Chinese Y-12F Twin Panda Aircraft Continues Flight Tails

The Harbin Aircraft's Y12F is continues test flights. The fuselage of the Y-12F is constructed from the aluminum-alloy while composite materials has been used for the landing-gear and nose cone of the aircraft.

Four injured in China fighter jet crash: reports

A Chinese fighter jet crashed in a southern Chinese city Tuesday, sparking a fire that injured at least four people, reports said.

The Jian-7 fighter plane belonging to the Chinese air force crashed Tuesday morning in Shantou city, Guangdong province, China Central Television said, citing local firefighters at the scene.

The pilot reportedly ejected safely from the plane but Shantou city government said four people on the ground were injured and three were hospitalised.

Photos from the scene posted on web portal Sina.com showed a dislodged wing of the jet next to a burning building as thick smoke billowed from the crash site.

Lockheed Martin Awarded Upgrade Contract For 145 F-16S Of The Republic Of China Air Force

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] was awarded a contract valued up to $1.85 billion by the U.S. Government to initiate the upgrade of 145 Block 20 F-16A/B aircraft for the Republic of China (RoC). This retrofit program will include the addition of an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, embedded global positioning, as well as upgrades to the electronic warfare and other avionics systems of Taiwan’s F-16s.

Lockheed Martin has a proven track record of upgrading more than 1,000 existing F-16s for a combination of the U.S. Air Force and international customers. Most recently, Lockheed Martin was named the prime integrator to upgrade the USAF F-16 fleet. Both new upgrade programs will be based on the F-16V configuration announced by Lockheed Martin earlier this year.
“Lockheed Martin looks forward to a continued partnership with the Republic of China in upgrading their F-16s,” said Jeff Babione, vice president and general manager of the F-16/F-22 Integrated Fighter Group. “Based on elements of the F-16V configuration, Taiwan’s air force will receive the most advanced F-16 upgrades. This program reinforces the strong value proposition associated with commonality between the USAF F-16 program and the worldwide F-16 user community.”

Chinese F-60/J-21/J31 Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet Unveiled

F-60/J-21/31 Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet will be employed as a low cost solution compared to the J-20 by the PLAAF.

First clear images of the much rumored Chinese F-60/J-21/J31 Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet
 F-60/J-21/31 Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet will be employed as a low cost solution compared to the J-20 by the PLAAF.  F-60/J-21/J31 Fifth Generation Stealth Fighter Jet may also be offered for export to the Pakistan in future which serves as major testing ground for the new generation Chinese weapons.

PLA Air Force organizes long-range maneuver drill

The Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) organized 14 vehicle and vessel troop units to conduct a long-range maneuver drill and assessment, codenamed “Iron Flow 12″, in multiple areas in late July of 2012. According to the briefing, this long-range maneuver drill will last for 22 days and span across 28 provinces (cities and prefectures).

It is learned that all the operations during the “Iron Flow 12″ followed the requirements of “actual-combat organization and training, full-process evaluation and review-style summary”.

The participating troops carried out full-strength, full-process and full-element drills on such subjects as combat readiness transition, organizing and commanding, long-range maneuver,

why China develops J-16 Fighter-bomber?

 Recently a picture of China’s new fighter-bomber appeared on the network, it could be the legendary PLA Air Force J-16 fighter-bomber.

I believe that it is one kind of fighter-bomber aircraft, mainly because its front landing gear uses a dual-wheel and two-seat Su-27UBK and J-11BS’s use single wheel. Two-wheel shows the aircraft weight increase and at the same time requires the ability to landing on the poor conditions of airports, these are the typical fighter-bomber features.

Before the 3rd generation fighters, two-seater fighter-trainer aircraft only exist as a pilot’s training. After the 3rd generation fighter birth, this situation can not be maintained. The 3rd generations of aircraft usually have more advanced technologies, such as high-thrust turbofan engine, advanced avionics, fly-by-wire and composite materials are expensive, but if you only used to perform simple flight training mission, is obviously a waste. Besides, fighter-trainer aircraft itself also has a good tactical and technical performance, you can also perform many combat missions, in particular, is that it increases a crew member, you can share navigation, weapon control functions to reduce the burden on the pilot and the fighter is more suitable to perform some long-range combat missions: such as long-range patrols, ground attack and so on.

