In a previous blog post, I talked to you about a set of history about the development and construction of engines in our country, such as: turbofan 10, turbofan 15, and so on. Today, we're going to talk about our country's medium-thrust engines, like the 13, 19, and so on. You must know that the engines used in various types of aircraft are different, such as high thrust, twin engines, and twin engine medium thrust ......Compared with Europe and the United States, which kind of turbo 19 can be counted in China?
US Air Force F18E F aircraft carrier.
Different types of aircraft, in the early stage of design, the overall design of the aircraft, as well as the specific positioning and other aspects, in order to select the most suitable engine. For example, the American F22 and F15, the Chinese J-20 and 16, and the Russian Su-57 and Su-35 all use two engines and a high-thrust engine, which are all heavy fighters with extremely high standards in combat radius, supersonic cruise, payload capacity, etc.
Aircraft such as the American F35 and F16 and the Chinese J-10 all use single-engine and high-thrust engines. However, medium-sized fighters with two engines, such as the FA18 of the United States, the J-35 of China, the MiG-29 of Russia, the Rafale of France, the Typhoon of Europe, and the KF21 of South Korea, are medium fighters with two engines.
"Hurricane" in the propulsion mode in the European twin engines
It is important to know that different models of fighters differ only in their respective positions, and engines with high and medium thrust are just the tasks that need and perform, and there is no difference. In addition to this, there is also a type of light fighter, such as the Chinese Thunder, the Indian "Tejour", etc., which usually use this engine. In fact, the vast majority of aircraft carriers are twin-engine. Taking into account the needs of the Navy, two engines are more suitable.
The American F35 and FA18, the Russian MiG-29 K, the French Rafale, the Chinese J-15, are currently among the largest aircraft carriers in the world. In addition, the Chinese J-35 is gradually maturing, but it has not yet been mass-produced, delivered to the army.
French twin-engine mid-propelled Rafale.
Among them, the American F35 and China's J-15 are the two most distinctive. The American F35 fighter uses a single-cylinder high-thrust engine, while the Chinese J-15 is a large aircraft with a high size and take-off mass, so it uses two engines, one with a high-thrust engine. The remaining aircraft also use twin-engine and medium-thrust engines.
We all know that our country has developed in this area because of our lack of sufficient experience, but also because of our international technological blockade. For example, in the early 21st century, our mass-produced J-10 A, J-11 B, etc., all used the high-thrust engine AL31 introduced by Russia. It was not until 2010 that the domestic turbo 10 engine gradually matured, and fighters such as J-10 C and J-16 also began to use domestic turbocharged 10 on a large scale.
F35 type aircraft carrier, using a primary engine, high-thrust engine.
On the aircraft carrier, China's J-15 aircraft carrier has always used Russian AL31 engines to ensure its technical stability. Until the eve of the New Year in 2024, there was only news about the fact that the base model of the J-15 was equipped with a turbocharged 10 series engine. From this point on, the J-15 base type will gradually replace the turbofan 10, the same model of the engine, which is convenient for logistics service and maintenance.
For medium-sized propulsion engines, there are similar problems in China. For example, the "Thunder" we developed for Pakistan had to import the RD93 from Russia because there was no matching engine. The RD93 is a new type of aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in the last century, and in terms of its existing performance, it also faces many shortcomings such as insufficient thrust, large size, and high fuel consumption.
J-15 aircraft carrier, upgraded to Turbo 10
Russian RD93 engine, which can push up to 50 kN, has a maximum thrust of 813 kn, weight 1055 kg. Russian engines alone are far from enough. Especially for fighter jets exported abroad, the engine is controlled by other countries, which in itself is a very uncomfortable thing. In order to fill the shortcomings of domestic medium-sized thrust engines, we have taken the Russian RD93 model as a blueprint and copied and improved it in depth.
Finally, we developed the Turbo 13. According to the information published at the air show, this turbo-13 engine has a maximum thrust of 5675 kn with a maximum thrust of 8637 kn with a total weight of 1135 kg. From this point you can see that its overall performance is much better than the original RD93. For example, the Thunder that we export to Pakistan is already replacing the turbocharged 13 engine.
The J-35 is gradually maturing and finalized.
At the same time, the J-35 aircraft carrier we developed is currently using two turbocharged Type 13. However, the basis of the J-13 is still derived from the RD93, and although some technical upgrades have been made, it leaves much to be desired in terms of structure. In this regard, the performance of this turbo 13 is still some distance from the most advanced medium-push engine in the world.
Take the F414-GE-400 engine, which was recently developed by the United States, for example, which is a new medium-sized propulsion engine introduced by the United States in the late 1990s. This is also standard equipment on American F18 aircraft carriers. In addition to this, there are fighters of such models as the South Korean KF21 and the Indian "Tej" "Tej", which are equipped with engines of this model. F414-GE-400 engine with a maximum thrust of 578 kn with a maximum thrust of 979 kn。
The French Gale M fighter with two M88-2E4 turbocharged engines provides 50 kN of military thrust and 75 kN of power. And the M88-2E4 turbofan engine produced in France, its total weight is only 897 kg, which is much smaller than the turbofan 13 and the American F414. The European Hurricane fighter is armed with 2 EJ270 engines with a total weight of about 980 kg and a maximum power of up to 90 kN. From this point of view, there is still a big gap between the J-13 and the world-class mainstream models.
In terms of weight, combined thrust, and reliability, the Turbo 13 is only a question of whether there is medium thrust or not, and for PLA, this is only a transitional stage. It is the most appropriate way to develop a new generation of medium-sized thrust engines to catch up with and surpass the world's first-class standards in an all-round way. Now the country is developing the Turbo-19 type, and the Turbo-19 and 35 fighters are complementary, just like the Turbo-15 and J-20.
Huang Weina, chief engineer of the turbine-19 engine, said at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Symposium that it can provide 9Maximum thrust of 5-10 kn and 9Thrust-to-weight ratio of 5-10 kn. From this it can be seen that both in terms of propulsion and other performance, the domestic turbocharged engine is comparable to the performance of the American F414-GE-400 aircraft, or even comparable to it.
This is not something that can be completed in a day or two, and it will take some time for China to catch up with the international lead. The successful development of the turbofan 15 high-thrust engine and the medium-thrust turbofan 19 engine has played an important role in promoting and promoting the development of various large aircraft of the People's Liberation Army. For example, an airplane, as long as there is enough power, can be made according to different needs, different types of aircraft can be manufactured, which was not possible before.
There are many other stories about the development of the PLA fighter. I'll talk to you slowly in a later post.