J-16
China Flanker Thread III (land based, exclude J-15)
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Leads to a question.
The general assumption was always that J-16 is an AESA aircraft; however, J-16 was either 'first' among such a/c in China, or ... was it - at least, initially, - in the first place?
Its timeline, after all, roughly corresponded to J-10B was PESA.
But then again, no [known] number/letter changes.
Perhaps too much to question from a radome color (may simply be the same case as with early F-16).
Timeline wise, J-16 is some 2-3 years after J-10B. J-16 first flew in 2011, J-10B in 2008.
J-10C emerged first flew in 2013 (but much more further along in development than either of the former two).
And both J-16 and J-10C entered initial service about within a year of each other.
Which is to say, the contemporary developmental peer of J-16 is J-10C, not J-10B.
(This is leaving aside the question of whether J-10Bs radar is actually AESA or PESA, which in itself is not as clear as we expected of it being a PESA)
As for the question about J-16's radome colour -- it's just radome colour and isn't necessarily decisively indicative of anything.
That said, we have had meaningful rumours that J-16 in production between batches has seen at least one major radar upgrade (or even model change), but that doesn't necessarily correspond with radome colour, and through all of that there's been no indication it was using anything else other than AESA.
Perhaps newer batches could be using a GaN radar? Rather than the GaAs radar.
J-16 has had upgraded avionics/radar at least twice between induction and 2023. According to an interview in 2022 the improvement in performance is very significant, almost a generational gap.
The J-16 has entered service with AESA in the mid 2010s. During a 2017 article by Yankeesama the early AESA used by J-16 already enjoyed advantage over Su-35's PESA, with a higher look down range than the latter's look up range. It is also significantly more robust against jamming.
The J-16 has entered service with AESA in the mid 2010s. During a 2017 article by Yankeesama the early AESA used by J-16 already enjoyed advantage over Su-35's PESA, with a higher look down range than the latter's look up range. It is also significantly more robust against jamming.
I am pretty convinced that China will have 4 GaN AESA radar equipped fighters in operation by 2025. Namely J-16, J-15B, J-20B and J-31. I don't have any concrete evidence for this but the speed of iterative development and the state of China's radar industry leads me to think so.
I also have similar thoughts about Li-Ion battery submarine propulsion but that's a topic for another thread.
What about J-11BGs and J-10Cs, alongside J-10AGs and J-10BGs in the coming years? They are/would be using GaAs AESA radars only instead of GaN AESA radars?
They are second tier aircraft so I don't think there is an iterative development program going on for them. They will likely keep what they have until their current fit is deemed too outdated.
Aren't J-10As getting their radars upgraded from PD to AESA?