Chinese AESA development

With the publicity around the new J-20 figher, I see some foreign news articles commenting that China still lags behind because they still haven't fielded AESA radars.

Now, first of all I realize this is false, as they sure have fielded AESA radars, but on fighters? Well that's another matter.

There's AESA radars on the 052C destroyers and the KJ-2000 AWACS planes (and I think we're reasonably sure they'll be on the carrier). But are we sure there are operational AESA radars elsewhere? I've read time and again that we suspect AESA to be on J-10B and J-20, but do we know this as a fact? How far along are they? Are there other AESA developments? I need facts to calm my nerves when I read China-bashing articles relating to AESA radars.

PS: I've also seen some more experienced members on this forum commenting how Russia still haven't fielded any AESA on their fighters either. So how does this compare?

PPS: This might have been answered before, but so far I've only seen bits and pieces here and there. No overview.

Both 14th insistute and the National Radar/Electrionics Insititue (NREI) have produced prototype AESA radars for J-20, both prototype radars are X-band AESA radar and contain 2000+ T/R modules, there is a open competition there and 14th insitute won the competition easily (14th insistute is considerably larger and finanically stronger than NREI), thus their AESA has been selected as the radar for this fighter roughly 2 years ago.

I have posted links about this a year ago, from the official new sources, and there is also a paper written by the president of NREI on this topic, even through being the loser-side of the competition, he is still very confident about the research status of AESA radar in China (in his article he believe the only one who is in a slight lead in this area is USA,lol).

AESA radar is certainly not the issue for this fighter, the development stage of the AESA radar for J-20, judging by the published articles written by the ones who are in charge of the programme, is at least comparable to the status of the AESA radar for F-22 @ year 2002.

Thank you so much for your input!

That would be nice, because supposedly, f-22 only has 1500 T/R modules, and f-35 only 1000.

Keep in mind that it's not just the number of modules but how efficient each module is. More is not necessarily always better.

Didn't the j-10B have AESA radar judging by its slanted curve of its nose?

^^ J-10B has kinda lost its importance because the J-20! I wish there was more information on the progress of J-10B, which in my opinion would be inducted before the J-20. Technology's refinement and maturity makes the J-10B very important fighter-jet. Incorporation of AESA Radar, Divertless Supersonic Intakes (DSI), Thrust Vector Control (TVC), Conformal Fuel Tanks? (CFT?) and FWS-10 Engines. It is imperative for PLAAF power projection and should be the focus of attention with regards to the full-scale production of J-10B.

A fighter of J-10B's & J-11B's class has more than enough capability in it to challenge USAF's F-15s & F-16s! Also, J-15s is as important for PLAN and further refinements to the aircraft would ensure that PLAN can match USN's F/A-18E/Fs!

J-20 will certainly take more than five years before it is ready for service, while J-10 might go into production this year or next. The aircraft also have a very different function, so I would think that when the decision is (or was) taken to produce J-10B there can be no reason to consider the progress of J-20.

latenlazy said:

Keep in mind that it's not just the number of modules but how efficient each module is. More is not necessarily always better.

Click to expand...

Well, more modules IS better, with a given quality, "efficiency" and whatever. I.e., the f-22's radar is unquestionably better than the f-35 radar. As to the comparison between these and the J-20's radar, assuming the information is right, it would mean one of two things: a) Chinese are ahead of the US in terms of miniaturization, or b) the J-20 simply fits a bigger radar. I would vote for the second alternative, although I would not be surprised if any gap existing between the US and China in radar technology closes before this airplane is in production. 5-7 years of development is a very very long time at China's pace of technological growth. My point is that there is an advantage in having an airframe that can fit a bigger array of t/r modules.

Red Moon said:

Well, more modules IS better, with a given quality, "efficiency" and whatever. I.e., the f-22's radar is unquestionably better than the f-35 radar. As to the comparison between these and the J-20's radar, assuming the information is right, it would mean one of two things: a) Chinese are ahead of the US in terms of miniaturization, or b) the J-20 simply fits a bigger radar. I would vote for the second alternative, although I would not be surprised if any gap existing between the US and China in radar technology closes before this airplane is in production. 5-7 years of development is a very very long time at China's pace of technological growth. My point is that there is an advantage in having an airframe that can fit a bigger array of t/r modules.

Click to expand...

"China is ahead of US in terms of miniturazation"???!!! could you provide proof.