Analysis: China's fighter planes -- Part 1
Published: May 29, 2008 at 4:39 PM
By ANDREI CHANG
HONG KONG, May 29 (UPI) -- Front-line combat units of China's People's Liberation Army air force will have at least 112 J-10 fighter jets by the end of the year, an analysis of current deployments and in-progress production reveals.
There are multiple indications that the 2nd Regiment of the No. 1 Division of the People's Liberation Army air force has received a full complement of the domestic-made, next-generation fighter jets run by the 4th J-10 -- J-10A -- Fighter Regiment.
Each such regiment normally is equipped with 28 fighters; 28 link-structured aircraft hangars have been constructed at Chifeng Air Base, where the regiment is based. The exterior structure of these hangars is very similar to those at the Changxing Air Base run by the No. 3 Division, and the runway at Chifeng seems to have undergone renovation.
The PLA air force currently has three other J-10 regiments. They are the 132nd Regiment under the No. 44 Division, based at Luliang in southern Yunnan province, the 8th Regiment under No. 3 Division, based at Changxing in the east coast province of Zhejiang, and the 5th Regiment under the No. 2 Division, based at Guilin in the southeast province of Guangxi, which borders Vietnam.
An educated guess puts the number of J-10A fighter jets that China has already manufactured at 120. Within this year, China is expected to receive a new batch of 50 Russian-made AL31FN engines, bringing the total number of these imported engines to 304.
China has been importing engines at a ratio of two for every one completed fighter jet, presumably for backup. This means the PLA air force already has enough engines to provide aircraft for a 5th J-10 Fighter Regiment. It can be concluded that the fighters currently under manufacture are for this fifth regiment, due to be completed in 2009.
The J-10 fighter deployment within the PLA air force basically has followed the same pattern as that of the earlier Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighters and China's domestic version, the J-11. At least one J-10 regiment is first established in the air force division of each major military region, so that these air force units can become familiar with the operation of third-generation fighters. This practice is also intended to achieve balanced development of each military region.
The regiments that have received J-10 fighters all have had experience using J-11 fighters -- for instance, the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 Divisions. The only exception is the No. 44 Division, which was the first one to receive J-10 fighters.
This may be because the division's 132nd Regiment, stationed at Luliang, is far from the Taiwan Strait and therefore it would have been easier to conceal the aircrafts' deployment there. Moreover, Luliang is geographically close to Vietnam and India. India is quite familiar with Russian Sukhoi fighters, and thus it makes sense to deploy J-10A fighters in this region first.
It is significant that the No. 1 Division in north China is among the first bases to receive a complement of J-10 fighters.
Next: Strengthening military power in Shandong
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(Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)
