DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT IN CHINA

摘要

The state-owned Chinese Aircraft Corporation AVIC I has charged the company Shenfei or Shenyang Aircraft Industry Co. (SAC) to head research and development of an advanced J-X (or XXJ) heavy fighter comparable with fourth-generation fighters. The designation XXJ was given to the advanced Chinese combat plane by US Office of Naval Intelligence and the aircraft was sketched in broad outline in 1997 within several years after the project has been launched. At that time it was speculated that the company Chenfei or Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was developing the aircraft and this view was prevailing some time until, according to reports from American sources in early 2001, it was disclosed that the plane's aerodynamic configuration had been markedly modified, which was attributed to Sukhoi Design Bureau aircraft's influence. Since then SAC came to be regarded a more likely prime developer, though both the firms have been supposedly developing designs for the new aircraft on a competitive basis. Several sources say that Research Institute No. 601 in cooperation with SAC and for some time the Research Institute No. 611 jointly with CAC have been conducting parallel conceptual studies on the twin-engine plane. A 611/SAC's variant is likely referred to as J13, whereas the competitive one - J12.