FBW by Andrei Pinkov (Kanwa news Feb 12 Toronto Andrei Pinkov) According to the Jane's Defense Weekly (JDW 20 January 1998), China is planning to further upgrade its J8II M fighter planes in order to increase their exportability. According to the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the upgrading plan focuses on two parts. First, the digital fly-by-wire flight control system will be probably added to the J8IIM planes according to the requirement of the customers. The digital fly-by-wire control system has been successfully developed. It mainly consists of such sub-systems as the flying control computer, the pilot sensor assembly, the accelerometer, the caution panel and trim interface, and the rate gyro etc.. The source didn't reveal if this system was the same as the one used in the J10. After careful evaluations, however, there are indications that there is little difference between these two systems. It means that the J10 will also use the digital fly-by-wire flight control system. Beside, The source from the Xian Aircraft Corporation claims that the JH7 ( FBC1) uses the triple-FBW system.
At present, the model of the fly-by-wire flight control system to be added to the J8IIM remains at the stage of evaluation. It is hoped that the new system will find a better export market for the J8IIM. The source indicates that after being equipped with the fly-by-wire flight control system, the J8IIM will have a better mobility than do the French Mirage 2000 and the US F16s.
The second part that the upgrading plan focuses on is to further develop various highly compatible operational pods so as to increase the competitiveness of the J8IIM plane. These operational pods include the FLIR/Laser Targeting pod developed by No. 613 Institute, the KG300G airborne self-protection jammer pod developed by the Southwest China Research Institute of Electronic Equipment, and the Blue-Sky low-altitude navigation pod developed by No. 607 Institute etc.. All these will increase both the capability and modals of JIIM's air-to-ground attacks. According to the source, after the above-mentioned efforts are made, the J8IIM will not be inferior to the JH7 at all in terms of the air-to-ground attack capability. In addition, the J8IIM plane will possess a better flying mobility and aerial-combat capability than does the JH7.
Despite this, the prospects for the export of the J8IIM planes remain very poor. This is because Pakistan has already joineded the FC1 project and the other possible countries are only Burma, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka etc.. Therefore, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has decided to look at the above markets after the turn into the 21st century. In the meantime, it will also rely on the domestic market by persuading the PLA to upgrade with the fly-by-wire flight control technology the J8II and J8D (with the capability of being refueled in the air) planes that are now already in service ( Andrei Pinkov).
