In the March 12 episode of CCTV’s “Military Intelligence Time” program, news of the progress of the WS-15 engine was rarely disclosed:
“WS-15, codenamed “Emei”, is China’s small bypass ratio thrust vectoring turbofan engine for the fourth generation of heavy and medium fighters. The WS-15 has undergone several rounds of testing, and all indicators have been further improved and The WS-15 has already undergone several rounds of testing, and all indicators have been further improved and perfected.”
China officially unveils the WS-15 engine for J-20. pic.twitter.com/XzwiVkWPYG
— China_Arms (@China_Arms) March 15, 2022
An anonymous Chinese expert believes that this move by CCTV shows that the WS-15 engine for the J-20 fighter jet is basically quite “mature” in terms of technology.
Photos of a J-20 with a WS-15 engine were exposed on the internet sometime before, the J-20 was also equipped with a smaller engine for test flights, experts believe that the two engines were WS-10 and WS-15 respectively.
According to CCTV, the WS-15 engine has gone through multiple rounds of testing, which means that the WS-15 engine testing has been carried out to a considerable extent. Apart from ground engine testing, air testing should have also been carried out a lot. When the WS-15 engine completes all the flight tests, it will be finalized and put into production, and the name J-20B has been given by the media to the future J-20 using WS-15 engines.
China has made great progress in developing a more powerful WS-15 engine, which is expected to be put into use by the end of 2024. The J-20, equipped with the WS-15, will make up for the shortcomings in maneuverability, and the key indicators of the fighter’s maneuverability, supersonic cruise, and range will be further improved, and the WS-15 may push China to catch up with Russia and the United States, which are leading the world in fighter engines.
