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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

Chinese ‘Flying Shark’ J-15 naval fighter jets look set to ditch Russian engines

  • New J-15 shipborne jet clearly equipped with Chinese-made WS-10 engines, CCTV report shows
  • WS-10 or Taihang outperform original Russian AL-31Fs on reliability and safety, military analysts say

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The WS-10 engine has already been deployed on a number of PLA warplanes, including the J-10, J-11, J-16 and J-20 fighter jets. Photo: Weibo
Amber Wangin Beijing
The Chinese military’s latest J-15 fighter jet is powered with domestically made WS-10 engines, state media reports indicate, with military analysts saying they are safer and more reliable than the original Russian ones.

A report by state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday showed a J-15 parked in the hangar at defence suppliers Shenyang Aircraft Corp (SAC) and undergoing calibration for test flights.

It was clearly equipped with WS-10 engines, instead of the original Russian AL-31Fs, the footage showed.

01:19

Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations

Chinese navy practises aerial combat as it prepares its newest aircraft carrier for operations

The J-15, also called “Flying Shark”, remains the People’s Liberation Army’s only carrier-based fighter jet in service, 10 years since taking off on test flights from the Liaoning – China’s first aircraft carrier.

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The Shenyang WS-10 engine, code-named Taihang, has been deployed on a number of PLA warplanes, including the J-10, J-11, J-16 and J-20 fighter jets.

Its application on the J-15 means all locally made fourth-generation aircraft are now equipped with Chinese-made engines.

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Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor, said the new engines performed better in terms of reliability and safety than the standard Russian ones.

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