The Shenyang J-8I "Finback" was a high speed, high altitude delta winged interceptor employed by the
J-8I "Finback"
People's Liberation Army Air Force and Naval Air Forces.
Design[]
The aircraft was a scaled up version of the MiG-21 (built in China as the J-7) with two engines, a greater internal fuel load and additional wing pylons. With the Chinese engineers having little experience with building high speed aircraft the J-7 was a logical place to start. Technology from the Soviet Ye-155 program was used to address some of the development problems and the resulting aircraft resembled the Soviet aircraft in many aspects. An initial J-8 version was not deemed satisfactory by the Chinese leadership and so an improved J-8I was designed and entered production in 1981.
Weapon Systems[]
The J-8I was equipped with the Sichuan SR-4 fire control radar which although it was an improvement over previous Chinese radar sets was still below most equivilent sets. It was equipped with seven weapon pylons with all but the innermost wing pylons being capable of carrying external fuel tanks. Armament composed of within visual range missile armament only backed up by a dual 23mm cannon.
Combat History[]
Sino-Soviet Border War[]
J-8Is fought against Soviet aircraft penetrating Chinese defences from day 1 of the fighting. The type suffered at the hands of the MiG-23, MiG-25 and Su-15.