Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

plawolf

Lieutenant General
Clearly this is one of those articles which no one in the know is supposed to even consider as serious.

Western publications are absolutely worthless when it comes to reporting on Chinese military developments on the whole because they don't have the contacts (or any contacts for the vast majority of cases).

The only exceptions are the pieces they run on the PAF when they actually bother to do some real journalism and interview people in the know who actually have access to hard data and real equipment. Thise articles and the few times when a Chinese designer actually gives an interview to a western publication are the only times their articles are even worth the time and effort to read.

Every other piece those publications put out on the Chinese military are without exception pure trash. Those articles are just a highly selective repeat of forum posts that the author liked or flippant sound bites from people who might know a thing or two about the western defense establishment, but who are completely out of their depths when it comes to China.

The bulk of what these people say, and the articles that use them as 'experts' are just quota filling pieces written because people want to know and the publications feel they need to cover China rather than because they have anything worth while to say about China. It's completely backwards jurnaulism, and that's why it's so terrible.
 

stardave

Junior Member
Why do they say that WS-10 is still plagued by problems? J-20 will be propelled by WS-15 anyway.

j-10B and J-11B are propelled by WS-10, not russian engines.

I think that those 123 engines are for j-10A and J-11A

Wasnt the whole "Su-35 request" story debunked by PLA ?

I was under the impression that WS-10 still have problems, which is not ready as AL-31 yet.

Also if China can't develop WS-10 well, it is likely they will have problem making WS-15 anyway.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I was under the impression that WS-10 still have problems, which is not ready as AL-31 yet.

Also if China can't develop WS-10 well, it is likely they will have problem making WS-15 anyway.

WS-10 is in service with all new build J-11B/BSs since around 2009 and PLAAF seem content with it.

The only problem they're having is that shenyang liminig cannot seem to produce enough of them.

And different companies are working on WS-10 (shenyang liming) and WS-15 (XAEC)
 

stardave

Junior Member
WS-10 is in service with all new build J-11B/BSs since around 2009 and PLAAF seem content with it.

The only problem they're having is that shenyang liminig cannot seem to produce enough of them.

And different companies are working on WS-10 (shenyang liming) and WS-15 (XAEC)

Last news I heard about WS-10 is that it have 3 major problems.
1, it have a very short life time, even shorter than AL-31.
2, the overall thrust is good, but the time it take to increase thrust is slow, which makes acceleration lacking.
3, the production quality is unreliable, the defect rate is very high among new production.

Have they solve all of those issues?
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Last news I heard about WS-10 is that it have 3 major problems.
1, it have a very short life time, even shorter than AL-31.
2, the overall thrust is good, but the time it take to increase thrust is slow, which makes acceleration lacking.
3, the production quality is unreliable, the defect rate is very high among new production.

Have they solve all of those issues?

1 -- I believe that travesty of a statement first popped up from a washington post article. The claim is completely unsubstantiated in the first place and should not have been taken seriously at all given its source.
2 + 3 -- the fact that WS-10 is now in serial production for J-11B/BS and is being tested aboard J-10B makes me think yes those problems, if they existed, and many other real problems which we did not near about, are fixed, or at the very least the engine now meets current PLAAF requirements.

The fact that WS-10 was delayed for a few years before mass production in 2009 ish re commenced was due to quality control issues in mass production, that is why the initial batch of J-11Bs were equipped with Al-31s and every batch since then with WS-10s.
 

stardave

Junior Member
1 -- I believe that travesty of a statement first popped up from a washington post article. The claim is completely unsubstantiated in the first place and should not have been taken seriously at all given its source.
2 + 3 -- the fact that WS-10 is now in serial production for J-11B/BS and is being tested aboard J-10B makes me think yes those problems, if they existed, and many other real problems which we did not near about, are fixed, or at the very least the engine now meets current PLAAF requirements.

The fact that WS-10 was delayed for a few years before mass production in 2009 ish re commenced was due to quality control issues in mass production, that is why the initial batch of J-11Bs were equipped with Al-31s and every batch since then with WS-10s.

Is there a number of how many WS-10 have been produced and fitted on J-11Bs. And how many are being produced each month/years.

Also I assume J-10B will use WS-10 as well right?

And have there been talk of Thrust vectoring versions?
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Is there a number of how many WS-10 have been produced and fitted on J-11Bs. And how many are being produced each month/years.

Also I assume J-10B will use WS-10 as well right?

And have there been talk of Thrust vectoring versions?

If we know how many J-11B/BS have been produced since the first batch we can extrapolate out an "at least X have been produced" number, and from there, a yearly rate. But obviously we don't know exactly how many are being built per month.

People believe J-10B will use WS-10 when it enters service, but honestly who knows.

I would be surprised if they haven't at least looked at TVC for WS-10, and it's certainly not an impossiblity but whether they actually pursue it is another thing, because TVC brings its own baggage as well.
 

stardave

Junior Member
If what you says is true, if China have mastered WS-10, that means China is now truly self sufficient in fighter production. And this is pretty huge.
 

jobjed

Captain
If what you says is true, if China have mastered WS-10, that means China is now truly self sufficient in fighter production. And this is pretty huge.

China mastering the WS-10 is old news. We've already established the current orders of the Al-31 are for replacing the worn out ones on the J-10s.
 
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