Chinese Radar Developments - KLJ series and others

mister unknown · Feb 19, 2026

Anyone have any info/speculation on the status of next gen GaN AESA radars for the PLA? What's the likelihood that later variants of 6th gen platforms can deploy next gen radars with materials such as GaN on diamond or Gallium oxide?

Given the conservative nature of the PLA, I understand that the LRIP/IOC variants of 6th gen fighters will likely use existing GaN AESA radars. But perhaps later variants will mature in time to equip subsequent variants?

tphuang · Feb 19, 2026

siegecrossbow said:
If they are going into military research then technically they should be subject to bans. Really depends on how good China is at enforcing them.

These things are dual use by nature. Routine 4th gen semi development is not military research but that tech can be used into MMIC in the future.

zyklon said:
Japan, in particular
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, produces a not insignificant quantity of refined gallium from recycling. So the Japanese are most likely relying on domestic gallium supply chains for defense R&D and production.

Yes, this is definitely happening but China is also still exporting gallium to Japan. Amazingly.

tphuang · Feb 19, 2026

mister unknown said:
Anyone have any info/speculation on the status of next gen GaN AESA radars for the PLA? What's the likelihood that later variants of 6th gen platforms can deploy next gen radars with materials such as GaN on diamond or Gallium oxide?

Given the conservative nature of the PLA, I understand that the LRIP/IOC variants of 6th gen fighters will likely use existing GaN AESA radars. But perhaps later variants will mature in time to equip subsequent variants?

Diamond substrate IC should be going through tests already. There is nothing risky or immature there. All the satellite RF and same with 6G stuff could use them.

mister unknown · Feb 19, 2026

tphuang said:
Diamond substrate IC should be going through tests already. There is nothing risky or immature there. All the satellite RF and same with 6G stuff could use them.

I didn't know it was that far along already. In that case, I'm hoping it'll show up on the IOC versions of the J-36 & J-XDS.

henrik · Feb 19, 2026

tphuang said:
These things are dual use by nature. Routine 4th gen semi development is not military research but that tech can be used into MMIC in the future.

Yes, this is definitely happening but China is also still exporting gallium to Japan. Amazingly.

Is there anyway of reminding them not to export to Japan?

bebops · Feb 19, 2026

ougoah said:
The "realest" lead China holds in military aviation.

Gen 1: GaA = India, Russia

Gen 2: GaN = US struggling to finalise and get mass production on, some European major players e.g. Leonardo, this material is dated in PLAAF

Gen 3: GaN on Si = mainstay in PLAAF

Gen 4: GaN on SiC = heard about for the last year, fielded on latest PLAAF/PLANAF fighters and probably heavy unmanned platforms.

PLA is literally 2 generations ahead of US in conventional phased array radar tech. Backend processing unknown but likely to be leading too since China basically lapped the world and ahead of the US in those peripheral technology fields.

What does each gen means and do? Basically longer detection range?

ougoah · Feb 19, 2026

bebops said:
What does each gen means and do? Basically longer detection range?

Each generation here is separated by material and possibly other factors eg processing. Translates into improved performance, one parameter being detection range.

mister unknown · Feb 20, 2026

tphuang said:
Diamond substrate IC should be going through tests already. There is nothing risky or immature there. All the satellite RF and same with 6G stuff could use them.

A follow-up question: granted diamond substrate is already in civilian tech, but I presume military grade tech would require a far greater deal of reliability & durability relative to civilian products (even though the semiconductor itself is likely to use relatively more mature mfg nodes).

If you had to make an educated guess, do you think diamond substrates will mature enough in time to equip earlier versions of 6th gen platforms?

tphuang · Feb 20, 2026

mister unknown said:
A follow-up question: granted diamond substrate is already in civilian tech, but I presume military grade tech would require a far greater deal of reliability & durability relative to civilian products (even though the semiconductor itself is likely to use relatively more mature mfg nodes).

If you had to make an educated guess, do you think diamond substrates will mature enough in time to equip earlier versions of 6th gen platforms?

If you look up semi thread, CETC is already testing out GaN-on-Diamond ICs. I would say gallium oxide is farther away than diamond substrate.

Alfa_Particle · May 8, 2026

Just saw a potentially egregious claim saying that Chinese parallel processing standards (regarding RDPS/RSPs) are crap, and I quote "their FPGAs and ASICs domestically are consistently couple generations behind. And still a large part are imports that are not top notch. Not close to top Xilinx or Altera architectures."

I'm certainly not the most well-versed in this field but I do remember vaguely reading literature that makes me think that's absolutely not the case. I'd appreciate if someone can correct me or debunk this. @tphuang?

Chinese Radar Developments - KLJ series and others

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tphuang

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henrik

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bebops

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ougoah

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