The new J-35A fighter jet is Airshow China’s star. Every two years, the southern city of Zhuhai showcases Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector.
The J-35A is lighter than China’s existing model, the J20, and looks more similar in design to a US F-35.
Around 1,022 enterprises from 47 countries and regions participated in the six-day aviation event in Guangdong province’s capital. The number of foreign aviation exhibitors at the event increased to 159 this year from 78 in 2022.
The J-20S was designed by the AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute in Sichuan province based on its J-20 baseline, a single-seat model that was China’s first combat aircraft.
China’s new medium-sized fighter jet, the J-35A, debuted at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai City, south of Beijing. It is China’s second fighter jet, following the J-20.
Chinese composite challenges impact J-20, J-35A and Comac-919
Chinese composites market is expected to import an estimated $20.8 billion by 2030 with a 4.4% increase from 2024 to 2030.
Most Chinese aerospace industries rely on composites from Germany, Sweden, Italy and France. Without composite, baked-meshed material and carbon fibre, Chinese fighter jets stealth properties will remain in question.
The J-20 is restricted to certain weight-to-thrust ratio due to its steel structure and heavy airframe. The J-20 is restricted to carry four air-to-air missiles in its internal weapons bay.
The Chinese composites import market looks promising with opportunities in the Chinese composites opportunities in transportation, marine, wind energy, aerospace, pipes and tanks, construction, electrical and electronics, and consumer goods in end use.
The major growth driver in this market is increasing demand for composites in the transportation industry, growth in building and construction industry and growth in new installation of wind turbines will boost the demand for composite materials.
Emerging Chinese import trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the Chinese composites market, includes modulus glass fiber, production of low cost carbon fiber and growing initiatives for recycling of carbon fiber and spare parts, and increasing penetration of aramid fiber advances in head protection application.
WS-10, WS-13 and WS-15 Engine Problem
In the early 2010s, China could not produce engines for the J-20 due to a lack of technology. Therefore, it either imported and installed Russian Saturn engines or used domestically produced engines with poor performance. Russia also has many unauthorised copying and technology leaks to China, so receiving technology transfers was difficult. Like other countries developing fifth-generation fighter jets had trouble with engines, China also experienced considerable difficulties.
The engine is directly related to the fighter jet’s performance. Still, there are limits to obtaining it in bulk orders from Russia, which served as a significant obstacle to the J-20’s mass production. In the end, China devoted itself to engine development, and in 2014, the amount of money that China planned to spend on engine development over the next 20 years was said to be 300 billion yuan (about 25 trillion won).
In 2017, it was reported that a new WS-10X was developed and began to be installed on the J-20. However, the WS-15, which was initially scheduled to be installed, could not be produced, so the performance of the previous generation engine, WS-10, was hastily improved and installed as a makeshift engine. This is the situation that Hong Kong’s SCMP reported.
It was announced that the domestically produced engine WS-10C will be used in 2021.
The WS-15 test was captured in January 2022, and in March 2022, state media claimed it was successful. Mass production began in 2023.
KLJ-5A Radar problem
The J-20’s avionics, potentially including the Type 1475 (KLJ-5A) AESA radar, suggest it can engage targets beyond visual range. KLJ-5A is a derivative of Zhuk-AME radar originally designed for MiG-35 with a detection range of 90km.
Russia sold the unfinished prototype Zhuk-AME radar to China to be redeveloped as fire control radar for J-20 fighter jet. The radar has limited SAR resolution and limited target discrimination capacity due to its Soviet origin Zhuk-M technology.
The radar and avionics are part of the problem. China, which had also relied on Russian and Israeli radar technology, experienced an export ban, similar to the engine problem. They are turning to in-house development, which has the disadvantage of increasing the technology development period. According to unofficially leaked information, the J-20’s AESA radar is known to be equipped with 285 T/R modules, but there is no detailed information, so its actual performance is still hidden.
Due to radar issues, the J-20 was pessimistically predicted to be a less-than-special model than neighbouring countries’ 4th to 4.5th-generation aircraft (Japan’s F-15J, Korea’s F-15K).
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