Assessment of Zhuhai (Çin) Defense and Aerospace Fair

Today, while countries continue to keep their 'military technologies' secret, they prefer to showcase their military capabilities and capabilities on a product basis. For this purpose, defense fairs are mainly organized on a national and/or international scale. At these fairs, all kinds of military capabilities and capabilities are 'marketed'. In this context, countries that want to exhibit their defense industry products for various purposes, including marketing, organize such fairs every year or every two years. To those who operate in the field of defense industry, those who want to show, military personnel, military researchers and writers, media organizations, etc. access, a 'shopping' environment is offered.

While most of these fairs could not be held in 2019-2020 due to the COVID measures, the majority of the countries that wanted to benefit from the relaxed measures turned the summer of 2021 into a series of fairs.

The International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF), which has been hosted by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation since 1993 in Turkey, is held every two years. IDEF 2021, which was planned to be held on May 25-28, 2021, was delayed on August 17-20, 2021 due to pandemic measures. We will write our findings and evaluations regarding defense and aviation fairs in Turkey in another article. Various international fairs are held in the field of defense and aerospace, similar to IDEF.

Important International Fairs

Among the prominent fairs in the world, the first ones that come to mind in order of importance and awareness are; Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore are international defence, aerospace and aerospace fairs.

Paris International Aviation and Space Fair (Paris AirShow) is held in Paris Le Bourget airport and is held every two years. In addition to air shows, it has become famous as the world's largest exhibition with aerospace industry products exhibitions.

Farnborough International Air Show; It is held at the UK's Farnborough airport (Farnborough International Airshow). It has been held every two years since 1948. It is an activity of global importance, where the aircraft produced by the participating countries/companies are showcased through air shows, where they meet with customers. The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), traditionally scheduled for the week before this fair, and where mostly military aircraft are on display, and Farnborough are held in a two-week period, in a sense, as a combined activity.

Dubai Fair (Dubai Airshow) is the most important defense and aviation fair of the Middle East, which has been held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) every two years since 1989. While most such fairs are held open to the public, Dubai Fair is a non-public event.

Singapore Airshow (Singapore Airshow) is the most important defense and aerospace exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, which has been held on a global scale every two years since 2008.

Other International Fairs

The ILA Berlin Air Show (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA)) is held every two years at Schönefeld Airport and at the nearby Berlin exhibition center (ExpoCenter). This fair, which was held for the first time in 1909, highlights ILA Berlin among the international aerospace and defense industry fairs, as it is the first fair held in the field of aviation in the world.

Moscow International Aviation Exhibition (Mezhdunarodnyj Aviatsionno-Kosmicheskij Salon – MAKS) is a biennial exhibition held at Zhukovsky Airport near Moscow since 1992. Especially the Russian Federation and the member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States exhibit their products in the field of defense and aerospace, which makes MAKS gain international importance. MAKS-2021 was held in July, and the first time the Su-75 Checkmate fifth generation fighter aircraft developed by the Russians was introduced at this fair, making the name MAKS more known.

The Indian Air Show (Aero India) is held every two years at Yelahanka Air Base, India. It is an aerospace and defense industry fair held under the auspices of the Indian Ministry of Defense.

The African Aerospace and Defense Expo (AAD) is an exhibition held every two years at Waterkloof Air Base, where weapon systems are introduced and the capabilities of military aircraft and helicopters are exhibited through air shows.

The Canadian International Air Show (CIAS) is a North American exhibition held in Toronto every year since 1946, where mainly US and Canadian military and civilian aircraft are exhibited and air shows are held.

China Air and Space Exhibition (China Airshow). Zhuhai Aviation and Space Fair in southern China. It is a national-scale fair held in i Zhuhai city. China, which once did not want to openly display its military technology, acted with an approach that changed this policy in Zhuhai this year. In the past, the platforms, weapons and systems used by the Chinese Air Force were always tried to be kept away from outside eyes.

