Hongdu JL-8

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Hongdu JL-8

PLAAF

Background

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In 1988, the JJ-5 aircraft was officially discontinued and Factory 320’s K-8 aircraft made significant advancements. As a result, the Air Force agreed to develop a domestically-produced aircraft based on the K-8, equipped with domestic engines and electronic equipment. Following the successful maiden flight of the K-8, the Air Force recommended in the demonstration report that the JL-8 aircraft should inherit the K-8’s advantages and that the engine and its finished products should be localized through technical means to develop the JL-8. Throughout the development process, the selection of the engine posed the greatest challenge. After numerous demonstrations, it was decided to test the Russian АI-25TLK engine.

The JL-8 project received official approval in 1992. Four years later, in 1996, the technical evaluation of the JL-8, which was equipped with the АI-25TLK engine, was concluded to fulfill the Air Force’s requirements. The evaluation of the AI-25TLK engine itself was finalized in December 1997. Finally, in 1998, the design and development of the JL-8 were fully completed. Subsequently, the first batch of eight aircraft was delivered in June 1998. The JL-8 aircraft serves as the primary training aircraft for both the Chinese Air Force and Naval Aviation Force.

Technical Data

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Specifications

Crew - 2 Pilots

Length - 11.6 m

Height - 4.21 m

Wingspan - 9.63 m

Empty Weight - 2,910 kg

Max Takeoff Weight - 4,686 kg

Engine - 1 x Ivchenko AI-25 TLK Turbofan Engine (2500 kgf at sea level) or 1 x WS-11 Turbofan Engine (Licensed copy)

Max Speed - 800 km/h (Sea Level)

Range - 1,400 km (Without Drop Tanks)

Service Ceiling - 12,000 m

Armament

3 x PC-2A 23mm Cannon Gunpod (One on Center Pylon)

2 x PL-5EII

2 x PL-7

2 x 250-3 kg bombs

2 x 250 Liter Drop Tanks

2 x 90mm HF-7D Rocket Pods

Flares

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Avionics

CCIP for all Weaponry

Images

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Sources

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(Book) Chinas Navy Ships and Aircraft of the Peoples Republic of China, 1955-2021, Page B-13

(Book) Encyclopedia of Chinese Aircraft, Vol.3 - Page 217-218

2 Likes

+1. Hopefully we will get the K-8W and other modernised versions as well

2 Likes

Armed trainers my beloved. +1

+1
Also needed: L-39, JL-9 and Yak-130

2 Likes

+1

Unfortunately China does not operate K-8, and until we have Pakistan in the Chinese Tech tree i don’t think we’ll get any. (I forgot about A5C)

We already have Pakistan in Chinese TT. Also china itself manufactures K-8s for export. Most of the K-8s are sold by china itself.

2 Likes

My bad.

This is true, however China themselves does not operate them.

However, i do agree that it would be nice if China got them, especially the variant that has been modified with LGBs.

K-8NG
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2 Likes

well VT-4A1, MBT2000 and WMA301 aren’t used by china, why do we mark it as china?
for these 3 i think instead of their nation being china we should change it to their actual operators(follow the A-5C, Phong Khong T-34 and T-69 II G’s logic where the operator is marked as the nation not the producer)

VT-4A1’s nation should be either nigeria, thailand or pakistan
MBT-2000’s nation should either be bangladesh, morocco, myanmar or pakistan
The WMA301’s nation should be either angola, bosnia, cameroon, chad, djibouti, myanmar or senegal(likely more)

I dont think its possible to add that many flags on a stat card. Also the vehicles meant for export should have the flag of the manufacturer country.
A-5C, Phong Khong T-34, T-69 II G, isn’t really completely made by china or made in china. They just used chinese equipments to upgrade them.

If you want to message me about it go ahead, rather not fill the suggestion with an argument.

just trying to explain. Still +1

1 Like

Imo looking back at what i said yesterday it is possible, although i would still prefer to wait to see what happens this year, if Pakistan happens to be one of the new trees, I’ll probably look into them more. And to be honest, the hardest part about K-8 info finding is that a lot of online platforms mix and match data, but that most likely wont deter me.

But for now, I’ll be focusing on suggesting domestic models of aircraft (May Change)

Well you 3 guys could check this article in the Old Forum

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Vehicles
Vehicles are primarily sorted by the nations that operated them not by the Tech tree where OP’s would like to see them be implemented. This is done to both give credit to the nation that actually used the vehicle as well as centralize discussion about the vehicle in question. Of course there are always vehicles that were never operated by anyone, suggestions for these vehicles are just sorted by the nation that actually tested them. Following that, there are vehicles that were made for a nation but just before being delivered some type of intervention happened that caused them to not be delivered (E.G. the Israeli CL-13), these are just sorted by the nation that ordered them. Last but not least there are the vehicles that were made by a company and garnered so little international interest that nobody even tested them, these are just sorted by the nation that houses the company that made them.

2 Likes

this was exactly my reasoning.