Saturday, September 6, 2008

Updates on PLA

So, I haven't had the time to post here recently, but hurricane Hanna is keeping me indoor today, so I will catch up on some of the things we missed. Obviously, the Olympics stopped, so we've finally been getting some news and pictures from China.
So, the first order of business is WS-10A. We've seen a new article on it out recently.

It just talks about good reviews toward the usage of the WS-10A. The users are rapidly reporting problems to the relevant teams and getting them addressed. This continual process will allow WS-10A to quickly become a reliable engine for everyone. I think this just indicates that they seemed to have adopted a more modern process in the maturation of an engine. As they become more technologically advanced, their methodology of testing and using engines is also getting better.

We've also seen a bunch of new pictures coming out. We got updated photos of what I think is the 3rd 054A being built in HD shipyard. It's kind of interesting that we've seen this ship while getting nothing from HP. There was a ship in there that we suspected to be 054A, but now looks to be something else. So, here are the photos of the 3rd 054A.



It will be interesting to see over the next few months if there will be any difference between this ship and the previous 4. It's been speculated that the new batch of 054A will be improved upon the first 4. I guess we will see.

The other interesting part is that the construction of surface combatants have not gone as expected this year. We've only seen this one 054A under construction and have not seen any movement toward 052D from JN shipyard. I guess a lot of ships will have to wait until 2009 before starting. However, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of submarines showing up. Below is the 4th Yuan submarine that we've seen. Now, we can't see it well enough to see if this is the one that was shown to have a different hump than the previous 039A. So, I'm waiting for more photos of this submarine that contains more than just the sail.



And finally, we are finally seeing more pictures of 093 coming out.



So, I've read that several posters have tried to call the submarines in second/third photo 091G. But clearly, the sail is not sloped down as we saw on 403 photo from recent times. Yes, there does appear to be some difference in the limber holes between the 2 submarines in the photo (third photo is more clear on this). I suspect that the submarine further off with the interrupted limber holes is the newer version. It is either a newer 093 or possibly upgraded from an earlier model (403 was changed in that way.) With so many picture coming out, one can only suspect that the 095 project is going well.

And finally, some more photographs we've seen coming out recently of different parts of PLAN.
sov

022

Medical ship + helicopter to be used on it




It's interesting how the helicopter model and the radar model name is different.

Other tidbits:
  • China is starting negotiation on IL-76/78 deal again
  • Pakistan has announced the purchase of 4 AWACS from China + negotiating on J-10s
  • China has submitted its military expenditure in 2007 to UN
  • China has started to recruit the first 50 pilots for naval aviation (ship-borne aircraft)

5 comments:

suleman said...

will PAF J-10 feature DSI, more hard points like two on the wingtips, strengthened air frame, AESA radar or TVC engine? all this was indicated by PAF ACM.... will it be a super-10?
as for AEW&CS.... will it have better air to air capability then Erieye as Erieye is more of a multi role platform...

Feng said...

For J-10, I don't like the name super-10. But the one Pakistan gets will likely be based on the modified J-10 that is undergoing flight testing right now. It's kind of interesting, PAF seems to be looking for a more multi-role plane with greater payload and such. But, J-10 will loose some of its agility if it uses strengthened (ie: heavier) air frame. It will need a much more powerful engine. As for AESA radar, they have something that will be ready for PAF, but much of this will be based on negotiations.

As for Y-8 vs Erieye, I read that PAF is looking for Y-8 to be a larger platform capable of more command functions.

Anonymous said...

feng what is DSI and what does it do exactly

Feng said...

DSI is the kind of intake that you see on JF-17. It's suppose to be more stealthy and more efficient than the traditional fixed intake. It's hard to see that J-10 would use something like that though, since it uses a variable inlet to achieve good supersonic performance.

ASIAN DEFENCE said...

As for Y-8 vs Erieye, I read that PAF is looking for Y-8 to be a larger platform capable of more command functions.
------------------------------
for which version PAF is going recent news from PAF CAS's AFM interview indicates Kj-200

Saab-2000 Erieye AEW&C already have 5 controlers and it looks to be stander by modern AEW&C like B-737 AEW&C etc

How many controlers Kj-200 carry?
can you compare the size pf radar in Kj-200 and Erieye(from pictures)

Will KJ-200 be able to cover 360 or it will also be limited to 270-300 degree coverage??