Israeli Air Force F-15D fighter not only early bear the combat mission, which is improved to be mounted electro-optical targeting cabin, dropping precision-guided bombs, but also have the ability to attack missile to launch the AGM-142 zone has become a multi-purpose combat aircraft, the European RAFLE and the EF-2000 two-seater designed from the beginning as a multi-role fighter to use the late Russian Su-27UBK fighter facelift the NO01P radar added attack mode, with the ability to launch precision-guided weapons, the Chinese Air Force conducted a comprehensive modification work on the Su-27UBK converted aircraft, either mount the R-77E active radar guided air-to-air missile to perform air superiority missions, you can also hang Upload ground missiles and precision-guided bombs for ground attack mission, has a multi-purpose combat aircraft.

Due to the few number of Su-27UBK in and Chinese Air Force and the lack of advanced training aircraft, PLA Air force has to training pilots with high intensity of Su-27UBK flying, resulting in rapid consumption of the life of these aircraft. In this case, China developed J-11BS two-seater fighter-trainer aircraft, J-11BS equipped with Chinese-made turbofan -10 engine, the nose is equipped with large-diameter pulse Doppler fire control radar, the avionics is joint avionics system based on 1553B data, with better scalability and upgrades of system. J-11BS has a glass cockpit to realize enhanced combat and attack performance with C4ISR datalinks supports.

Especially the construction of the Chinese Beidou navigation and positioning system has achieved a coverage of China and the surrounding areas, so that the Chinese Air Force can easily upgrade the existing conventional bombs to JDAM GPS-guided bombs, so that J-11BS has more methods to carry the day and night all-weather ground attack missions. Meanwhile, the Chinese airborne radar with synthetic aperture ground attack mode can detect ground targets, then target location information can be quickly acquired by Airborne Inertial Navigation System to input to the airborne satellite-guided bombs. PLA can make J-11BS with day and night all-weather precision strike capability.

However, this does not means that J-11BS fighter-bomber has equal or close to operational capability to Su-30MKK. J-11BS’s overall layout is same with the Su-27 series, so its body structure, pylons layout should be the same with the latter. According to the Su-27 specifications, it has 10 pylons, the largest weapong loading capacity could reach 6 tons, less than F-15E’s 11 tons, and Su-30MKK’s 10 tons.

J-11BS has 10 hardpoints, but four pylons on wing-tip and outer wing are light-load pylons to carry  short-range air-to-air missiles, where heavier ground attack weapons can not be mounted. So J-11BS actually only has six heavy-load hardpoints. J-11BS inherites the advantages of the Su-27 series larger fuel load space, the machine can carry a maximum of oil over 8 tons. But the J-11BS still has its own limitations, first of all J-11BS four pylons under the fuselage, two of them located in the belly center extension and two below the inlet. J-11BS is a belly air intake layout, so that two of the center of the belly is located in the crevice of the two belly inlet, so that the weapon’s length, diameter wingspan are subject to greater restrictions.

J-11BS belly intake also limits the two fuselage pylons, the two pylons in the inlet below rarely mount weapons more than 1000kg. But modern long-range air-ground striking weapons in order to ensure a range and firepower, rarely lower than this weight number. Therefore, the two pylons is actually unable to mount a large air-surface weapons. Another limit is space. Especially precision-guided weapons, such as laser-guided bombs generally have a large control surface. If these weapons loaded on two fuselage pylons, thet arevery easy to hit the ground. Obviously the practical application of the two pylons is subject to considerable restrictions.

Therefore, we can see that J-11BS has 6 heavy hardpoints, but it actually only has three when loading 1000kg level guided weapons. J-11BS, after all, is to perform air superiority as the main task. Its relatively low wing loading can guarantee the performance of the aircraft’s air combat. But in the low-altitude penetration, lower wing loading may be subject to the interference of low-level airflow, resulting in jitter and bumps of the aircraft so that the aircraft is not easy at low altitude long penetration mission. So a complex control system is needed to install to suppress the interference of low-altitude air current.

So that we can know that major improvements of J-11BS is to increase the pylons to improve the weapon loading ability. I believe that the J-16 like to add a heavy hardpoint at the wing root, in order to improve the ability of weapon carrying.

Then the aircraft related structures of fuselage and wing should be strengthened, so the aircraft empty weight, maximum takeoff weight will increase, coupled with on the aircraft need to be in conditions of landing on imperfect airports, the high-pressure single-wheel front landing gear to be replaced low-pressure dual-wheel.

