Zhuhai Airshow, to be held from 6th of November in China this year, has always been an important opportunity for both Chinese weapons manufacturers and Chinese military. They'd showcase various new technologies and weapons. This year is no different as various weapon systems have already been arriving there, preparing for the show.
Recently a J-10B with thrust vector control engine was spotted there as well.
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| J-10B testbed aircraft |
This is not the first time that particular plane or that engine was spotted. But previously the plane was tucked away at its home airbase, and images were nowhere near this clear. This time, the PLAAF, evident owner of the plane judging by the insignia on the plane, is actually showcasing the engine to the world. Flying demo at the airshow is likely, judging by the fact the plane arrived carrying some generator pods under wing.
Importantly, the engine in question seems to be a variant of Chinese made WS-10 family. While in service on Chinese Flanker type planes, it has never been put into active service on J-10. Previously, other, older versions of WS-10 have been spotted on J-10 testbed aircraft, including this particular airframe numbered "1034" but the TVC variant (Thrust Vector Control) is quite new. First seen earlier this year.
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| Close-up of the engine nozzle |
Importance of WS-10 engine on J-10B plane at Zhuhai may be greater than the fact the engine itself is of thrust vectoring kind. Previous WS-10 variants never made it past occasional testbeds, for years. PLAAF is likely interested in domestic engine, having switched from Russian to domestic engines for the majority of their fleet. Except for J-10 and J-20.
Likewise, J-10 family of planes, while offered for export, never found any buyers. Likely because of the Russian engine, for which the Russians could dictate terms. Competition with their MiG-29 was likely not allowed. With a domestic engine, J-10 may very well start to see some buyers on the international stage.
Actual performance of the TVC nozzle is hard to judge from a flight demo, of course. But in the coming week we may see some more details about its inner design. From these images one can deduce that the Chinese designer approach may be different from what Russian TVC engines used so far. This Chinese engine seems to feature two part outer flaps. End flaps seem to be movable while the base flaps don't seem to be designed for TVC movements (they do contract and expand, of course)
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| Inner construction of the nozzle |
The inner petals, as seen in the image above, seem to be one piece, with one point attachment at the base ring. Similar inner/outer petal arrangement can be seen in MATV nozzle the F-16 tested used in early 1990s. Though MATV lacked the apparently moving ends of outer nozzles.
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| MATV nozzle |
When it comes to practical application of TVC, it's impossible to tell whether a single engine TVC fighter is a good idea. To date, no single engine fighter in serial production ever used it. Only one-off testbed aircraft were equipped with similar systems in the past. It remains to be seen if the J-10B seen at Zhuhai is going to be an one-off testbed plane or a precursor to actual serial standard J-10 planes equipped with TVC engines.
That being said, the fact such TVC nozzle is showcased to the public at an airshow, and the fact a domestic engine is being showcased on a J-10 are newsworthy on their own. They may signal some new things to come when it comes to J-10 project.
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