An American P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was intercepted by a Chinese J-11 fighter jet outfitted with four air-to-air missiles while US media journalists were on board.
Chinese fighter jet
According to accounts, the Chinese fighter jet designated J-11, followed the US aircraft for more than an hour, and at one point, it was only 500 feet away from the port side of the US observation aircraft.
The J-11’s pilots and the Chinese warplane’s arsenal were both visible to the US journalists. The incident occurred immediately after a Chinese J-11 fighter jet and a US Air Force (USAF) RC-135 fighter plane flew extremely close to one other over the South China Sea in December 2022.
The Chinese fighter jet drew within 10 feet (three meters) of the US spy plane, causing it to make evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision.
U.S. Navy surveillance planes
The commander of U.S. Navy surveillance planes, Capt. Will Toraason, noted that the long-term tendency among Chinese fighter pilots is “more and more aggression.”
The event was reportedly captured on camera by the RC-135 in question. Footage reveals the Chinese jet coming quite near to the American spy plane on its left before passing briefly in front of it and vanishing.
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At the time, the J-11 was said to be equipped with four air-to-air missiles, including two PL-12 Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missiles and two PL-8 short-range AAMs. In some aspects, the J-11 aircraft is giving the impression of being a persistent harasser in the area.
Chinese J-16 fighter jet
For instance, the Chinese J-16 fighter jet, which is similarly modeled after the J-11, is alleged to have harassed an Australian P-8 aircraft, even unleashing a bundle of chaff that comprises tiny fragments of aluminum, some of which were absorbed into the Australian aircraft’s engine.
The Shenyang J-11 fighter jet, commonly known as the Flanker or Flanker B+, is a twin-engine, single-seat fighter that is based on a licensed-built variant of the Russian Sukhoi Su-27SK Flanker fighter.
Liberation Army Air Force
China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) sought to develop a rival to the fourth-generation fighter jets employed by NATO nations, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The Soviet MiG-19 light fighter design and a British Rolls-Royce Spey 512 engine were combined in China’s initial attempt in the 1970s by the Shenyang manufacturer. The J-11 project, as it was referred to, ultimately fell short.
But when China secured a deal with the Soviet Union in 1990 to buy Su-27s, this plan was revisited two decades later. Before the USSR’s collapse in December 1991, it was one of the very last significant military agreements with a foreign state.
With the help of this arrangement, China now has access to fighter aircraft that are on par with NATO’s F-15 Eagles, F-14 Tomcats, Tornados, or Eurofighters.
Another agreement involving the co-production of 200 Su-27s was struck by China and Russia in 1996. To put together prefabricated components of Su-27 airframes that had already been partially constructed in Russia, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation was chosen. These domestically produced Su-27s were given the identifier J-11.
Beginning in 1998, J-11s was co-produced. A hundred or so aircraft were produced, but manufacturing was stopped after that, allegedly because China started working on the J-11B derivative of the aircraft with domestically produced subsystems, violating the co-production agreement.
The J-11B “Flaming Dragon” is a multirole version of the J-11, which is an air superiority aircraft like the Su-27SK of Soviet provenance. Furthermore, it’s claimed that 90% of this aircraft version is built with domestic Chinese parts and subsystems.
In sure of the J-11B aircraft, China also installed WS-10 engines in place of the Russian-made Lyulka Saturn AL-31 engines. A better model is available and is known as the J-11D. It has an upgraded WS-10 engine and Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar.
It’s noteworthy that the J-15 carrier-capable fighter and the J-16 multirole aircraft from China are both reported to have been influenced by the J-11 design.
In particular, the J-11BS, a two-seat combat-capable trainer version of the J-11, and the Russian-made twin-seat Su-30MKK Flanker are the models on which the J-16 is based. Avionics is now better.
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