Despite the pylon increase brings larger weapon plug-in capacity of the aircraft, but it also increases the resistance of the aircraft, especially when mounted the large air-surface weapons is more serious. In addition, the weight increasing causes the decrease of aircraft fuel load factor, the aircraft’s range, endurance and combat radius will be reduced. So J-16 need to added the aerial refueling system.

Some may ask, China has developed the J-20 stealth combat aircraft, why development of the 3rd generation J-16 fighter-bomber? It is believed that this relates to the inherent limitations of the stealth aircraft, such as the ground attack capability. Stealth aircraft in order to ensure the stealth performance, airborne weapons with built its bomb bay, so it is difficult to mount a 1000 kg above ground precision guided weapons. Third generation of fighter-bombers, such as Su-30MKK and F-15E, can mount the heavy air-ground missiles to perform more extensive combat and air support missions.

Therefore, for the Chinese Air Force, the future composition of J-20 and J-16 jointly air-strike mode, can effectively raising the air strike capability of Chinese Air Force.

China’s Air Force loosens rules for new recruits

Chinese Air Force of PLA has loosened its physical restrictions for new pilots this year, Henan Business Daily reported on Thursday.
Chen Tongxin, a doctor at Air Force General Hospital, said in an interview that they have started applying the new standards in physical exams.
According to the new rule, people with tattoos, which are part of some ethnic groups’ customs, will not be totally banned, as before.
However, the new rule still bans religious and criminal group tattoos, and the exposed part of a tattoos should not be bigger than 2 centimeters in diameter. Also, the covered part of a tattoo should be no bigger than 3 centimeters in diameter.
Loosening the physical restrictions can expand the candidate group of pilots and provide more opportunities for people, Chen said.

China J 20 5th Generation Stealth Figther Test Flights

J 20 , JXX combat manoeuvres tests at low altitude

PLA Air Force Civilian Jet For Join Air Projection

An air projection for plateau camping training conducted by the Air Force of theChinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was unveiled at 05:00 on May 29, 2012 at anairport in the hinterland of central China. A total of 5 military and civil airplanes weremobilized for this air projection mission from the hinterland of central China to the snow-covered plateau.
 
The wheeled equipment including command vehicles, communication vehicles and fieldambulances were slowly moving into the cabin of a transport aircraft. At the same time, 10-odd aviation containers were pushed along a slide way into the cabin of anothertransport aircraft to be locked and fixed.
 
On the other side of the apron, the fully-armed airborne troops quickly boarded a civilpassenger plane in 3 echelons under the guidance of the local flight attendants.
 
At 07:00, the military and civil transport airplanes fully loaded with airborne troops andequipment took off in turn. On the plane, a person in charge of the LogisticsDepartment of the PLA Air Force said that the PLA started air transport of recruits tothe plateau with the help of civil aviation transport strength since 1987, greatlyupgrading PLA’s strategic projection capability. This plateau camping training willfurther temper the remote-mobile-combat capability of the airborne troops.

chinas stealth helicopter to counter f-35

 

It's a stealth heavy attack helicopter. US aviation experts say that it is designed to counter the F-35 Lightning 

                                 The aircraft seems to be naval-oriented. Internal weapons bays are included.

 Here is what the US experts have to say:
"One aircraft concept that caught the attention of reporters was a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft -- China's answer to the United States' developmental F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A model of the aircraft, which was on display at the show, appears to incorporate some aspects of stealth technology."

chinese y-20 Globemaster ready

India To Probe Helo Contract With Italy

New Delhi – India’s agreement to purchase 12 helicopters from Italy is likely to be investigated in India after reports from Rome suggested irregularities in the contract. The Italian defense firm, however, has denied the allegations.
Reports in Italian daily newspaper la Repubblica suggest prosecutors have started checking into allegations of corruption against state-backed major defense contractor Finmeccanica’s dealings, including the 35.46 billion rupee ($720 million) contract with India.
Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony, concerned over the reports, has ordered an inquiry into whether corruption was involved in the procurement of the helicopters from Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland, a senior defense ministry official said over the weekend.
India signed the contract with AgustaWestland in February 2010 to buy 12 AW101 helicopters, mainly to be used by the president, prime minister and other top government functionaries. The AW101 was selected over Sikorsky’s S-92 Super Hawk.
Finmeccanica on Feb. 27 declared that “AgustaWestland is not involved in any irregularity concerning the supply of helicopters in India.
“No notice related to the purported investigations has been served to companies and officers of the Finmeccanica Group neither in Italy, nor in India,” the company says in a statement.
La Repubblica reported a senior company official had told prosecutors that slush funds were generated after a sudden escalation of price by €10 million ($13.4 million) in 2010.
But Finmeccanica further declared that “the companies of the group have adopted organizations and ethical codes in line with regulations and best practices, aimed at preventing and banning any conducts not responding to proper management standards.”

