Can somebody help me about the current yearly fighter/bomber production figures? Twitter account somePLAOSINT claimed 40 J-16 and 60 J-20 per year. But Rick Joe and some others claimed that yearly production figures for J-20 is around 100 mark. Which one of them is more true about J-20? Why? Also is J-16 accurate or is it also a lowball estimate by him? Second question is did the production of H-6 bomber variants stop? If not, what is the production rate?
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- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Since 2022, China appears to be converting 2x ABs to the J-16 and 3x ABs to the J-20 per year.
Assuming a standard set of 30x aircraft per brigade, that would suggest a delivery rate of ~60 J-16s and ~90 J-20s per year.
60 seems too high for J-16 to me, is that accurate? I don't want to tag spam but, @Blitzo ??
So were those J-11Bs retired? Surprising to me that they'd be doing away with even those already, are they at least kept in storage?
Likely not, given how most of them are less than 20 years old. Could be transferred to rear line/auxiliary units after getting upgraded to the "-BG" standard.
Though, just a wild guess.
Maybe to nitpick ... I don't think the "same pilot is flying a new plane" ! but yes, this is common when a unit converts to a new type.
From my understanding they were not retired but indeed transferred to another unit. In case for those from the 1st AB, they went either to the Xi'an FA or the 16th or 18th AB.
The following second-line units field the J-11B:
-171st AB (FTTB): J-11BS alongside J-10S
-175th AB (Tactical Training Center): J-11B alongside J-10C, J-10S, J-16, Y-8 and Z-9
-177th AB (FTTB, OPFOR): J-11B and J-11BS alongside J-10C (J-11B/BS began to be replaced with J-16s last year)
-1st Training Brigade (NTC): J-11BS alongside the JL-9
-1st Training Brigade (WTC): J-11B and J-11BS (received in 2022)
I'm not sure what happened to the 1st Air Brigade's J-11Bs. They might have been transferred to the 109th Air Brigade, which received J-11Bs in 2020, the year the 1st retired theirs. Otherwise I'm guessing they went to the PLAAF's equivalent of the AMARG?
They must have went to Xi'an, because AFAIK:
-16th AB used to field J-11As, but upgraded to J-11Bs in spring 2021 (these aircraft, in turn, came from the 111th AB and thereafter received the "BG" AESA upgrade).
-18th AB then received the 16th AB's old J-11As to replace its J-7s. The brigade still uses J-11As today.