This year's fair, which is open to foreign observers and the public, has drawn attention as it shows the enormous extent of Chinese military power and the level of military technology it has reached.

If we describe the similar abilities of the Western world and the Russian Federation as an 'anchor'; In order to better evaluate the progress of the Chinese defense and aerospace industry on the basis of products, Zhuhai Fair also served to give important military messages on behalf of China, in terms of "ground and time", when considered together with the recently rising tension in the Indo-Pacific Region. Briefly mentioning some of the air platforms and military capabilities exhibited at this fair may be beneficial in order to evaluate China militarily.

WZ-7 Xianglong Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV):

This UAV made its debut for the first time. We can say that this strategic reconnaissance UAV, which can stay in the air for a long time at high altitudes, is in the USA-made Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk setting. Before the fair, China stated that it used WZ-7 Xianglong UAVs to follow the movements in the China-India and North-South Korea border regions and especially in the South China Sea.

J-20 Fighter and Y-20 Transport Aircraft Engines:

China has not yet reached the desired level in the field of aircraft engines. Performance of own produced jet engines; strives to raise it to the level of jet engines produced by minimal Western technology. For the first time at the fair, it tried to prove that there was no loss in the performance of these planes by flying the J-20 fighter planes with Chinese engines instead of Russian ones. Two types of domestic engines have been developed for the Y-20 Transport aircraft, and the ground and flight tests of this engine have not been completed yet.

J-16D Electronic Strike Fighter

The Chinese Air Force has about 100 J-16s. When the use of these aircraft as electronic attack aircraft came to the agenda, J-16D development studies were started. China, which has been trying for several years to produce the J-16D electronic attack aircraft as an aircraft equivalent to the US-made EA-18G Growler, wanted to showcase the capabilities of the aircraft within a scenario at the fair. In this context, according to the scenario, electronic attacks were carried out in order to suppress the anti-aircraft defense of Taiwan, which it sees as a part of its territory, in a possible war. J-16D aircraft, which apply jamming by distorting different parts of the electronic spectra of the adversaries, have demonstrated that they can fly with three different types of jamming/attack systems. J-16D aircraft, modernized with AESA radar, equipped with electronic warfare pods and air-to-ground missiles (including YJ-91) that can hard kill enemy radars, especially against surface targets; It is a derivative of the J-16 aircraft and is an aircraft derived from the Russian-made Su-30 aircraft.

Rebuild FC-31 Fifth Generation Fighter

Along with its efforts to develop the Shenyang FC-31 Gyrfalcon aircraft, it wanted to show the exhibitors that China attaches great importance to its fifth generation capability with the J-20, whose engine it replaced with the Chinese version.

Two years after the J-20, which made its first flight in 2010, the FC-31 made its first test flight in 2012. The western world was impressed by the success of the products, as China was able to unveil two consecutive fifth-generation fighter development projects within two years.

China, which does not hide its desire to sell the FC-31 fighter jet to other countries with an approach similar to the Russian Su-75 aircraft, is also working on versions of these aircraft that can land and take off on aircraft carriers. At the fair, FC-31 with its new appearance was exhibited and an impressive presentation was made from the pilot's cockpit. The chief engineer of the aircraft declared that the version capable of landing and taking off on aircraft carriers will be ready by the end of 2021. According to the authorities, it is possible that China may soon launch the version produced for aircraft carriers under a separate name.

China's 6th Generation Combat Aircraft Designs

At a time when the world's major aircraft manufacturers and leading countries started to invest in sixth-generation fighter aircraft, China demonstrated the level of maturity it reached in the fifth generation with the FC-31 and J-20. Next, the Americans' Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft, the Europeans' (France, Germany and Spain) Next Generation Weapons System/Future Combat Air System/Système de Combat Aérien Futur - FCAS/SCAF and Tempest (UK-led), Japanese FX and Russians are still working on it, though they haven't revealed their names yet. The Chinese defense and aerospace industry, which follows the sixth generation fighter jet programs, which it implies, also wanted to show that it does not lag behind these programs. In this context, digital presentations of various design studies were made.

