As per intel Reports, Delivery of Chengdu J-10Cs to PLA- Airforce is suspended for the past 12 months. Problems with WS-10 engines is suspected to be a cause. This comes as a huge blow for the Chinese Airforce which has once again failed to produce a proper engine.
Chinese are planning to use Pakistani Airforce pilots as lab rats for testing WS 10 jet engine. China as proposed to mate the failed and unsafe model of WS-10 jet engine on JF-17 aircraft variants for testing purpose.
The Shenyang WS-10 Engine
The Shenyang WS-10, codename Taihang, is a turbofan engine designed and built by the People’s Republic of China. Chinese media reported 266 engines were manufactured from 2010 to 2012 for the J-11 program. Unofficial estimates placed production at more than 300 units by May 2015.
A newly built J-10C fighter has been fitted with a domestically developed WS-10 Taihang engine to replace the Russian-made AL-31 engine.
China Failed Again On Jet Engine Front
The development could come as bad news for Russia’s United Engine Corporation which supplied engines for China’s fighter jets for decades including for its showpiece aircraft, the J-20 stealth jet.
Currently the J-20 uses the Russian AL-31FM2/3 engines and is expected to transition to a more powerful WS-15 engine which many observers believe is inspired or reverse-engineered from the Russian AL-31 engine that goes into the Su-35 fighter jet.
The WS-10 Taihang is China’s first high-performance, high-thrust turbofan engine with intellectual property rights, Chinese Central Television reported.
China is also developing the WS-15, a more powerful turbofan engine, for the J-20, media reported