Chinese J-911C Fighter Aircraft Project

 J-911C "game birds are" as the author designed a multi-mission land-based fighter aircraft program. It uses standard full-motion no tail x aerodynamic winglets. Head and the edge of the smooth transition back gradually blended wing body with no apparent boundaries of the fuselage and wings.

The wing-body fusion of the body designed to maximize interior space and increase the availability of additional lift. Inlet tanks at the task in front of the nose. This structure can reduce the size of the task of enormous tanks of resistance, but also conducive to high angle of attack when the intake efficiency. Cabin set in a high position, increasing the driver's field of view in favor. Nozzle with all the vector control.

"Game bird person" within the main wing with a motorized fan to provide vertical thrust, and its diameter of 7.6 meters. Vertical takeoff and landing, and maneuvering for the increase in lift. The following are tasks the fan compartment, the large space with 15-21 cubic meters of volume.

Task is two sides of the engine compartment, outside the main landing gear in the engine, placed in the inlet to move away next. Landing gear installed in the inlet before the lower, back away. In the tail with short-range defense / attack systems for close combat and intercept incoming missiles. The following will be introduced one by one "game bird who" of the performance characteristics. 

First, the ultra-mobility.

full motion full pneumatic small wing lifting surface is divided into the wing, stabilizer and control surfaces. Fighter aircraft, including large aircraft, the horizontal tail design for the whole move is to increase the torque control aircraft pitch. The greater the control surfaces that control the aircraft the greater the torque, the aircraft's response is the sooner. So speaking from a position in a certain range of the aircraft control surface center of gravity farther away from the larger control torque.

According to this theory, we separate the role of wing press, the lifting surface design in a separate location near the aircraft center of gravity, and then integrated control surface and the stabilizer, placed as far away from the aircraft center of gravity. A pair of front wing and rear wing arrangement of a pair of the four corners of the aircraft center of gravity, the formation of x-type. This is a small wing X full motion. Obviously, in terms of pitch or roll to do action, X layout can provide maximum torque.

Nozzle to vector the whole "game birds are" full-vector nozzle to provide thrust towards the control of six directions, up and down in about two deflection of four under the deflector, the maximum angle of about 30 each vector degrees, 90 degrees up and down 95 degrees. 95 degrees down to hover in order to control the attitude and design. Do up and down the convergence deflector four movements, for adaptation to the size of the engine jet flow. In connection with the engine nozzle with lead shot into the upper and lower air intake, the role of two points.

First, the argument can be used as nozzle fired into the air intake to increase traffic and reduce the wake temperature.

Followed by four in the upper and lower guide plate is turned off completely when the jet engine exhaust will be forced from the opening two long bar in front of discharge syncline, which is the inverse function.

Second, the low visibility.

Shape only by stealth and radar absorbing coating is not enough to reduce the RCS value. Here the low visibility of the "see" I think the meaning should be found, and should not simply refer to the radar visibility. It should be a factor in all the general term that can be detected.

Non-wing control "game bird who" in the cruise can be more effective in reducing RCS values, because then only the use of vector control aircraft attitude can nozzle. This will avoid the control surface in the shape of turning invisible when the damage.

The concept of stealth combat aircraft, although some can be invisible but only a stealth cruise, in its state into the fighting will temporarily lose stealth. The "game birds were" due to the inlet wall and the wing root to install a plasma generator, it's control surfaces in the large angle rotation can still maintain a low RCS state.

The concept of stealth attack stealth aircraft missiles in combat must be extended so that the guide head lock EVA target, open the bomb bay would increase the RCS values. The "game bird who" have a "cabin launch" capability. Missiles can be projected out from the inlet until the missiles start flying after the collapse EVA Wings re-ignition. In fact, conventional pylons have similar institutions, but it is sent down force, but also smaller forces.

