The Q-5, J-7, J-8 and older PLAAF aircraft

Quickie said:

How many of the J-8s are fitted with refuelling probe?

According to the wiki, the combat range of the J-8, and by default the ferry range, is almost double the J-10. Maybe it's not that surprising since the J-8 at 21.52 m is much larger than the J-10 and comparable to the flanker.


J-8: Combat radius: with 5 min Combat : 540 nm (1,000 km) (incl 5 min combat (Air to ground) : 486 nm (900 km)
J-10A: Combat radius: 550 km (without air to air refueling), 1,600 km (with air to air refueling)

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According to huitong its ferry range is 3200 km and its combat radius without refueling is 1100 km

SinoSoldier said:

According to huitong its ferry range is 3200 km and its combat radius without refueling is 1100 km

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Sorry, "its ferry range" is referring to which aircraft?

Edit: Nevermind, I think it should be J-10A.

A J-8II can't carry much for an attack role, but its high speed means it could throw GPS guided glide bombs a pretty long distance, which would be good for any DPRK/ROC/Vietnam contingency.

Is there any possibility that J-8 wild weasle and ground attack versions might be capable of being flown unmanned? I am thinking it makes sense to use unmanned J-8 in these roles even if the airframe isn't best suited simply because J-8 airframe is good enough and expendable? It would be a shame to covert more valuable airframes for one shot unmanned missions.

chuck731 said:

Is there any possibility that J-8 wild weasle and ground attack versions might be capable of being flown unmanned? I am thinking it makes sense to use unmanned J-8 in these roles even if the airframe isn't best suited simply because J-8 airframe is good enough and expendable? It would be a shame to covert more valuable airframes for one shot unmanned missions.

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The Q5s are even more 'expendable and China has lots of them. They can probably turn those into missile carrying drones as well

What's the point in converting a J8II into an UCAV when China could just build a brand new UCAV for a fraction of the cost with far more capacity and none of the baggage of converting a manned platform?

Even if you did convert J8s into unmanned wild weasels, it would also be pointless and stupid to send such expensive assets on suicide runs when again, you can use far cheaper dedicated UCAVs for such roles.

The only use for unmanned J8s is as target drones, but we are a long way off from that time.

Availability. It takes a few years to perfect a new supersonic UAV with a few tons of payload. J-8 is available now.

It could definitely be an "option" to use J-8s as some form of UCAVs, but they won't be particularly efficient at their jobs and will probably just end up being high altitude, high speed targets or decoys. Certainly the electronics don't exist for it to effectively be used as a SEAD platform.

Better to retain J-8IIs in their current role -- interceptors. A few of the later blocks can carry a few PL-12 and PL-11s, and clearly PLAAF had modified a few to carry YJ-91/Kh-31 too. That doesn't mean J-8IIs are the PLAAF's primary SEAD or wild weasel plane. JH-7/A probably has that honour, along with Su-30s.

dannytoro said:

For my money the J-6 was the prettiest fighter built. Extremely graceful and still a good dogfighter.

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Really?


I just do not see it as either the prettiest, or that graceful...but that just me. To each his own.

I'm a child of the 1950s and loved the F-8 Crusader and the Mig-21 matchup through the 1960s. But for me, now getting later into my fifties, this is by far the prettiest and most graceful fighter ever built by man.


But that's just me.

Given the Chinese Military's historical tendency to squeeze every bit of value and use out of its hardware, I had hoped to see the J-8 line developed into something like the proposed F-4X/RF-4X or IAI Super Phantom. But alas, it will probably never happen.