When watching Xiaolong perform a flight show, you can't expect it to make any amazing moves like the Su-35 and F-22. In fact, in this era, there are no too amazing moves that will be unveiled at air shows and other events.
After Xiaolong took to the sky, he made several relatively normal flight movements, first circling at a large angle, which mainly reflects the excellent overload capability of the aircraft. Then the pilot did another round loop. This was of course not a windmill maneuver that could only be accomplished with a vector engine. The aircraft would still fly a relatively long distance to avoid entering a stall and tail spin. But even so, this somersault was very beautiful, reflecting the excellent maneuverability of the Xiaolong fighter.
Next, actions such as breaking S, lazy figure 8, vertical roll and climb, etc. were performed smoothly and freely. Of course, this was because the pilots sent by Qi Yiming were too skilled, but it also intuitively demonstrated Xiaolong's maneuverability. .
Since Qi Yiming and Liao Huairen discussed ways to make money by exporting arms, Qi Yiming has planned to rely on this famous foreign trade machine in China as a breakthrough. In real history, after receiving a sum of US aid funds, Pakistan hoped to obtain a fighter jet to replace the J-6 provided by China. Pakistan's original idea was to use the American F404 engine based on the J-7, then change the J-7's nose air intake to air intake on both sides of the nose, and install advanced radar on the nose. At that time, the project was called Saber-II and was mainly responsible for Grumman, but it was not successful. Later, in order to earn this cooperation fee, Grumman encouraged China to cooperate with Singapore to develop a light fighter based on the Saber-II, which is also known as the Super Seven. After the 1990s, Sino-US relations took a turn for the worse, and this matter fell into disrepair.
After that, China approached the MiG Design Bureau, which was not very happy, and obtained an improved version of the MiG-29 engine RD-93 from there, and then obtained some information about the Mig-33. China once again approached Pakistan, and China, Russia, and Pakistan jointly cooperated and finally developed the Xiaolong fighter jet.
A more pertinent evaluation is that the Xiaolong is a very cost-effective light multi-purpose fighter in the early 21st century, especially suitable for small countries with average economic conditions but certain defense pressure. The early model of Xiaolong adopts a mechanical hydraulic control system, is equipped with a simple autopilot, and uses dual-redundancy fly-by-wire flight control. The body is also made of a large amount of duralumin alloy, with relatively little use of composite materials. However, as China became more and more wealthy and its technical level continued to improve, Xiaolong continued to make improvements, adding DSI clam inlets, switching to four-degree fly-by-wire flight control, greatly improving the avionics level, etc. .
But thirty years later, Xiaolong will always be a low-end product in the world's fighter market, relying on cost-effectiveness to seek development space. Because it has a weak foundation, it is not very popular.
But now Qi Yiming has placed Xiaolong thirty years ago, and has made many major improvements in the base based on Xiaolong's weaknesses. First of all, the entire aircraft uses a large area of ??composite materials to reduce the weight of the aircraft and reduce the RCS (radar reflection cross-section area). Secondly, it is equipped with the Red Alert Base version of the WS-13 medium thrust engine, with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 8 and a maximum thrust of 86 kN ( The RD-93 has a maximum thrust of 81 kN and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 7.9). It looks similar to the RD-93, but in fact the maintainability and lifespan have been greatly improved.
In this era, the F-16A\/B has not even mastered over-the-horizon attacks. The advanced mid-range interceptor projectile AIM-120 will not be officially released for several years. The more user-friendly glass cockpit has not fully entered the mainstream view. , it is still a future development trend. The Xiaolong not only has the ability to launch PL-12 active medium-range ammunition with a range of 120 kilometers, but it also has a fairly comprehensive mix of ammunition types. Infrared combat air-to-air missile PL-8 (or PL-9), improved versions of C-705 and C-803 anti-ship missiles (YJ-75, YJ-83) used against ships, precision strike Thunder series guided bombs, Thunder Stone A series of gliding guided bombs, YJ-91 anti-radiation missiles, KD-88 land attack missiles, etc., all make the Xiaolong a capable combat weapon in this era.
If you compare it with the F-14, F-15 or Su-27, it will definitely be inferior, but at least with its beyond-visual-range air combat capabilities and its more flexible body, it can also compete with These heavy air superiority fighters are hard to beat.
What¡¯s more, for the country of Iran, what does its opponent Iraq have? They are just the late products of some second-generation aircraft, or the Mirage F1, the third-generation aircraft in the Russian five-generation classification method, and some Super Etendard attack aircraft. To be more comprehensive and add those J-7s flowing out from China, which one can Xiaolong be afraid of?
In order to attract Sayeti and the group of Iranians, Qi Yiming specially hired a J-7 pilot from the PLA Air Force to conduct an air combat exercise close to actual combat with the FC-1 Xiaolong. This is very interesting to the Iranians. After all, the J-7 is a fighter aircraft that the Iraqis have a large number of equipment and is also very representative. Being able to see the direct confrontation between these two fighters can directly confirm Can the Xiaolong become the main combat aircraft of the Iranian Air Force and take over the protection of the F-14?Clear sky.
