Time： 2024-08-18
韦克威科技maya
Is China's J-16H about to enter service with a new aircraft carrier? 500 kilometer precision hunting enemy early warning aircraft
China's J-16 fighter jet can be considered as the most advanced conventional new heavy fighter force in our country. Once it was launched, it attracted widespread attention from the US military and media. The US media praised this aircraft highly, believing that it is one of the most advanced side standing fighter jets currently available, capable of conducting omnidirectional missions, and is mainly equipped with the Chinese Air Force.
Some American military experts also believe that it is not ruled out that the J-16 may join the Chinese naval aviation and board a domestically produced new aircraft carrier. Experts say that since February this year, a large number of reports from the media have indicated that China is developing an improved version of the J-16 specifically for equipping naval aviation based on the J-16 multi-purpose fighter jet.The purpose is to enable these improved models of J-16 fighter jets to be carried on the domestically produced new aircraft carrier currently being manufactured in China. This aircraft carrier is nearing construction and has been equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system, allowing it to easily launch J-16 fighter jets with a full takeoff weight of 36 tons into the sky.The J-16 is a mysterious aircraft for Americans. At present, Americans have not yet understood the time when the J-16 entered the PLA Air Force for the first time. They can only vaguely know that between 2013 and 2015, this fighter is one of the few advanced fighters in the world equipped with high probability active phased array radar.
The ancestor of the J-16 is the Soviet Union's Su-27 "side position" fighter jet. The Su-27 was once the most advanced main air fighter jet of the Soviet Union. Currently, side position series fighters are being produced in China, Russia, and India. China introduced the Su-27 fighter jet in the 1990s and began introducing production lines in the 2000s. Compared with other countries' side position series fighters, China's latest model of the J-16 is the only advanced fighter jet that uses active phased array radar, absorbing coating, and active phased array radar guided air-to-air missiles. However, Russia does not have a side mounted fighter of the same type. Compared with Russia, the J-16 has advanced electronic and aviation electronic equipment, which fully utilizes the advantages of China's industrial base.The aircraft can carry up to 16 PL-15 missiles, which have a range of about 200 kilometers and perform significantly better than American air-to-air missiles. The J-16 can also be equipped with more powerful air-to-air missiles. It is speculated that the J-16 is also equipped with the PL-XX ultra long range air-to-air missile. According to reports, the PL-XX has a range of up to a staggering 500 kilometers, making it the longest range air-to-air missile in the world. It can accurately hunt down enemy airborne early warning aircraft, refueling aircraft, missile reconnaissance aircraft and other large aircraft at a distance of 500 kilometers in the air.
At present, the Chinese Navy is equipped with a main fighter jet capable of carrying aircraft carriers, which is the J-15 Flying Shark fighter jet, a heavy carrier based fighter derived from the combination of the Su-33T-10K and J-11B. The specific name of the naval version of the J-16 fighter jet may be the J-16H, which can be used together with the J-15 to form a good combination of high and low.
However, it is still uncertain whether the J-16 will be launched on board, but this possibility cannot be ruled out because China has an electromagnetic catapult system that can easily catapult fighter jets weighing tens of tons. At present, only the USS Ford aircraft carrier in the United States uses an electromagnetic catapult system, which will give future Chinese aircraft carriers a significant advantage over the US Navy's 10 Nimitz class aircraft carriers. The steam catapults of these aircraft carriers are outdated and much less efficient, while the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Japanese Izumo class aircraft carriers do not have catapult systems.
Our military experts believe that the J-16's deployment on the ship is basically a short-sighted move, sacrificing small gains for big gains, and it is basically impossible to board the ship. The main reason is that there is not much difference between the J-15 and J-16, and earlier models of the J-15 fighter jet did indeed perform significantly worse than the J-16 in terms of radar, weapons, and avionics. However, the subsequent J-15B has undergone updates and iterations in terms of airborne radar, avionics equipment, and weapons, especially the J-15B has also been equipped with active phased array radar and can launch Thunderbolt 15 air-to-air missiles. Therefore, the comprehensive combat performance of the J-15B fighter jet is not much different from that of the J-16, and the J-16 is helpless in the face of the US F-35C carrier based aircraft because it is not invisible.Moreover, it is not cost-effective to retrofit the J-16, as the research and development costs are high and specialized shipborne retrofitting tests need to be conducted, ultimately occupying the J-16's production capacity. Therefore, the likelihood of the J-16 being launched on board is almost zero.Regarding the PL-XX missile, which American experts claim has a range of up to 500 kilometers, this is even more unrealistic. Not to mention the question of whether the missile can hit such a far range and how to solve the problems of engine and fuel, the maximum radar detection range of the US F-22 stealth fighter is only 350-400 kilometers, and the locking distance is even shorter. The radar of the J-16 is definitely incomparable to that of the F-22. The detection range may be between 200-300 kilometers, and the radar cannot see that far. What is the use of the entire 500 kilometer range air-to-air missile? Can't even see who else to hit?
Finally, experts believe that the successor to the J-15 fighter jet will definitely not be the J-16, but rather the FC-31 fighter jet. This type of fighter jet is stealth and has outstanding stealth capabilities compared to the J-15/J-16. Its overall performance is even comparable to that of the US stealth fighter jet. Therefore, there is a high probability that the FC-31 stealth fighter jet will be able to board domestic aircraft carriers in the future.Source: Guoke Huanyu
