As the backbone of China's Air Force, the J-7 series fighters have been in service for more than 50 years and still maintain excellent performance after ups and downs. Although it is no longer the most advanced warplane, there are still nearly 200 of them contributing to our Air Force.
Not only that, the J-7 has also been exported to many countries and is still used by many countries today, showing its global influence.
J-7: It made great contributions to China's national defense, but was almost eliminated and paid compensation, and the reasons behind it are thought-provoking. Since its birth in the 60s, the Chinese J-7 series fighters have made great contributions to China's national defense forces with their excellent performance.
At the same time, as one of the best models for export, it has also brought huge financial benefits to our country, which can be said to be both national defense and making money. However, in the process of its improvement, the J-7 encountered many difficulties, and was even almost eliminated and faced huge compensation.
So, what's going on behind the scenes? Next, let's explore the secrets together. In the late 70s of the last century, China's exports occupied an important economic proportion in the world, which could bring huge economic benefits to China's economic development.
In order to further promote economic development, China decided to modify the J-7 and promote it to the international market. However, at this critical juncture, there were twists and turns in the conversion deal, and China was at risk of eliminating the J-7 and paying reparations.
So, what is causing this state of affairs? At that time, China reached an agreement with Jordan to modify the J-7. However, due to various reasons, this agreement was not completed on time, resulting in China not being able to deliver the J-7 modification on time.
In this case, China is forced to face the risk of eliminating the J-7 and paying reparations. However, China has not given up easily. At this critical moment, Jordan stepped up and helped China solve this problem.
After negotiations, China finally resolved the problem and avoided the risk of eliminating the J-7 and paying reparations. This fully demonstrates China's resilience and strength in the international arena.
Overall, the J-7 plays an important role in China's defense and economic development. Although it encountered difficulties in the process of improvement, China has succeeded in solving this problem by virtue of its own strength and international cooperation.
This once again proves China's strong strength and resilience, and lays a solid foundation for China's future development.
The development of China's aviation industry is too slow, and it is necessary to introduce advanced foreign technology. If the technology of the United States cannot be bought, it will buy it from Western Europe, and then digest and absorb it on this basis, and then innovate and develop. ”
In November of the same year, Minister Lu Dongdong led a delegation of more than 20 people, including the National Defense Industry Office, the Navy, the Air Force, entrepreneurs, and experts, to Europe to negotiate with foreign manufacturers.
After examining the industrial situation in Germany, Great Britain, France and other countries, it was decided to introduce an electronic fire control system. This will not only save a lot of money, but also effectively improve the combat capability of the aircraft.
In the end, China's Ministry of Aviation Industry decided to negotiate with the British Marconi and Smith companies on the modification of the J-7, and began to introduce fire control systems and radio communication systems.
In July 1979, a delegation from the Ministry of Aviation Industry visited the UK again and had in-depth exchanges with the three companies on aircraft modification technology.
The British company Marconi and Smith supplied the Chinese Air Force with 124 sets of electronic equipment for the modification of 100 J-7 fighters. On June 30, 1980, after 10 rounds of arduous negotiations, AVIC signed a contract with the two companies.
However, due to China's domestic economic adjustment, the Air Force does not want to modify the J-7M fighter, and the contract is facing revocation. The Ministry of the Third Machinery of China and the Bank of China opposed the rescission of the contract, arguing that the revocation of the contract would result in huge liquidated damages and affect its reputation.
On April 1, 1981, Vice Premier Zhang Aiping convened a meeting and decided to cancel the contract. The British side refused to accept it and demanded that the Chinese side pay a deposit and 100 million yuan in liquidated damages.
Vice Premier Zhang Aiping's losses cannot be underestimated, China is in a period of friendly diplomacy with other countries, and a breach of contract will seriously damage China's reputation. On April 9, Zhang Aiping held another meeting to discuss the matter and decided to "reduce the number of equipment purchased and introduce key technologies".
However, just when everyone was worried about the loss, on April 17, 1981, when Liu **, deputy general manager of AVIC Science and Technology Company, and his party were visiting abroad, they received a request from Jordan to purchase 80 100 Jian-7 fighters, equipped with screen displays, radars, radios, altimeters and other fire control equipment.
This news made Liu ** very excited, and immediately returned to China to report to the relevant departments. On 3 May, the Ministry of National Defense Industry held a meeting and decided that if Jordan buys 80,100 modified J-7M fighters, then the previous contract with Britain will remain unchanged, and all the fighters imported and modified will be directly resold and sold.
If the export does not have an agreement with Jordan, the contract with the British company will be re-signed in the number of 60 aircraft. Jordan's request for the purchase of fighter jets undoubtedly solves the immediate need, but the next key is to discuss with Jordan the issue of signing a contract for the export of fighter jets.
The negotiations with the Jordanian side did not go well, and the other party put forward a number of modification requirements for the J-7M fighters ordered by our country, and lowered the purchase of the aircraft**. In order to resolve the contract issue on the British side as soon as possible, our country decided to carry out the delivery of the modification in two steps.
