 2006, China used Russian parts to assemble 105 Su-27, that is, J-11, of which some domestic parts were used in the later batch, but the core components such as radar and engine are still imported from Russia, and the overall performance is basically the same as that of Su-27, which can also be regarded as a Russian-made fighter. The J-11 was initially only able to hit the semi-active radar-guided medium-range bomb R-27, that is, from launch to hit, the carrier aircraft must always illuminate the target with radar. Later, through the upgrade of cooperation with Belarus, it has the ability to launch active radar-guided R-77 air-to-air missiles, and when the missile enters the terminal guidance stage, the carrier aircraft can stop irradiating the target, which greatly improves survivability.
However, because the average age of the J-11 is more than 20 years, the remaining life is less, and China already has better heavy air superiority fighters J-11BG and J-20, so the J-11 will not be equipped with domestic radars and weapons in the future. The J-11 is currently mainly playing auxiliary in the secondary direction, and in the past two years, when the Sino-Indian border was tense, the J-11 also made a joint patrol flight with the J-20 to the open lake. At present, the early batch of J-11 has also been decommissioned, and the remaining aircraft will continue to use Russian-made air-to-air missiles until they are decommissioned.
三、苏-30MKK/MK2
From 2000 to 2005, China received a total of 100 Su-30MKK and Su-30MK2, which were equipped with the Air Force and the Navy, respectively. As early as 2018, pictures of the Su-30MK2 mounted on the Thunderbolt-12 and Thunderbolt-8 missiles appeared on the Internet, which shows that China has cracked the source code of the Su-30 fighter and successfully solved the compatibility problem with domestic weapons. After switching to domestic missiles, the Russian-made air-to-air missiles that were initially introduced at the same time as the Su-30 happened to be used with J-11 fighters.
Because it can be well integrated into our military system and has a balanced air-to-ground capability, the Su-30 is still active in our army, whether it is going abroad for exercises, combat readiness patrols, or cruising around the island. However, because the average age of China's Su-30 is also more than 20 years, and there is a better J-16 to succeed it, like the J-11, there is no need to continue to make a big move to replace the active phased array radar.
Fourth, Su-35
From 2016 to 2018, China received a total of 24 Su-35 fighter jets, all equipped with the Air Force. China's import of the Su-35, one is to quickly make up for the shortcomings of China's advanced air superiority fighters, but to understand the thrust vector technology, as well as Russia's progress in the fuselage structure of the Flanker fighter, to provide reference for the development of the J-11D. However, due to the progress of the J-20 and J-16 faster than expected, the J-11D was dismounted early, and the Su-35 did not continue to be introduced.
Although China's Su-35 is relatively new, due to the small number and the cost performance of localized transformation is not high, China has not spent energy to crack its source code, and it is unlikely that it will be replaced with domestic radar and avionics in the future, so all the on-board weapons of the Su-35 are imported from Russia. Since the Su-35 is the only fighter with thrust vectoring in the Chinese Air Force, in addition to daily combat readiness patrols and other tasks, the aircraft is likely to act as an imaginary enemy force, simulating the Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force.
On the whole, China's attitude towards the more than 200 Russian-made fighters in its hands is to make the best use of everything and stand on the last shift, so it will either remain unchanged or only carry out limited upgrades. After 2030, most of the more than 200 Russian-made fighters of the Chinese Air Force will be retired from active service, and the only remaining 24 Su-35s may also withdraw from combat units and become full-time blue forces, so that they do not need to be integrated into our military system, and secondly, there is no need to import Russian-made weapons. At that time, China's aviation forces will be 100% "de-Russified".