Demos And Debuts At Dubai Airshow

Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated display was by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Aug. 1 demonstration team flying six Avic/Chengdu J-10s, including the single-seat J-10A and twin-seat J-10S. Supported by a pair of PLAAF Il-76 airlifters, their Dubai appearance was the team’s Middle East debut.

The Chinese demonstration included several close-formation passes of four or five aircraft, with the appearance of a singleton carrying out dynamic maneuvers in front of the crowd, while the larger formations reformed and returned to crowd center. It seems that the jets have undergone some upgrades. While the team previously used “smoke-winders”—diesel generators fitted to the underwing pylons to produce the smoke—it has apparently now fitted the generator just above the aircraft’s exhaust nozzle, producing a larger exhaust plume. Here a five-ship prepares to break into the airfield circuit to land after the demo.

The joint Saudi Arabian-Ukrainian Antonov An-132D made its Middle Eastern debut at the Dubai Airshow, representing the rapid growth of Saudi’s aviation industry sector. Taqnia Aeronautics—which is developing the aircraft with Antonov—wants to start locally producing the An-132D in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 2020 with 30% of the components produced by local manufacturers. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force was well represented at the show with flying displays from the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 Desert Falcon, the Dassault Mirage 2000-9 and its Al Fursan demonstration team flying the Aermacchi MB-339. The Block 60 remains the most advanced version of the F-16 yet sold with its active, electronically scanned array radar and conformal fuel tanks.

The UAE Air Force plans to upgrade its Mirage 2000-9 fleet, announcing its intention to do so at this year’s show. The upgrade would address obsolescence issues and ensure that the fleet remains relevant for at least another 10 years, ending any prospect of an order for the Dassault Rafale or the Eurofighter Typhoon, a perennial battle fought out at every Dubai show.

The Russian Air Force’s aerobatic team, the Russian Knights, was just part of a large national contingent at this year’s show. Four of the team’s Sukhoi Su-30SMs took part in the daily flight display with a demonstration of close-formation flying and the dynamic maneuvering capability afforded by its thrust-vectoring super-maneuverability. Here two of the team’s aircraft are performing a mirror maneuver.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. also sent its distinctive Be-200ES multirole amphibian aircraft to the show, demonstrating its waterdrop capacity. The aircraft can refill its water tanks by skimming across the water.

The Sino-Pakistani JF-17 Thunder aircraft made a welcome return to Dubai, this time appearing for the first time in Block 2 configuration. Block 2 aircraft feature improved avionics, enhanced load-carrying capacity, a data link and electronic warfare capabilities. The aircraft is in service with Pakistan and has been ordered by Myanmar and Nigeria.

Sukhoi’s thrust-vectoring Su-35 never fails to impress in the hands of test pilot Sergey Bogdan. It was shown off in Dubai on the expectation that the Emirates would place an order for the fighter, but the order never came. The aircraft’s thrust vectoring is linked to the flight control system, which features several angle-of-attack limits, but these can be switched off to allow angles of attack of 70 deg.+ to be achieved.