Although the other party agreed to our plan, it was pressed down on **. After asking the party organization for instructions, we decided that in order to achieve cooperation in the purchase of aircraft, we can appropriately reduce **.
After four rounds of negotiations and more than a dozen revisions to the contract, a contract was finally signed in June 1981, providing for the delivery of 20 and 60 modified J-7B and J-7M fighters in 1982 and 1983, respectively.
The signing of the contract not only solves the contract problem with the United Kingdom, but also indicates that the J-7 series fighters have broad export prospects.
After settling the contract issue, China and the UK continued to work on the modification of the J-7M fighter. After one year and four months of hard work, two J-711A fighters were successfully developed.
However, during a full-fledged test flight, it was found that clutter occurs on the radar at 1000 meters above the ground. Despite a large number of flight tests and refinement of the design, a solution to the problem was not found.
In order to complete the modification of the aircraft in good quality and quantity, China decided to contact Jordan to discuss the issue of postponing the delivery of J-7M fighters. However, the Jordanian side expressed its dissatisfaction with our request for postponement of delivery, repeatedly demanded fines and explicitly asked our country to give a specific delivery date.
If we do not provide proof, we will not be able to collect the final payment, which will be a serious sanction. After several negotiations with the opposing Air Force department, we explained the reasons for the delay in delivery, and the Jordanian side reluctantly agreed to the request for a delay in delivery without a fine.
During this period, Pakistan also put forward the idea of purchasing our J-7M fighters. In order to solve the problem of clutter in radar detection, we invited Pakistan Air Force pilots to test fly the J-7M fighter and listen to their opinions.
After the test flight, Pakistani pilots said that clutter from the flight radar of the J-7M fighter was normal, and they had a similar situation when flying the F-16 fighter.
After a deep study, we breathed a sigh of relief, because the F-16 fighter was the top in the world at that time. However, we always strive for excellence and perfection, asking the UK to address this issue on the one hand, and preparing for the next steps of improvement.
This problem was completely solved after the improvement of the British company Marconi to add ground clutter suppression lines to the radar. In April 1984, the improvement of the J-7M fighter was completed and successfully tested, and China began to deliver aircraft to Jordan.
In May 1985, 60 improved J-7M fighters were delivered. It took six and a half years from the time the Ministry of Aviation discussed the introduction of technology with Europe to the delivery of all fighter jets to Jordan.
Despite the fact that it was a little later than the originally agreed delivery date and encountered many difficulties in the middle, our country always insisted on the pursuit of perfection and completed the improvement and delivery of the fighter.
China's rigorous and serious improvement attitude towards the J-7M fighter has also laid a solid foundation for China's fighter exports. J-7 series fighter - a popular product of China's foreign export fightersIn fact, the J-7 fighter has been exported to many countries before it was improved.
Egypt suffered heavy losses in the Third Middle East War, but in order to break free from Soviet control and ease relations with the United States, Egypt sought a peaceful solution to its territorial dispute with Israel.
Therefore, the USSR stopped military assistance to Egypt and withdrew all specialists.
In the war in the Middle East, the military assistance of the USSR was reduced, and Egypt began to seek help from our country. However, our country is in an important period of economic construction and cannot meet Egypt's request for free assistance.
In the end, after many discussions between the two sides, Egypt agreed to change the aid to a fee, and signed a purchase contract worth more than $200 million with the China Aviation Technology Import Corporation to purchase 60 J-7A fighters manufactured by the Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
The J-7A fighter has undergone minor modifications on the basis of the original to improve its air combat capability. In the early 80s, Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Company developed the J-7II fighter on this basis, which became the main fighter type of China's Air Force.
Subsequently, Chengdu Aircraft Manufacturing Company signed a contract with the United Kingdom to improve the J-7A fighter and develop the J-7B fighter. In addition to 20 to Jordan, 90 were exported to Iraq, 22 to Sudan, and even 4 simplified versions of the J-7B to Sri Lanka in the early 90s.
During the inspection in Pakistan, they personally piloted China's J-7M fighter to conduct a confrontation"Phantom"Confrontation tests of the Type 5 fighter. Surprisingly, the J-7M has won in many cases, with even the most elite F-16 fighters falling to its hands.
In the end, China successfully reached an agreement with Pakistan to introduce J-7M fighters, and improved the J-7M, and finally, Pakistan ordered 113 J-7P fighters improved from J-7M.
After further research and development, China has launched a variety of export fighters such as J-7PG, J-7MB, and J-7N, which have been sold to dozens of countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria, with a total export volume of more than 500 aircraft, becoming the main fighters in these countries.
In general, in recent years, our country has developed many better fighters and introduced them to the international market. China's aviation industry has reached the world's top level and has become a real aerospace power.
I believe that with the continuous efforts of China's aerospace sector, China's aviation technology will become more advanced and make greater contributions to the development of our country.