The aero engines used in the J-15 carrier-based aircraft have improved their performance from AL-31F3, to turbofan-10A, and then to turbofan-10B.
It is mainly reflected in the thrust-to-weight ratio, acceleration, climb rate, and energy mobility of the whole machine!
Just because the thrust of the turbofan-10A aero engine is comparable to that of the AL-31F3, the same 12.5 tons.
And the thrust of the turbofan-10B aero engine is 1 ton greater than both, reaching 13.5 tons.
The fact that the J-15 was replaced with a turbofan-10B aero engine proves that the turbofan-10 series aero engine has finally come down to the last city.
The AL-31F aero engine completely squeezed out the last place occupied by the Navy and Air Force, and completely became the only source of power used by the Navy and Air Force fighters.
You must know that the turbofan-10 aero engine was applied much earlier than the sea-based fighter in the application of land-based fighters.
As early as 2008, when the J-11B was put into service, it was equipped with a turbofan-10A aero engine; The J-15 carrier-based aircraft has been in service so far, and a large number of AL-31F3 aero engines have been installed.
It can be seen that the turbofan-10A aero engine was installed on the J-11B fighter more than ten years earlier than it was installed on the J-15.
The reason why the turbofan-10A aero engine was not used in the J-15 carrier-based aircraft is mainly related to its initial "lack of reliability, not strong enough, and not fast enough acceleration".
After all, there are still big differences between carrier-based aircraft and land-based fighters, one of which is that carrier-based aircraft are required to have the ability to pull up the lever and take off again in an instant.
In order to achieve this capability, the aero engine is required to have punkiness and acceleration. This is because when a carrier-based aircraft fails to land, it is necessary to accelerate in a relatively short period of time in order to quickly pull up and go around.
At this time, only by relying on the aero engine to burst out a large thrust in an instant to push the carrier-based aircraft to achieve a go-around, and only the aero engine has the performance of this instantaneous burst of large thrust can meet the requirements of the use of the carrier-based aircraft.
This is the reason why carrier-based aircraft aircraft engines must have the ability to instantly increase thrust to the maximum, or to burst out of maximum thrust in an instant.
Of course, carrier-based aircraft do not just carry out several go-arounds, and during the life of their service, no one can say how many times this situation will be carried out.
Therefore, it is required that the aero engine can withstand the sudden afterburner on a regular basis without failure, otherwise there will be no airport available for forced landing after a failure on the sea.
This is also the reason why the aero engine used in carrier-based aircraft must be pungent.
Of course, the aero engine used in the carrier-based aircraft must also have high reliability, and it is impossible to achieve a high failure rate.
After all, on the ocean, there is only one landing airfield, the aircraft carrier, and once the aircraft engine fails in the airspace far from the aircraft carrier, there is really nothing that can be done.
Finally, the aero engine used in the carrier-based aircraft must also be corrosion-resistant.
After all, the humidity of the air over the ocean is high and contains a lot of salt, which can easily lead to the corrosion of metals.
The solution to this problem is generally to use a special coating, which is both corrosion-resistant and high-temperature resistant, such as the F-135 engine used in the F-35B/C carrier-based aircraft.
Therefore, aero engines used in carrier-based aircraft must have high reliability, strong pungency, fast acceleration and corrosion resistance.
Today's J-15 carrier-based aircraft still uses AL-31F3 aero engines.
It can be said that the AL-31F3 is an improved carrier-based version of the AL-31F.
Due to the special environment on the ocean, as well as the flight characteristics of carrier-based aircraft, land-based aero engines are not suitable as carrier-based aircraft.
If you want to get on the ship, you must make corresponding improvements, focusing on improving its "pungency, reliability, acceleration, and corrosion resistance".
After all, the AL-31F3 aero engine has been installed on the Su-33 carrier-based aircraft for many years, and it is enough to prove that its reliability, acceleration, corrosion resistance, and pungency can still meet the basic needs of the Su-33 carrier.
In this regard, at the beginning of the J-15 service, the AL-31F3 aero engine was only chosen.
After all, the J-15 carrier-based aircraft was put into service in 2012, and this point in time is only 4 years before the turbofan-10A is equipped with the J-11B.
In addition, in 2009, many airframes have been manufactured, and they are waiting for the J-11B of the turbofan-10 aero engine to be parked inside the factory.
This can also show that around 2010, the performance of the turbofan-10 aero engine is still not very stable.
It is conceivable whether the J-15 will use a turbofan-10A aero engine. It can be said that most of the aero engines used in the J-15 carrier-based aircraft in service today are AL-31F3.
However, the J-15 carrier-based aircraft has begun to be replaced with domestic turbofan-10A aero engines.
In fact, the replacement of the J-15 with a turbofan-10A aero engine probably appeared in 2020. It's just that there was no large-scale costume change at the beginning.
Prior to this, the turbofan-10A aero engine had been modified to the sea version, and at this time it was directly installed on the J-15 carrier-based aircraft.
With the gradual improvement of the reliability of the turbofan-10 aero engine, after all, it has been installed and used on J-16, J-11B, and J-10C fighters for a long time.
At the same time, it also proves that the turbofan-10 aero engine has high reliability, has reached a high level, and is fully capable of becoming the power of carrier-based aircraft.
Today, it can finally be said that the era when the AL-31F series of aero engines dominated the power of domestic military aircraft is gone.
After the expiration of the life of the AL-31F series of aero engines installed on active military aircraft, there is no need to import them from Russia at all, and the domestic turbofan-10 series aero engines can be directly used.
When using the turbofan-10A, the performance of the J-15 carrier-based aircraft is not much different from the use of AL-31F3, after all, the thrust is the same.
However, from the turbofan-10A to the turbofan-10B aero engine, the increase in thrust of 1 ton is undoubtedly of great significance to carrier-based aircraft.
After all, carrier-based aircraft still have high requirements for aero engine thrust, and the thrust of the turbofan-10B aero engine is about 13.5 tons, which is 1 ton higher than its turbofan-10A and AL-31F, which is still considerable.
For the J-15 carrier-based aircraft, the significance is still relatively large, because with the increase of aero-engine thrust, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the J-15 carrier-based aircraft will also increase, which is still quite important for the J-15 that takes off and lands on the aircraft carrier.
Because the increase in thrust represents the increase in the thrust-to-weight ratio of the fighter, and with it the increase in acceleration, it can be used in the shortest time and the shortest distance to reach the speed required for takeoff, which gives the J-15 carrier-based aircraft a greater advantage when taking off on an aircraft carrier.
In addition, when the landing fails, it can also provide greater thrust in an instant, so that the carrier-based aircraft can smoothly return to flight.
It can be seen from this that the J-15 is replaced with a turbofan-10B aero engine to improve its take-off and landing performance on aircraft carriers.
Of course, not only that, but the aero engine with higher thrust can also give it a greater advantage in close combat. After all, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the whole machine has been improved, so its energy mobility will be enhanced.
In general, the J-15 has been greatly improved in all aspects of its performance after being replaced with a turbofan-10B aero engine. (Image source network, invasion and deletion)