Infrared Infrared Stealth aircraft is the largest local characteristics of the end of nozzle, but it is not impossible infrared feature. "Game bird who" in addition to reduced use of ejector wake temperature, because of its inlet attached to the inner wall of the plasma layer will be inhaled by the engine outer bypass discharge. Plasma is also for reducing the visibility of certain infrared effect. At this point the plasma discharge by the nozzle wake wrapped in the peripheral temperature, without reducing the efficiency of the case of jet greatly reduced infrared signature.

Third, the vertical mobility.

"Game bird who" installed in the main wing through the vertical fan and the downward deflection of nozzle for its ability to provide vertical takeoff and landing. This makes him, in most cases the same, like a helicopter taking off and landing in the field of flat ground.

Fourth, super fighting skills.

The key to the traditional fighting, in the shortest possible time, opponents point to the head and then opened fire. "Game bird who" completely break the pattern, even if do not do the same maneuver can be done any fighting. This depends on the off-axis attack. And this off-axis attack, but also is based on its short-range laser defense / attack systems.

The concept of off-axis attack: "Scorpion" Laser short-range defense / attack system. Off-axis against the axis of the aircraft is outside the attacks. Do in the body posture changes relative to turn their weapons goals. Have this capability, the aircraft will not have the mobility of fighting ability, mobility aircraft even more powerful. In the "game bird who" of the rear fuselage with a laser short-range defense / attack system, back out the caudal is the execution platform. The system has three functions: short-range defense, short-range attacks and view aim. Caudal vertebrae can rotate 90 degrees up or down, and its execution platform does not rotate when the angle of attack is greater than after the hemisphere, so that we can do almost no dead ends.

Fifth, the task module concept.

In the implementation of different tasks, different tasks through the unit to re-mount configuration tasks module. "Game bird person," according to mission requirements, is converted to different purposes. Or focus on a variety of tasks to complete the flight.

Although the "game bird who" in the post-mounted unit can not achieve the task-specific type of combat effectiveness, but it can greatly enhance their battlefield use of the versatility and convenience. "Game bird who" of the task space can be fully opened down, ground personnel to facilitate their internal operations.

Also in the firing anti-ship missiles, because missiles are too large to open the side door, throwing missiles fired after the ignition.

israeli derby missile to arm indian lca tejas fighter jets

India’s new Tejas fighter will be armed with Israel’s Derby missile, according to an Indian  website. The Derby is medium-range active-radar seeker air-to-air missile, that can hit targets at about 50 km. away. Missiles that can achieve this range are known by the acronym BVR - beyond visual range.

A contract for supplying the Derby will be signed by March with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Rafael will also fit the missiles on about 200 jets, according to P.S. Subramanya, director of India’s Aeronautical Development Agency, which is developing the light combat aircraft.

 

The Indian Air Force (known, like its Israeli counterpart, as the IAF) has ordered 40 Tejas fighters to be built. The Indian Air Force also wants 100 units of the Mk-II version of the fighter, and the navy wants 60 of the naval versions, Subramanya said.

 

The jet "recently obtained restricted initial operational clearance, with a full clearance targeted for December 2012," LiveMint said. In order to obtain full clearance, the jets need to integrate a BVR missile - therefore, delivery of the missiles is expected in the second half of 2012.

 

India’s Sea Harrier jets carry Derby missiles. Rafael's Python missile, closely related to the Derby, was also an option for the Tejas, Subramanya stated.

 

In the past decade, as the Muslim world grows more religious and bellicose, Israel has been forging ever-closer ties with natural allies that also face a Muslim threat. These include India and may soon include South Sudan.

 

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/

J 20 Chinese Stealth fighter - New close up photos

Qi lai!! Qi lai!! Qi lai!! Is China’s Air Force shrinking ? 850 aircraft of Nanchang Q-5 and Hong-5 type no longer in service ??

Nanchang Q-5

The first prototype was completed in 1960.A small team kept the program alive until it was re-opened in 1963, when production was shifted to Nanchang. The first flight finally occurred on 4 June 1965. Series production began in 1969, with squadron delivery starting in 1970.

About 1,000 aircraft were produced, 600 of them being the updated Q-5A. A small number, perhaps a few dozen, Q-5As were modified to carry nuclear weapons; these are believed to retain their internal weapons bay. A long-range Q-5I, introduced in 1983, added a fuel tank instead of the internal weapons bay, compensating for that with the provision of two additional under wing pylons.

