Understanding The Chinese Aviation Industry (Part 1)

Hello defence lovers! According to the Global Firepower Index, the Chinese airforce is the third-largest airforce in the world after USA and Russia. In this article, we are going to discuss how the Chinese Aviation Industry evolved over time and how it developed copies of various aircraft from all over the world. The Initial Days of the Chinese Aviation Industry In the 1950s, the Soviet Union shared its technical expertise with other fellow Communists states. Thus during that time, the Soviet Union transferred the technology of Mig-15 to Communist China which it manufactured domestically as Shenyang J2. As the technology evolved in the Soviet Union in the form of Mig-19, China also received the technology transfer. The Chinese started to manufacture these jets from imported kits in the form of Shenyang J-6. These were manufactured in huge numbers. According to some estimates, over 4500 of these jets were produced by China. This is where the Chinese aviation industry started booming. This was the time when the Soviet Union and China constantly supplied military aid to North Vietnam to counter America in the Vietnam War. In 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote to Mao Zedong personally, about the technology transfers of Mig-21. The Mig-21 was one of the finest products of soviet engineering and its design was way ahead of its time. The Soviet Union had a vision for manufacturing the "people's fighter jet" which would be cheap enough to manufacture in large quantities to counter the Western fighter jets which were considered technologically superior. A Chinese delegation was invited to the manufacturing plant at Gorky. This was the first time any foreigner was granted access to this facility. The Chinese were impressed with the design and keenly accepted the offer. Over the next few years, several fighters were sent to China in fly-away conditions. Assembly kits of Mig-21 FL were also sent. These were supposed to be accompanied by detailed blueprints and technical assistance from the Soviet Union. However, following the Sino-Soviet Split, the Soviet Union sent incomplete blueprints and refused technical assistance. Experiments With Soviet Designs Abandoned by the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet Split, the Chinese Aviation Industry resorted to experiments and reverse engineering with the Soviet designs to turn the Mig-21 kits into airworthy assets. Before this, every single aircraft made by the Chinese aviation industry was under Soviet License. Chinese engineers studied the flown-away Mig 21 and reversed engineered some of the components that they were unable to figure out from the original blueprints. Some modifications include a fixed nose cone, a cropped delta wing design, a differently designed fuel tank to improve stability, and a different canopy. The final product was Shenyang J7 which was still inferior to the initial Mig-21 Fishbed. Shenyang J-8/J-8II (improved Mig 21) The Chinese copy of Mig-21 did not actually meet the required performance standard. It was incapable of performing high-altitude long-range interception. Hence the Chinese further experimented with the Mig-21. They developed a twin-engine version which they called Shenyang J-8. However, the program suffered due to repeated changes in technical leadership. The J-8 was finally inducted in the 1980s. By this time the technology used in it was already obsolete. Thus further modifications were made to the design in which the position of air intake was changed. Instead of the nose cone air intake, lateral intake was used. The Chinese tried to copy the design philosophy of Mig 23 and the American F-4 Phantom. The airframe was reworked. Now the airframe had a bigger nose cone to accommodate bigger and better pulse doppler radar. Various other components were improved. The final result was Shenyang J-8II or J-8B. The Chinese built over 400 J-8/J-8II. These jets are still in service with the PLAAF. Nanchang Q-5 (Ground attack versions of Mig-19) The Shenyang J-6, the Chinese copy of Mig-19 was further modified for ground attack roles and close air support. The fuselage was redesigned. Air intakes were shifted from nose to side of the fuselage near wing roots. However, no targeting radar was ever fixed in the empty nose cone. This modified jet was named Q-5. China produced over 1200 of these jets. These were exported to other countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sudan. Stealing Soviet Designs? In the previous section, we saw how during the initial days of the Cold war, the Soviet Union willingly shared its fighter jet technology with its fellow communist country China and later how Chinese engineers experimented with those designs and made their own fighter jets. In this section, we will see how the Chinese Aviation Industry got the capability of manufacturing transport aircraft by stealing Soviet designs. Xian Y-7 In the 1960s, the Chinese Airforce initially imported a handful of Antonov An 24s. These aircraft were deeply studied by Chinese engineers. Parallelly the Chinese government negotiated for license manufacturing of the aircraft and its engine in China which failed subsequently due to political tensions arising from the Sino-Soviet split. in such as situation the engineers were successful in reverse-engineering the original design. Soon local production began. The locally-made An-24 was named Xian Y-7. This was direct theft of Soviet intellectual property. Shaanxi Y-8 The story of Shaanxi Y-8 is similar to that of Xian Y-7. Initially, China imported some An-12s and locally assembled kits supplied by the Soviet Union. Following the Sino-Soviet Split, the Soviets stopped supplying the An-12 kits. Thus China reverse engineered the An 12 and designated it as Y-8. With time China kept improving the design. Today it is one of the workhorses of the PLAAF transport fleet. Tankers and AWACS were also made on this platform. To Be Continued... In the next part of the article, we will discuss how the Chinese aviation Industry evolved from reverse engineering Soviet designs to developing their indigenous fighter to stealing western designs through cyber espionage. We will also discuss how China has developed the jet engine manufacturing capability. Till then, stay tuned for upcoming articles and follow Defence Xp for more such interesting articles.