China has for the first time publicly demonstrated in flight a domestically made engine that helps rapidly alter a fighter jet’s flight path, an advance in defence technology that Beijing has pursued for more than two decades.
At the Zhuhai Air Show, the biennial showcase for the country’s arms manufacturers, a prototype of a new version of the J-10, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) main fighter, performed acrobatic manoeuvres including the so-called Cobra, where the aircraft rises almost vertically before nosediving in a sharp angle.
The aircraft was equipped with a thrust vector control (TVC) nozzle, a part of the propulsion system that allows for drastic changes in the thrust direction — a feature that fighters need in close combat for rapidly approaching or dodging enemy aircraft. Planes without TVC have to manoeuvre with the help of aerodynamic control surfaces — flaps and rudders — that slow them down.