Hong-5 light bomber

The H-5 (Hongzha-5, or Hong-5) is a Chinese copy of the Soviet Union/Russian IL-28 (NATO codename: Beagle) twin-engine jet bomber aircraft first introduced in the Soviet Air Force in the late 1940s. China obtained several hundred examples of the IL-28 in the 1950s during the honeymoon period of the Sino-Soviet ally. A licensed production of the aircraft in China was scheduled but the project could not be materialised due to the breaking up of the Sino-Soviet relation in 1960. As a result, Harbin Aircraft Factory (now Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company, HAMC) was ordered to produce a Chinese version of the IL-28 by reverse-engineering. 

 

 

The aerial arsenal of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army shrank by nearly a quarter over the past year, from around 3,400 combat aircraft to just under 2,600. The best assessment of the secretive PLA, a database managed by Flight International magazine and updated annually, showed 800 fewer jet fighters in the PLA inventory compared to a year ago.

The reduction reflects "improved data," according to Flight's annual report, released late last month. The data allowed the report's authors to remove from the PLA's active rolls a "combined 850 obsolete Harbin H-5 and Nanchang Q-5 combat aircraft." The H-5 and Q-5 date from the mid-1960s. It's unclear exactly when the PLA retired the two models.



The PLA isn’t alone in shedding combat aircraft. Most of the world's major air arms are slowly shrinking, owing to decreasing military budgets and the tendency of planners to favor small numbers of high-tech new aircraft over larger numbers of less-sophisticated, older models. The U.S. Air Force is replacing more than 400 F-15s with just 187 newer F-22s, for instance. China built hundreds of H-5s and more than 1,500 Q-5s, but has built just 300 or so combined of more recent warplanes such as the J-10 and J-11.

The PLA’s warplane holdings have apparently contracted at an even faster rate than the Pentagon's, growing the gap between the two aerial powers and cementing the U.S. military's position as the dominant aerospace power. The U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Coast Guard together operate 13,000 manned aircraft. Number two Russia operates 3,600. China, in third place, possesses 2,600 warplanes. Of roughly 5,400 warplanes on firm order as of late 2011, the Americans accounted for 1,700. "This [U.S.] dominance shows no sign of being diminished for many years to come," Flight reports.

A clear photo of J-10B Fighter Radar

The well-known Jane's has reported the exist of J-10B and fortunately lots of Chinese aviation fans use their digital cameras to be volunteer reporters for western medias.

According to new Chinese internet images appear in june 2011, aviationweek.com says that the new J-10B version of Chengdu's canard fighter is fitted with an electronically scanned array radar. It could be a Rafale-type passive ESA, but that's improbable in 2011 -- it is more likely an active ESA, its development quite likely aided by China's massive campaign of cyberespionage.

Now there is a better image available to digging the truth of J-10B fire-control radar.

 In 2011, China will give Pakistan a squadron of the advanced J-10B multi-role, all-weather fighter aircraft in a bid to boost the strategic reach of its close ally, a media report has said.

chinese y-20 long range transport Aircaaft Will Go To Fly In 2012

The day when Chinese made Sri Lankan Air Force's F7/J-7 / F-7 Airguard aircraft failed to lock on

Tuesday’s failure to shoot down a single LTTE aircraft despite timely detection by radar has jolted the SLAF into investigating its limitations amidst evidence that the enemy has acquired a capability to neutralise the threat of a heat seeking missile attack.

An authoritative source said that Chinese F7s launched from Katunayake air base had failed to zero-in-on the enemy aircraft. "Their (F7s) missile systems failed to ‘lock on with the enemy aircraft," the source said. This would necessitate an overall review of the SLAF’s strategy, the source said. The military asserted that the LTTE could try to exploit the situation.

The initial detection had been made north-east of Mannar at 10.18 p.m. by 2D radar installed by the Government of India at the SLAF base at Vavuniya.

Thaladdi had come under attack within minutes after the detection, the source said.

Both the Indian radar and a Chinese 3D radar station located in the Western Province had detected the enemy aircraft but interceptors failed to carry out a successful missile strike. 2D radar provides direction and the distance of a target whereas the Chinese radar provides even the altitude of a target.

Sri Lanka Air Force F-7BS fighter--photoed by Rogier Westerhuis