Re: Jh-7 thread
Sea Dog said:
With the avionics JH-7 is quoted to have, it will certainly outclass MKK in all-weather operations. I'm not sure how the attack avionics compare however.
The Russians sort of delivered the MKK's avionics half baked. When the MKK was delivered they got all the TV guidance functions worked out, so the MKK came with all sorts of TV guided weapons, Kh-59ME, Kh-29TE, various Kab-500kr and Kab-1500kr bombs. However, the laser guidance functions were not fully worked out since the MKK lacked a proper targeting pod. The IRST ball in front of the cockpit is capable of laser targeting yes, but the plane would have to be in a dive or flying upside down to use it. The Russians were supposed to provide a laser targeting pod called SAPSAN, and the project sort of bogged. Furthermore, the old style twist cassegrain radar, even with buffed up modern electronics, didn't have a proper SAR function, and this the Russians proposed in ammending with the M400 recon pod.
In the last Sino-Russian exercises though, the MKKs have now demonstrated laser bomb guided attacks using Kab-500Ls, and last year, has been involved with SAR based recons of Taiwan coast using a pod.
The MKK also got the anti-radiation function completed, so it could use Kh-31P ARMs for radar suppression.
Moreover, the MKK lacked a proper air to sea attack, since that mode was not fully integrated into the radar. Sukhoi corrected this with an electronic upgrade that was incorporated into the so called MK2 plane, which is just the MKK with the air to sea functions. With this, the MK2 can use the Kh-31A, Kh-35E and Kh-59MK antiship missiles.
The JH-7 in contrast came with the air to sea functions but lacked everything else. Then the new JL-10A radar replaced the Type 232H radar, which provided other functionality such as anti-radiation attack using the YJ-91 (a Kh-31P clone with allegedly Israeli inspired electronics). The Chinese also managed to come up with their own Litening equivalent called the Blue Sky pod which enabled the plane to use laser guided munitions. While the JL-10A radar is smaller and lacks the power of the MKK's radar, its slotted array design gives it a wider aperture, better for air to ground and air to sea scanning. The radar is allegedly said to have SAR functions built in, something that the MKK radar didn't.
Then the JH-7A came with the radar equipping into the improved airframe and engines. The year the JH-7A came into service, China also stopped its order of MKKs the same year, something that struck the Russians with great surprise, as they were used to expecting the orders like a yearly ritual. This iwas a surprising and ironical turnaround, considering when China first acquired the MKKs, experts were sounding the death knell of the JH-7.