Project Sword
On January 29, seven J-10Cs of the Chinese Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team flew into the blue sky and crossed the country for a long-distance flight of 4,000 kilometers, arriving near the Middle East to participate in the second Saudi International Defense Exhibition. How did the J-10C fighter, which flew 4,000 kilometers directly to Saudi Arabia and only had a transfer range of more than 3,000 kilometers, reach its destination without landing?
Seven J-10Cs flew directly to Saudi Arabia Seven J-10Cs belonged to the Air Force's Bayi Air Show Team, and the planes took off from an airport in the northwest and flew long distances to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. This is the 10th time that the Bayi Air Show Team has gone abroad, and they have quite experience in participating in this kind of international air show, but stopping and transiting and flying directly without landing are two different things. The former can be properly rested, and the aircraft can be further maintained, especially the safety of long-distance flights of single-engine medium-sized aircraft is also very important. The latter tests the physiological limit, and to put it bluntly, it is described as holding a soak of urine until the end of the flight, and of course, in order to keep the plane from landing, it is also equipped with a tanker-20 tanker.
J-10C direct flight to Saudi Arabia J-10C is one of the three musketeers of the Air Force, as the main model, usually in order to ensure the combat radius, the standard mount will carry three auxiliary fuel tanks. In this way, if there is no air refueling, the maximum transfer range can reach about 3,200 kilometers with the onboard fuel and auxiliary fuel tanks, which is considerable for a medium-sized aircraft, but it is impossible to complete the task without air refueling.
The remote exhibition is also divided into two stages, first from an airport in Tianjin to the northwest, and then from an airport in the northwest to Saudi Arabia. The distance of the domestic flight part is about 3000 km, and the distance of the foreign flight part is about 4000 km, and the total flight range is more than 7000 km. During the flight, it also passed through the airspace of Pakistan and Iran, and the whole process took about 5 hours to be refueled in the air, which was quite safe and secure with the support of the above two iron buddies. There are also analyses that the total flight range is more than 5,000 kilometers, and the whole flight takes 7 hours, either of which demonstrates the Air Force's powerful strategic projection capability.
The flight route refers to the source network
J-10 refueling in the air
The J-10C performance aircraft flew directly to the Middle East to participate in the exhibition is definitely a breakthrough, because in November last year, 7 J-10Cs of the Bayi Air Show Team also flew to the Middle East to participate in the Dubai Air Show, with a total flight range of more than 7,000 kilometers. However, compared with this time, there is a big gap, at least one domestic airport and two foreign airports have been transferred to the flight and rest, not only the flight time is very long, the coordination and support are very cumbersome, and the things that can be done in a day may take two to three days to travel.
Only a few months have passed, and when the J-10C performance aircraft went to the Middle East to participate in the exhibition again, the situation changed dramatically, and the Yunyou-20 tanker appeared in the team. Through in-flight refueling, the J-10C flight range was directly doubled, and it flew more than 4,000 kilometers from China to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. It has higher requirements for the reliability of aircraft and higher requirements for the physiological limits of pilots, which also reflects the achievements of the strategic transformation and construction of the Chinese Air Force.
Dubai Airshow J-10C fighter
J-10C flies non-stop to Saudi Arabia
J-10C flew directly to Saudi Arabia and 7 performance aircraft went to the air show remotely, of which 6 carried out official flight performances, and the 7th was a backup aircraft to deal with emergencies. The J-10C does not have much oil in the air as a single-engine medium-sized aircraft, and it can roughly carry 35 tons to 4 tons, plus the standard three auxiliary fuel tanks transfer range of about 3200-3400 kilometers. In order for 7 J-10s to be able to fly more than 4,000 kilometers, they need to refuel at least once on the way to arrive smoothly, so how much fuel the tanker can give is critical.
This time, it is a Y-20 that undertakes the support task, and its performance can be directly referred to the Y-20, with a maximum take-off weight of 200 tons and a maximum load capacity of 55 tons. In the past, CCTV programs have also revealed the parameters of the oil transport-20, with a maximum fuel load of more than 100 tons, and the maximum fuel load of 113 tons if the modification plan of the same grade Coyle-78M tanker is referenced. After deducting the consumption of self-propelled flight, the actual amount of in-flight refueling is about 75 tons, which is equivalent to the full weight of the H-6 bomber. In the case of ensuring that you can fly to the destination, it is not a problem to add more than 30 tons of fuel for 7 J-10s, and the arrival of a 4,000-kilometer direct flight is just the beginning.
Refueling in the air
Refueling in the air