Xi’an JH-7A Flying Leopard

     Notes: This aircraft was at first rejected by the Chinese military in favor of the Su-27.  Its low-thrust engines do not lend themselves to speed or lifting capability, and weapons load is small for an aircraft of its size.  The two wingtip hardpoints may be used only for air-to-air missiles. 

     Twilight 2000v1/2/2.2 Notes: With the escalation of hostilities between China and Russia, the supply of Su-27s to China was abruptly cut off.  The JH-7A was thus put into high production.

     Twilight 2013 Thoroughly disappointed with JH-7A, the Chinese never exported it and kept it around only for ground defense and strikes in low-threat targets.

     Twilight 2035: The JH-7A is long out service, finding homes in museums or ignoble ends on bombing ranges.

Shenyang J-16 Red Eagle

     Notes: The J-16 began as a license-built Su-30MKK (called J-11A in China), imported from Russia.  However, the original aircraft diverged significantly from the Su-30MKK, and earned the right to be considered its own aircraft.  It was modified/designed to replace the disappointing JH-7, and had almost totally replaced it in the PLAAF by 2018.  The airframe and most of the working parts are those of the Su-30MKK, but the avionics, engines, and flight computers are all of Chinese make and tailored for its mission as a strikefighter. The J-16 is similar in role and capabilities to the US F/A-18E/F.

     The attack suite is formed around a new AESA radar which also has ground attack and look-down shoot-down capabilities.  Most Chinese AAMs can be carried, even to the exclusion of other ordnance if necessary.  Thus, the J-16 can also function as an interceptor or an escort fighter, though it’s primary role is that of a strike aircraft with some air-to-air capability.  The J-16 also has an updated version of the VADS system called EOTS (Electro-Optical Targeting System), which greatly enhances the BVR engagement range and allows the J-16 to fire against ground targets and air-to air targets, depending upon the ordnance used, before the aircraft is within the engagement range of most SAMs and AAA.  If all that fails, the J-16 has IRST capability. Perhaps one of the most easily-seen differences is the two-seat tandem cockpit, with a pilot and a WSO in the rear. The J-16 is capable of carrying almost all Chinese air-to-ground and air-to-air munitions.  The J-16 is also often seen carrying ECM and IRCM jamming pods, and pods with extra flares and chaff. This is in addition to the J-16’s own internal jammers. In the starboard wing is a GSh-30-1 30mm autocannon.

     The J-16 makes use of many panels of RAM and carbon fiber construction, giving it a smaller RCS.  The engines are a pair of WS-10A turbofans with afterburning; though these are based on the original engines that came with the Su-30MKK, which are themselves are close copies of the American F101.They develop 22000 pounds of thrust dry, or 33000 pounds each in afterburner. The cockpit sits in a titanium “bathtub” similar to that of the Russian SU-25, though not as strong as the A-10’s cockpit armor.

     Though originally designed as a land-based aircraft, the PLAN has also taken delivery of six J-16s, to give it’s one aircraft carrier a significant strike capability.  This is opposite from the normal deployment routine – normally, the PLAN gets first pick of new aircraft and air-launched weapons.

J-16D

     The D variant of the J-16 is also known as the Red Eagle (or its Chinese translation of that); however, instead of being a strike aircraft, it is an electronic warfare aircraft, carrying a combination of ECM/ECCM/IRCM/Radio Jamming pods and ARMs.  It is similar in concept and function, though reportedly not in capability, to the US Navy’s EA-18G Growler, with the wing hardpoints carrying two or four EW pods, the wingtips carrying light ARMs, EW pods, sensors, designators, or even chaff and flare pods, and two or four of the hardpoints carrying two heavy or four light ARMs.  The centerline hardpoint is wet and normally carries an extra fuel tank, though it too can carry a jamming pod or clusters of heavy or light ARMs.  The J-16D is also capable of employing heat-seeking missiles or other non-ARM munitions; it does have a laser designator and can launch GPS-guided munitions, in pursuit of its SEAD mission.  Though early reports place it as being not quite as effective in the EW field as the Growler, it is probably very close in capability, as the Chinese are known to have a strong electronics-manufacturing and testing capability, and though they can’t seem to produce a jet engine worth a damn, their avionics almost equal European designs and even rival those of the Americans.

     One thing the J-16D is not meant to do is get in short-range knife fights; in fact, the J-16D has no internal cannon (the gun being replaced with avionics) and has no IRST (having replaced with a more powerful AESA radar setup). In fact, the entire radome is reshaped to accommodate this more powerful radar. The surface of the aircraft is festooned with a plethora of conformal radar receivers, radio antennas, radar detectors and analyzers (to determine the exact frequency of incoming radar emissions to more precisely jam radar, IR tracks, and radios), making them easier to jam, MIJI, spoof, or otherwise make them less effective or completely ineffective.

     They say that every plus has an equal minus, and the J-16D’s is air-to-air combat.  Supposedly, a fully-loaded J-16D maneuvers like a pig, and if you are in a fighter or even many attack aircraft, and you catch up with a J-16D, it is a sitting duck in most cases.

     Twilight 2000 v1: These aircraft do not exist in the Twilight 2000 v1 timeline.

     Twilight 2000 v2/2.2: Despite the early embargo the Russians put on technology transfer with the Chinese, espionage and reverse engineering really paid off in this case.

     Twilight 2013: This was one of the most numerous Chinese attack aircraft,

     Twilight 2035: Despite being a bit dated in a world dominated by 5^th generation aircraft, the J-16 managed to largely retain its relevance,

*The cockpit and canopy have light extra armor and is AV7.