Before the actual combat exercise, a Xiaolong also took the lead in demonstrating that it indeed has the ability to attack beyond visual range. It was different from the last time Deputy Commander Wang Hai inspected the J-10. Qi Yiming invited an Iranian pilot to sit on it. A two-seater Xiaolong fighter jet, he was taught some knowledge about using weapons. All he needed to do was to press the button to launch the missile after locking the target.
This two-seater Xiaolong discovered the enemy aircraft at a distance of 80 kilometers and immediately fired the missile. A PL-12 roared out without any suspense and hit the target aircraft that had no evasive maneuver. Because the Iranian pilot himself participated and the people of the inspection team also witnessed the shooting down of the target aircraft, it was ruled out. China may be suspected of cheating.
A Lieutenant Colonel of the Iranian Air Force pilot next to Sayyeti whispered to him: "I didn't expect that the Chinese also have the ability to develop and manufacture beyond visual range medium and long-range air-to-air missiles. I just saw their model called The PL-12 missile is almost half the size of the Phoenix and has a range of about 120 kilometers, which is enough for us. "
Sai Yeti nodded without saying much.
After the two-seater Falcon came down, the Iranian pilot who served as the weapons officer ran back and said excitedly to his compatriots: "This is an extremely excellent fighter jet! I dare to guarantee it to Allah! I don't think I can do it now." After more training, I will be able to operate this aircraft to fight against the Iraqi dogs. It is so easy to operate, you don¡¯t even need to take your hands off the joystick, and the readings on the display are also very intuitive. There are a lot of assistants on the aircraft itself. Program. All the equipment feels nice and user-friendly. Basically, all you need to do is fly the aircraft into the sky, know how to shake the control stick, and press the buttons, and our pilots can fight.¡±
An Iranian pilot next to him asked: "Are the Chinese missiles as useful as the Phoenix?"
"I think it is like this, at least at the same level as the Phoenix. They are fire-and-forget missiles. It seems that the Chinese missile overload is greater than that of the Phoenix, which will make it more difficult for the Iraqi dogs to dodge."
Saye asked the first Iranian who flew on the Xiaolong, saying: "Then do you think the Chinese said that this fighter jet can reach 70% of the F-14's combat effectiveness? Do you think it is credible? This fighter jet can Is it comparable to the F-14?¡±
The pilot answered frankly: "To be honest, this Chinese fighter can do everything the F-14 can do. If it is mainly used for homeland air defense, there will be no problem at all. In addition, this fighter is said to have ground attack capabilities." The ability to attack the sea is better than that of the F-14. If it is a head-on battle with the F-14, it will definitely not be as good as the F-14, but it will not lose too much when it is beyond visual range. The two sides are fighting at a 50-50 ratio, and the Xiaolong may suffer some losses in close combat, but it may also gain the upper hand due to its lightness. "
Sayeti did not expect pilots to have such a high opinion of Xiaolong. In fact, this is a normal thing. After a lot of improvements, this Xiaolong can be described as a fool's version of a fighter jet. All operations are simplified as much as possible and the pursuit of the highest Flying enjoyment and pleasure. The quality of Iranian pilots declined rapidly after the Islamic Revolution, and they were unable to operate overly complex fighter jets. The Xiaolong is a relatively advanced but simple-to-operate fighter jet, which the Iranians like very much.
¡°In the subsequent actual combat confrontation between the J-7 and Xiaolong, compared with the flexible and lightweight Xiaolong, the J-7s that originally seemed to be high-altitude and high-speed seemed to have turned into rockets that could not turn. In fact, this is because the Red Alert pilots of Xiaolong have a high level and are very familiar with the attack modes of second-generation aircraft such as J-7. However, these pilots of the PLA have not had much contact with combat with third-generation aircraft and have no theory on energy maneuvers. No matter how you learn, you will naturally be unlucky if you encounter a Xiaolong.
In the end, the confrontation resulted in a disparity of nine to zero, which proved that the Xiaolong could defeat the J-7 in its own way, whether at close range or beyond visual range.
In the following week or so, the Iranians conducted a larger number of test flights and evaluations at Tianjin¡¯s Yangcun Airport, and more and more pilots recognized this type of Chinese-made Xiaolong fighter. At the same time, some people in the inspection team encouraged Sayeti to exchange for some JH-7 Flying Leopards with a large bomb load, because they were also lucky enough to fly this fighter-bomber and thought it was a fighter with equally excellent performance. At this time, the Iranians were mainly using F-4, F-5 and other fighters as platforms for air strikes. They had small bomb loads and poor penetration capabilities. On the other hand, the Flying Leopard not only has a bomb load that makes Iranians drool, but also has the ability to launch PL-12 medium-range bombs, which is equivalent to doubling the Iranian Air Force's ground-to-sea attack capabilities.