At the fair, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) exhibited a sixth-generation aircraft design called PLAN, similar to Boeing's F/A-XX presentation. It is known that the name of the new aircraft, which is said to be probably called J-25 Kalavinka, comes from a mythological bird with a human head in Asian folkloric lines. It is envisaged that this aircraft, which will have foldable wings, tail and wings, will have a speed of Mach 4, a cruising speed of Mach 3 and a radius of operation of 1 080 miles. The power of the engines of this twin-engine aircraft is calculated as 180 kN (40 240 lb).

Feihong FH-97: China's Valkyrie Model

Chinese; It also introduced the Feihong FH-97 UAVs, which it produced in accordance with the high-performance UAV concept that can fly with manned advanced warplanes, at this fair. The Boeing product Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie combat UAV, which stands out as the model targeted by the FH-97; It made its first flight in 2019 and started weapon tests in 2021. These types of UAVs have recently come to the fore among UAV projects. We evaluate that cheap, stealth and high-performance combat UAVs that can accompany manned fighter jets in the war will come to the agenda of the defense and aviation community more in the coming periods. These war drones, which we can call "Swarm or Loyal UAV", are about to enter the air operation area, where invisibility and cruising speeds above mach are starting to be seen as normal, numerous war UAVs together with manned warplanes. This will bring about revolutionary changes in terms of air operations. That's why, like other developed countries, China had the opportunity to show that it was making big investments in this field, on the occasion of the fair.

C919 Engine and Certification Requirements

China has stepped up efforts to become self-sufficient in basic technologies in commercial aircraft amid trade tensions with the United States. China, which produced the C919 narrow-body aircraft as a unique aircraft, has taken the necessary steps to use CJ1000 engines made by the Chinese company CFIM Aero Engine Corp, to replace the CFM International LEAP-1C engines used in these aircraft. A working, full-size model of this engine, which is still under development, was exhibited at the fair. The biggest problem that C919 planes have to overcome; As per the US export rules, the certification set by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is an obligation to meet the flight safety and airworthiness targets.

For commercial aircraft, the Chinese geography is considered a large market. It wants to engage in domestic passenger and freight transportation with C919 aircraft until it builds the plane in compliance with FAA rules and overcomes the US obstacles in this sense. We consider that the Western world has realized that it cannot keep Chinese-made commercial planes on the ground longer with a 'certification' weapon. It would not be a prophecy to say that a large number of Chinese-made and certified passenger aircraft will be available to global airlines by 2030. If the West's obstructions in this area continue, similarly, the flight and sales required for the Airbus A220 narrow-body passenger aircraft, Embraer E-Jet E2 series regional passenger aircraft and ATR 42-600 turboprop aircraft to fly over Chinese territory under current conditions. It appears that the permits will not be issued by the Chinese aviation authority. The same could be true for the Boeing 737 MAX, which China had previously allowed.

Conclusion

Defense and Aerospace Fairs provide a great opportunity for manufacturers to showcase their newest and best products and to see the performance of aircraft. In addition, it is a valuable environment that brings together various stakeholders such as field experts, company representatives, military officials, defense planners. On the other hand, fairs on a global scale are mainly aimed at leading countries and companies in the aviation field such as the USA, France, England and the Russian Federation, to cooperate with other countries, reach potential customers, protect global market networks, develop foreign trade, sell their products, etc. gives chance. Looking at the potential buyer countries at the same time on an annual basis, it is beneficial to see similar competitive products and make the most accurate decisions in such international fairs.

With the Zhuhai defense and aerospace fair held this year, China; Like the prominent countries in this field, it had the opportunity to show the level of its aerospace and defense industry and to increase its global competitiveness. He said that in the coming years, as one of the important fairs in the field of defense and aviation such as Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore, the Zhuhai fair will be followed closely as we can.