"Chinese Carrier Fighter Now In Serial Production" Topic

China has put the Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark carrier-borne multirole fighter into serial production, with at least eight production examples known to be flying already. This is in addition to the six J-15 prototypes, some of which conducted carrier trials on board China's refurbished former Soviet Kuznetsov-class carrier, Liaoning.

Undated photos published on Chinese online forums in October showed J-15s bearing the tail numbers 107 and 108 operating from an undisclosed airfield in China. Both aircraft carried the Flying Shark motif on the tail, along with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ensign on the fuselage, similar to all production J-15s seen so far.

Earlier, in October 2013, Chinese state-run media showed news clips of J-15 production facilities at Shenyang Aircraft Corporation in which they revealed a production aircraft said to be being readied for delivery to the PLAN. This was followed by photos of J-15s bearing tail numbers 100, 101, and 102 appearing on the Internet in early December 2013…

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Assuming that we aren't seeing "theater" here, with the various aircraft getting new tail numbers… How many birds have we seen in the same place at the same time?

But no huge surprise that the Chinese are putting aircraft into series production.

'Flying Shark'? Can they make soup with the tail?

Anybody know how merit factors into promotions in the Chinese military? They are acquiring the implements of modern warfare but do they have the necessary flexibility?

I doubt it's theatre. It's not exactly massive production runs we're talking here. And the Chinese have built hundreds of knock off Su-27s over the years. And the first J-15 flew in 2009 so that's 5 years to knock up 5 more prototypes and 8 production birds.

Most Chinese build claims are actually quite accurate at least according to the most cynical of aviation bean counters.

Chinese production batches are extremely small – usually at regimental level so about 24 aircraft a pop in each batch.

Hence "mass production" probably means an order for enough aircraft for a single regiment. More regiments will probably follow on but given Chinese acquisition rates (and lack of second carrier), it will probably take some time.

In the meantime PLAN is also acquiring J-10, J-11 and JH-7 for land based role and it already has Su-30MKs in service.

Here's the other new toys that the PLAN has been inducting:

JH-7 Flying Leopard
In service with 5 regiments (13/14/16/18/27). That's about 120 aircraft.

Role: Probably anti-shipping

J-10AH/SH Vigorous Dragon
In service with 1 regiment (12 Air Regiment) – about 24 aircraft.

Role: air superiority and likely multirole

Su-30MK2 Flanker

In service with 1 regiment (10 Air Regiment) – 24 aircraft.

Role: multirole

Pic is Vietnamese version

J-11 Flanker
In service with 3 regiments (22/23/25) – roughly 72 aircraft

Role: Usually air superiority

Y-8 special role aircraft
New ELINT, Maritime Patrol, AWACS and AntiSubmarine warfare variants entering service in low numbers with 4 and 6 Air Regiments.

Based on old Soviet An-12 Cub but with extensive revisions.

JL-9
In service with number of regiments for advanced training.

JL-8
In service for basic and advanced training.

Z-18

Small numbers for ASW adopted to complement existing Z-8 (SA-321), Z-9 (AS-365), Ka-27/-28 helicopters.

AWACS/AEW version planned to complement existing Ka-31s. Obviously based on French SA-321 Super Frelon for which the Chinese have a licence.

Additionally there is still 1 regiment equipped with old J-8 Finback, 2 regiments with H-6 (Tu-16) and a variety of smaller maritime patrol, transport and training aircraft.

J-7/MiG-21 is only used in small numbers for training in it its dual seat JJ-7 variant.

It says "serial" production. That's not exactly mass production.

Man, keeping all the different parts for all the different airframes must be a killer!

Man, keeping all the different parts for all the different airframes must be a killer!

I agree. I've noticed a standardisation in PLANAF to J-11 and JH-7 though.

I suspect the worst Air Force in the world for logistics (and one of most interesting) is Malaysia:

14-ish x F-5E/F, RF-5E
8 x F/A-18C/D
16 x MiG-29
18 x Su-30MKM
19 X Hawk 108/208.

5 types in a fleet of about 75 aircraft.

Followed only by Indonesia:

14-ish x F-5E/F
10 x F-16A/B + 24 x F-16C/D (ex.USAF Block 25s) just being delivered.
16 x Su-27/30 in 4 variants (Su-27SK/SKM/Su-30MK/MK2)
11 x F-5E/F
30 X Hawk 109/209
8 x EMB314 (COIN version of Super Tucano)

6 major types in a fleet of 100-ish.

Love that J-10. Wish someone would produce it in metal, in 1/300th and 1/600th scales.

The JL-9 is pretty neat looking too.