In the previous CCTV “Military Life” column, the production line of domestic J-16 fighter was rarely exposed. And the biggest attraction was that J-16 fighter was equipped with a domestic engine.
In the 1980s, the lack of advanced aircraft engines encumbered the development of the entire aviation industry of China. And then China decided to develop a big thrust turbofan engine, which is WS-10 “Taihang” engine.
After 20 years of hard work, in 2005, WS-10/WS-10A was successfully designed. At this time, the maximum thrust of WS-10/WS-10A is about 12.5 tons. This is the first large thrust turbofan engine developed by China.
The original WS-10 prototype was installed on J-11 fighter. After all, the dual-engine fighter test would be more secure. After verification, WS-10A turbofan engine was installed on J-10 and J-11B fighters. There was also an engine stop event during the period, so WS-10/ WS-10A wasn’t put into mass production, and then China turned into the research of adapting WS-10 variants to other fighters.
In 2008, WS-10B/C engine was successively designed, and its maximum thrust reached 13.2 tons, of which the thrust-to-weight ratio reached 8, and the temperature before the turbine was increased to 1800K. Thus, its comprehensive performance reached the first echelon of the world’s third-generation turbofan engines.
WS-10B engine has been in production for J-10C fighter for a period of time. Due to the use of Russia’s AL-31F engine, the specific number of the domestic engine in use is unknown. Another type of WS-10B (temporarily called WS-10B2) is said to be good. WS-10B2 engine has been fully installed in J-16 fighters from the beginning. And since the number of J-16 has exceeded 100, so the number of WS-10B2 engines has also exceeded 100.
As a transitional model of the WS-15 engine, WS-10B minor revision (or WS-10C) has been used on J-20 fighters for several years, but only for trial of a small batch. WS-15 engine will be counted on in the future. In addition, there is an improved version of WS-10B engine, which is WS-10B vector thrust version. J-10B fighter with this type of engine was shown at the Zhuhai Air Show last year, but the number is even smaller!
In addition, J-15 fighter’s modified version also used WS-10 anti-corrosion engine (temporarily called WS-10H) for flight test verification. Although the current news is rare, it is undeniable that it is the future J-15B projectile version will use a large number of WS-10H engines. And J-11D fighter is also likely to use WS-10B engine from the beginning!
WS-10 is considered a replacement for Russian-made AL-31 series engine. As not an AL-31 series engine has been purchased since 2017, this proves that WS-10 series engine has achieved great success and can be used for fully replacement for J-10C, J-11B/BS/D, J-16 and other fighters.
Finally, what may surprise you is that WS-20 large bypass ratio turbofan engine developed for Y-20 transport aircraft and the bomber is actually based on WS-10 engine. After all, part of the previous WS-10 prototype’s technology comes from CFM-56 high bypass ratio turbofan engine, and it is not difficult to turn it back now.
According to military analyst Bu Wu, WS-10 “Taihang” engine has at least seven variants including A/B/B2/C/vector version/H/WS-20, equipped in at least five fighters including J-10, J-11, J-15, J-16 and J-20, are could be called the most advanced turbofan engine made in China!