Chengdu J-10

what is it?

The Chengdu J-10 (Chinese: 歼-10; pinyin: Jiān-Shí), also known as Menglong (Chinese: 猛龙; pinyin: Měnglóng; lit. 'Vigorous Dragon', NATO reporting name: Firebird) is a Chinese medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft using a delta wing and canard design, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.8. It is produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of China, and exported to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the Uzbekistan Air and Air Defence Forces.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 9.8 m wingspan

base stats

• range 1,850 kmwithout refuelling
• size 14 tmax take-off weight
• built 468made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 28 years ago, in 1998.
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.8 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,850 km: 10× Amsterdam to Brussels.

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1998-03-23

introduced

2005

status

still flying

number built

468

role

multirole combat aircraft

origin

🇨🇳 People's Republic of China

makers

Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group

engines

1× WS-10B

crew

1

length

16.9 m

wingspan

9.8 m

height

5.7 m

max take-off weight

14 t

top speed

—

range

1,850 km

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.