(J9 J12)Some questions about the DefenceTalk Military Pictures

Hello and welcome to the forum!

There are a couple wikipedia articles about the J-9 and the J-12:
Chengdu J-9 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nanchang J-12 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As mentioned in those two articles, both projects were canceled so technically the two designations are empty at the moment.

I do not believe that J-9 has ever been an official designation of FC-1. It is more likely that the FC-1 was called J-9 by military fans and observers before its official designation of FC-1 came out. I think it's a similar case with J-12. I do not think the government has officially announced J-12 yet for the new fighter, most of the time the official media refer to it as the Chinese 5th generation fighter instead.

Just my take on the issue.

T-U-P's got it pretty much right. A bit of correction for J-12. It wasn't exactly a fighter for "civilians" but rather uses the doctrine of "Aerial Guerrilla warfares". The plane was designed to be light and agile but had an extremely short range as a result. I think it was intended to perform hit-and-run operations on invading fighters/bombers close to airbases.

A question regarding the first picture of the J-9. It looks like a very different plane from the J-9 that we know about! It lacks canards and doesn't employ a tailless-delta configuration. Is this another proposed model of J-9 or a whole other plane all together (it looks rather similar to the J-8II). Someone explain please.

We call them militiaman, and they are civilians in China, such as veteran and workers.
J9 was developed from j8 and mig 21, and the first pic was designed in 1965.V was designed in 1966 and 1967 to get more mobility. After the culture revolution, the project was ended because the new gov wanted to buy fighters from the western countries.Finally, this canard and tailless-delta delta configuration of J9 V was used in J10.
If you can read Chinese, try this ¼ß-9Õ½¶·»ú_°Ù¶È°Ù¿Æ

Originally Posted by RickHunter

We call them militiaman, and they are civilians in China, such as veteran and workers.
J9 was developed from j8 and mig 21, and the first pic was designed in 1965.V was designed in 1966 and 1967 to get more mobility. After the culture revolution, the project was ended because the new gov wanted to buy fighters from the western countries.Finally, this canard and tailless-delta delta configuration of J9 V was used in J10.
If you can read Chinese, try this ¼ß-9Õ½¶·»ú_°Ù¶È°Ù¿Æ

Thanks for the info! Didn't know that militia were actually going to be employed as J-12 pilots! That would've been a first in the world and demonstrates the emphasis on guerilla warfare back in the days.

J 12 has a nickname Air Li Xiangyang.Li Xiangyang, a hero like 007, starred in the film The Plains Guerrillas as a captain of a guerrila of the 8th route army.

Btw, how can I have a custom avatar like you??