Chinese jets train over Tibet

[Neil]

J-10 fighters of the Chinese Air Force have conducted ground attack training over the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the first operation of its kind, it was reported Thursday.

According to a report and photos released by the PLA Daily, the ground crew of the J-10 regiment fueled the fighters and loaded ammunition on the 3,500-meter-high plateau at temperatures below -20 C.

The fighters scrambled and attacked the targets with conventional bombs and laser-guided bombs. Sorties were made both during the day and at night, Global Times said.

Wednesday's reports were the second time that state media released photos of the J-10 fighter using laser-guided bombs.

In a joint massive live fire drill in October that incorporated air forces and Air defense units as well as armour and artillery units, also held in Tibet, the J-10 showed off its precise ground attack ability, the ministry of defense said on its website.

The J-10"²s activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been relatively frequent in the past months, it said.

The J-10"²s primary air combat weapon, the active radar homing mid-range missile dubbed PL-12, is a fourth generation radar-homing air-to-air missile.




Chinese jets train over Tibet | idrw.org

 

[sorcerer]

PERSPECTIVE: The Indian Air Force must prepare for Chinese fighters in Tibet
News reports have appeared in the Indian media about the presence of the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter at Daocheng Yading in Tibet, the highest civilian airport in the world.

One article features a photograph of a J-20 on rain-swept tarmac, with the aircraft draped in a camouflage net - in a desert camouflage pattern!

Surprisingly, there are no chocks on the wheels (to stop the aircraft from rolling) and the photograph shows a small hill in the background. No identifiable features of the airport are visible.

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A top-secret Chinese stealth fighter, the J-20, was recently spotted in Tibet close to the Arunachal Pradesh border

The photographs, as per the article, appeared in China on the micro-blogging site Weibo, and on two websites just “days before PM Narendra Modi travels to China for G-20” and “days after China warned India against deploying BrahMos missile along the Himalayas”.

A news brief was also carried as a lead item by its national television arm, and the two conveyed an alarmist view of an event that otherwise is a normal milestone in the development cycle of a new aeroplane.

Unfortunately, this view has been generated by many other media articles too, one of which stated that China has moved a stealth fighter into Tibet!

It is time a professional assessment of the ‘sighting’ of the J-20 in Tibet is undertaken.

That the J-20 programme has entered the Low Rate of Initial Production has been widely reported in the press, both Chinese and Western.

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File photo of PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met in May 2016

After the first prototype flew on January 11, 2011, seven more prototypes have been built for various phases of testing.

The test flying has proceeded at a very fast pace such that the first Squadron would reportedly be established in 2017, with aircraft getting Initial Operational Clearance.

Many photographs of the aircraft have also appeared, but surprisingly there have been no images of two J-20s flying together or any armament being fired (only images of open weapons bays are available).

The deductions with this type of background information are: The prototype testing of the J-20 is still a work in progress.

Even though the first squadron may be raised by 2017, the operational capability would not be that of a fully operational squadron as some clearances would come only after all aspects of the flight envelope are explored.

The squadron would, in parallel, work up the standard operating procedures and train pilots in basic handling and procedures of the J-20.

The aircraft is powered by Russian engines which do not give it super cruise capability (speed more than the speed of sound with no afterburner).

Thus, the J-20 is not a true fifth generation fighter at present. The super cruise capability may come once the indigenous WS-15 engine gets cleared - this is still some distance away as the Chinese are facing problems of reliability in indigenous power plants.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahom...are-Chinese-fighters-Tibet.html#ixzz4JSEVDmKA
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