JH-7/JH-7A/JH-7B Thread
- Thread starter MIGleader
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Forgive my ignorance since I'm relatively new but JH-7B? Are there new JH-7s in development or testing? Weren't they going to be all phased out soon by more capable J-16s?A JH-7B prototype carrying a YJ-12.
by78
General
There is no JH-7 variant under active development. JH-7B was an abortive program that lost out to the J-16 years ago.
Yep. JH-7 as a type is being gradually retired. AFAIK, all the original JH-7 (made in 1990s and early 2000s) have been retired, with the JH-7A (made in mid 2000s to start of 2010), still serving. But given the huge annual production rate of modern jets, even those may see retirement in the coming years.
JH-7 has some design defects that make it dangerous to fly at high AOA at low speeds/altitude. Phasing them out gradually is the right thing to do.
It was an obsolescent design when it entered service. It can still lug stand-off weapons around but the design itself is really outdated now.
What the JH-7 programme did achieve was a massive boost to China's aircraft design capabilities, and this should not be understated.
An aircraft that was without bell and whistle, doing its job.
Descent range, payload and speed, no design exhuberances, just a tool that deliver.
More or less in the shadow, mostly some whispers about it in the airplane magazines here in North America for almost 10 years. In think I saw some pictures in aviation weeks in the late 90s, popping from nowhere while it was starting to fly 10 years before.
We sometime forget that it helped China master turbofan engines with the WS9 series, build in number from the blueprints of the spey.
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