Xi’an JH-7A Flying Leopard

     Notes: This aircraft was at first rejected by the Chinese military in favor of the Su-27, but as the design improved from the initial JH-7 to its JH-7A standard, they were taken on in strength.  Its low-thrust engines do not lend themselves to speed or lifting capability, and weapons load is small for an aircraft of its size. In addition, the JH-7A’s design allows only poor agility. However, 110-120 examples of the JH-7A remain in service with both the PLANAF and PLAAF as of 2025. The JH-7A has ejection seats for its crew but is not capable of in-flight refueling.

     The JH-7A has a total of nine hardpoints, three under each wing, one under the fuselage, and two on the wingtips (which may only be used for light air-to-air missiles). Under the port side of the nose is the GSh-23L (or its Chinese equivalent) 23mm autocannon, which is matched by a decent ammunition load. The JH-7A’s cockpit has multifunction displays in a glass cockpit layout, with just a few analog instruments; the crew may choose to have the MFDs show color or black and white, which is better for night operations. The JH-7A is capable of ground-hugging supersonic flights with its TFR, potentially making ingress into a target area easier. The JL-10A radar set is a digital pulse doppler radar that is designed for engaging ground targets, though it is also capable of tracking and engaging air targets as well. It can track 15 targets and engage six of them, and has modes for tracking air targets, ground targets, and radar-emitting targets for engagement with antiradiation missiles.

     The engines of the JH-7A are a pair of Xian WS-9 Qinling turbofans, which are license-produced copies of the Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 202. They produce 12,200 pounds of thrust in military power, and 20,520 pounds thrust in afterburner. The swept wings have a dogtooth leading edged extension to the outboard of their spans, which allows better control authority at low speeds, as well as curbing stall speed to an extent.

JH-7B

     The Chinese are currently working on a comprehensive upgrade to the JH-8A, designated the JH-7B.  The upgrade centers around the upgraded avionics, including the tying together of the electronic warfare functions into an integrated EW Suite, which coordinates the ECM, IRCM, and flares and chaff to make them more effective and automatically operate. A related part of this upgrade is the reduction of RCS, particularly from the frontal aspect, by use of composites and reshaping of the nose, air intake inlets, and wing leading edges. (The effect is minimal and present enemy radar installations with a -2 penalty.) The JH-7B is capable of aerial refueling, something its older brother cannot do. The JH-7B is powered by WS-9A engines which have 15% more thrust than the WS-9. The JH-7B was supposed to enter production in 2015, but production timelines have slipped, and the JH-7B is still not in serial production.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: With the escalation of hostilities between China and Russia, the supply of Su-27s to China was abruptly cut off.  The JH-7A was thus put into high production. The JH-7B does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

*The cockpit is protected by light armor plates and has an AV of 7.

Shenyang J-16 Red Eagle

     Notes: The J-16 began as a license-built Su-30MKK (called J-11A in China), imported from Russia.  However, the original aircraft diverged significantly from the Su-30MKK, and earned the right to be considered its own aircraft.  It was modified/designed to partially replace the JH-7, and had almost totally replaced it in the PLAAF by 2018.  The airframe and most of the working parts are those of the Su-30MKK, but the avionics, engines, and flight computers are all of Chinese make and tailored for its mission as a strikefighter. The J-16 is similar in role and capabilities to the US F/A-18E/F.

     The attack suite is formed around a new AESA radar which also has ground attack and look-down shoot-down capabilities.  Most Chinese AAMs can be carried, even to the exclusion of other ordnance if necessary.  Thus, the J-16 can also function as an interceptor or an escort fighter, though its primary role is that of a strike aircraft with some air-to-air capability.  The J-16 also has an updated version of the VADS system called EOTS (Electro-Optical Targeting System), which greatly enhances the BVR engagement range and allows the J-16 to fire against ground targets and air-to air targets, depending upon the ordnance used, before the aircraft is within the engagement range of most SAMs and AAA.  If all that fails, the J-16 has IRST capability. Perhaps one of the most easily seen differences is the two-seat tandem cockpit, with a pilot and a WSO in the rear. The J-16 is capable of carrying almost all Chinese air-to-ground and air-to-air munitions.  The J-16 is also often seen carrying ECM and IRCM jamming pods, and pods with extra flares and chaff. This is in addition to the J-16’s own internal jammers. In the starboard wing is a GSh-30-1 30mm autocannon.

     The J-16 makes use of many panels of RAM and carbon fiber construction, giving it a smaller RCS.  The engines are a pair of WS-10A turbofans with afterburning; these are based on the original engines that came with the Su-30MKK, which are themselves are close copies of the American F101.They develop 22000 pounds of thrust dry, or 33000 pounds each in afterburner. The cockpit sits in a titanium “bathtub” similar to that of the Russian Su-25, though not as strong as the A-10’s cockpit armor.

     Though originally designed as a land-based aircraft, the PLAN has also taken delivery of J-16s, to give its aircraft carriers a significant strike capability.  This is opposite from the normal deployment routine – normally, the PLAN gets first pick of new aircraft and air-launched weapons.

J-16D

     The D variant of the J-16 is also known as the Red Eagle (or its Chinese translation of that); however, instead of being a strike aircraft, it is an electronic warfare aircraft, carrying a combination of ECM/ECCM/IRCM/Radio Jamming pods and ARMs.  It is similar in concept and function, though reportedly not in capability, to the US Navy’s EA-18G Growler, with the wing hardpoints carrying two or four EW pods, the wingtips carrying light ARMs, EW pods, sensors, designators, or even chaff and flare pods, and two or four of the hardpoints carrying two heavy or four light ARMs.  The centerline hardpoint is wet and normally carries an extra fuel tank, though it too can carry a jamming pod or clusters of heavy or light ARMs.  The J-16D is also capable of employing heat-seeking missiles or other non-ARM munitions; it does have a laser designator and can launch GPS-guided munitions, in pursuit of its SEAD mission.  Though early reports place it as being not quite as effective in the EW field as the Growler, it is probably very close in capability, as the Chinese are known to have a strong electronics-manufacturing and testing capability, and though they can’t seem to produce a jet engine worth a damn, their avionics almost equal European designs and even rival those of the Americans.

     One thing the J-16D is not meant to do is get in short-range knife fights; in fact, the J-16D has no internal cannon (the gun being replaced with avionics) and has no IRST (having replaced with a more powerful AESA radar setup). In fact, the entire radome is reshaped to accommodate this more powerful radar. The surface of the aircraft is festooned with a plethora of conformal radar receivers, radio antennas, radar detectors and analyzers (to determine the exact frequency of incoming radar emissions to more precisely jam radar, IR tracks, and radios), making them easier to jam, MIJI, spoof, or otherwise make them less effective or completely ineffective.

     They say that every plus has an equal minus, and the J-16D’s minus is air-to-air combat.  Supposedly, a fully loaded J-16D maneuvers like a pig, and if you are in a fighter or even many attack aircraft, and you catch up with a J-16D, it is a sitting duck in most cases.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Despite the early embargo the Russians put on technology transfer with the Chinese, espionage and reverse engineering really paid off in this case.

*The cockpit and canopy have light extra armor and is AV7.