Hongdu JL-10, Chinese Tiny hornet

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caid’s suggestion #155

I would like to suggest a very nice looking tiny combat aircraft that is also used as a trainer, the Hongdu L-15A Falcon also known in China as the Hongdu JL-10

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The Hongdu L-15, or designated JL-10 in the PLAAF, is a tiny advanced trainer/light attacker aircraft developed by Hongdu. the plane was produced in 2013 and offers a high flight performance and speed, the plane can also carry a rather interesting choice of suspended armament which makes this plane pretty suitable for ground attack. the plane is currently in production for China but also for export in which it already got some success amounts of a certain country. the prototype was built in 2006, and China ordered 12 aircraft in 2012. those aircraft were shown with Chinese colors in 2016 and officially put into service in 2018. 6 more were ordered by Zambie in 2014 and 12 more are being in discussion with United Arab Emirates with an option of 36 additional aircraft. the JL-10 being a sophisticated aircraft is more costly than his competitor plane, the JL-9 but allows better and faster training of the crew to fighter aircraft. the JL-10 was also capable of being used as a fighter with the capacity to carry 6 air-to-air missiles and a gun pod, but can also acted as a light attacker with a Guided bomb and unguided rocket. the plane with a radar in the nose and supersonic speed can be used in multi-role combat. while being fast, it is also capable of low speed which makes it ideal for ground targets.

As for now, China only has been confirmed to have 12 of those, but China has been pretty discrete about their armament, could possess a lot more, or have ordered more for production. it is estimated that the PLAAF has over 50 of those planes.

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Firepower

The aircraft does not have any fixed armament. first of all a trainer, was offered without a cannon or anything. but it does have the possibility to carry armament. the plane has 7x confirmed harpoints (9 were initially announced) and can carry a gun-pod, Bombs, rockets, and missiles. but also certain devices as well for guiding the armament or for reconnaissance. the load can reach a total of 3000 kg which is normally sufficient for an aircraft. the list of the known armament goes as follows

Air-to-air missiles

  • PL-5E II
  • PL-12/SD-10 active radar-homing MRAAM

Air-to-Surface missiles

  • TL-10 (YJ-5E)
  • YJ-9E AShM

Unguided bomb

  • 250 kg
  • 250 kg x2
  • 500 kg
  • LT 500 kg

Guided bomb

  • LS-6 GPS/INS 250 kg
  • LS-6 GPS/INS 500 kg
  • TL-20

Rockets

  • HFD-18D

Gun pod

  • 23 mm PC-2AI

While the selection is not so wide, it is pretty flexible. it allows the JL-10 to be used in pretty much any combat role. In the absence of clear data, I made a chart of the assumed position of each armament based on the pictures. I assume not every hard-points can carry all the armament available

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Performance

The JL-10 has a pretty interesting flight performance. powered by two Ivchenko Progress AI-222K-25F after-burning turbofan engines. Each engine can generate 4,200kg of thrust afterburner. the plane can climb at a speed of 150 m/sec. offering a high maneuverability, it can dogfight pretty easily. A top speed of Mach 1.4 allows it to follow the fighter, and a stalling speed of 200 km/h allows it to get slow enough to maneuver close to the ground. the plane is very nimble and can give the players all the freedom of action needed.

Avionic

  • The plane does possess a small PESA radar developed by the 607 Institute. this radar has a range of 75 km which is not bad at all.
  • A targeting pod can be installed in place of the Gun pod to allow the plane to use the Guided bomb.
  • The plane have counter measure but the quantity is unknown
  • The plane does not appear to have any Radar Warning receiver making the player unable to know if there is a missile lock on you.
    WrUFZtb.jpg

Sources

Additional pictures








7 Likes

+1 This and Yak-130 as light attackers would be nice (not sure how effective, but hey, why not?)

Edit: Just noticed it being able to carry PL-12. Now that’s would be funny

4 Likes

Why does it look wrapped like Christmas present 💀

Spoiler

Seriously, what is the point of that??

6 Likes

brand new plane presented to the chinese government as a gift to aviation. it think it was during their national day as well.

I was part of their introduction to services. also, I would find it funny if Gaijin added it as decoration.

2 Likes

Oh wow. I wasn’t that far off ig 😂

Lol real. At least for it in the hanger

2 Likes

this plane is pretty and while it was probably inspired by the F-18, It’s a real Chinese design which i think is the best-looking Chinese plane. at least in my opinion.

1 Like

maybe in the Hangar during the Christmas events if the plane becomes an event vehicle given during the holiday. it would be nice to have it sitting there to tease the players who try to ignore the events.

1 Like

Yes! That’s a great idea!!

1 Like

Aww! It’s so cute! +1 for the little armed trainer/light attacker (my favorite type of aircraft).

1 Like

Wait… the text(and flag) on it is China Navy

Some of my own pictures



(the thrusters looks really like a model)

2 Likes

It seems that it was not until L-15B that an equipment compartment was added to the vertical tail wing to accommodate RWR(like J-10C/JF17)


1 Like

30x large caliber Flare/Chaff

IR AAM PL-9C
image

3 Likes

Full send. Would suck though if we got it w/o RWR, especially at high ranks…either way I’m down +1

2 Likes

The lack of an rwr is a bummer. Would make it nearly unplayable in sim. Would still love to play this little gremlin.

1 Like