Appeared a few days ago on twitter, photos showing un Chinese light fighter J10C in the colors of the APLAF equipped with the local WS-10 engine is a much bigger step than it seems for the country's military aviation industry. Admittedly, the WS-10 engine is not new, and it already equipped fighters like J-11B, some J-15 and J-16. But the engine's unreliability has so far forced the Chinese authorities to use it only on twin-engine aircraft, single-engine aircraft, such as the J-10, which today constitutes the backbone of the PLA air force with nearly 500 units in service, remained faithful to Russian-made engines, and in particular to the turbojet AL-31 which equips in particular the Su-30 and Su-35 of the Kremlin air force.
It must be said that the development of a powerful engine is considered to be the most complex and delicate phase in the design of a combat aircraft. And so far, only 5 companies in the world, namely the Americans Général Electrique and Pratt & Whitney, the British Rolls-Royce, the French Safran and the Russian NPO Saturn, had such know-how. For countries with the ambition to develop their own industrial capacity to achieve a certain form of strategic autonomy, this is therefore a critical step but also complex and risky, as the pitfalls are numerous. Two countries have undertaken such a development in recent years, India with the Kevari engine, and China with the WS-10 and WS-15 engines.
75% of this article remains to read,
Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from 6,90 €.
Newsletter subscription
Register for the Meta-Defense Newsletter to receive the
latest fashion articles daily or weekly