J-10 Thread IV

This pic confuses me. This looks like a J-10B/C at first sight but then I noticed no IRST. The HUD looks like that of the A version but I can't figure out if the MFD's are the small or larger ones. Maybe the lighting of the radome is confusing me or this is a J-10 with a different nosecone????

EDIT: Nvm I think it's a J-10S but the lightening on the radome was confusing me

sequ said:

This pic confuses me. This looks like a J-10B/C at first sight but then I noticed no IRST. The HUD looks like that of the A version but I can't figure out if the MFD's are the small or larger ones. Maybe the lighting of the radome is confusing me or this is a J-10 with a different nosecone????

EDIT: Nvm I think it's a J-10S but the lightening on the radome was confusing me

Click to expand...

Note the pitot tube on the nose cone.

by78 said:

Note the pitot tube on the nose cone.

Click to expand...

Need to look at the canopy to tell a J-10S from a J-10A. In the picture, the fourth plane's opened canopy reveals J-10S.

Based on the length and clearance of opened canopies, the nearby three jets are J-10A and the other three are J-10S.

sequ said:

This pic confuses me. This looks like a J-10B/C at first sight but then I noticed no IRST. The HUD looks like that of the A version but I can't figure out if the MFD's are the small or larger ones. Maybe the lighting of the radome is confusing me or this is a J-10 with a different nosecone????

EDIT: Nvm I think it's a J-10S but the lightening on the radome was confusing me

Click to expand...

xyqq said:

Need to look at the canopy to tell a J-10S from a J-10A. In the picture, the fourth plane's opened canopy reveals J-10S.

Click to expand...

You need to read (or re-read) the original comment to which I replied.

It's definitely true that part of the rationale for installing the AL-31F in the J-10 first was that this engine was a known quantity while the WS-10 wasn't. However, the original plan was a different one, the AL-31F was a short-notice emergency solution and as Hyperwarp says, even in the J-11 the WS-10 initially could not cut it. It's clear that this approach wasn't merely an overabundance of caution, there were known issues of a magnitude that twice forced a departure from the intended path.

As for the rocky start of the F110's career:





Not an auspicious record for an engine that was supposed to help solve reliability issues (it still did, in a way, as such problems now grounded only one engine sub-fleet, but aspirations would have been a lot higher). As often is the case, people's memories are short when touting the reliability of Western hardware.

Tirdent said:

It's definitely true that part of the rationale for installing the AL-31F in the J-10 first was that this engine was a known quantity while the WS-10 wasn't. However, the original plan was a different one, the AL-31F was a short-notice emergency solution and as Hyperwarp says, even in the J-11 the WS-10 initially could not cut it. It's clear that this approach wasn't merely an overabundance of caution, there were known issues of a magnitude that twice forced a departure from the intended path.

***

Click to expand...

While the J-11 with WS-10 was grounded due to reliability issues, the engines were in flyable although with very poor MTBO. For the J-10 from what I understood, the engine simply didn't exist at all for the slated 1st flight in 1996. So they had to be re-engined with AL-31FN. This caused parts of the aircraft design itself (such as the intake) to change. Here are some pics from a full-scale mock-up from 1991 (, , ).

J-10B led by a tug.

(1451 × 1080)


(1600 × 1067)

Image of J-10C from K72U. J-10A from K72 participated in Falcon Strikes 2017.

J-10CE, the export version of J-10C at Dubai Airshow 2019.