Shenyang (AVIC) J-6 / F-6 (Farmer)

History

For decades, China and its regional allies have relied on the availability of the Shenyang J-6 (NATO codename "Farmer") family of jets. This type was nothing more than a licensed production copy of the short-lived Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 "Peasants", replacing the ancient MiG-17 "Murals" in service at the time. The J-6 filled the ranks of the PLAAF in numbers along with other important quantitative operators who later became Pakistan and North Korea.

Overall, about 15 countries have procured the aircraft as a front-line fighter, a budget alternative to the more expensive Soviet model. To this day, Iran, Myanmar and North Korea still use this type, albeit in much smaller numbers than before. Since then, the PLA Air Force has stopped using older fighter jet designs, but still retains more than 100 prototype trainers to train China's new generation of fighter pilots.

At one point, the J-6 represented the largest number of all combat aircraft available to the PLA Air Force and was the starting point for the Nanchang Q-5 "Pantan" fighter described elsewhere on this site.

Technically, the supersonic J-6 is classified as a dedicated fighter and ground attack aircraft. However, the system is designed such that the former is primary and the latter is secondary.

A Chinese copy of the Soviet version, the J-6 was very similar in design to the MiG-19, including nose-mounted air intakes, a twin-engine layout, heavily swept wings with large boundary layer fences, and a single Vertical tail. From the outset, the J-6 was intended to be developed as a short-lived fighter to be offered in bulk to the PLAAF and other interested parties.

Several prototypes are known to have been developed - these became the J-6I, J-6II and J-6III. The J-6I has a fixed shock cone mounted on the intake splitter assembly, while the J-6II has a similar circumference, but its shock cone is adjustable.

The J-6III has a fixed radome assembly on the air intake splitter plate for mounting the domestic interceptor radar.

The two-seat trainer variant of the J-6 fighter jet appeared as the "JJ-6". The type introduced a second cockpit (tandem) with overriding redundant controls in an elongated fuselage, minus some fuel. The three-gun arrangement was modified to contain only one armature for armed shooting training. The JJ-6 is exported as "FT-6" to interested parties, and the Tianjin Group also provides services for local production.

The JJ-6 airframe also served as a test bed for native ejection seat designs. Likewise, the Xi'an BW-1 became a fly-by-wire airframe for testing indigenous Chinese flight systems.

Guizhou Group offers the model designation J-6A, which includes the ability to fire a pair of PL-2 infrared air-to-air missiles.

Albania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, North Vietnam, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Vietnam are J-6/F-6 (outside China) operators. The F-6 was embraced by budget buyers looking for a modern combat platform, and the Chinese product did not disappoint. Pakistan uses this type extensively, deploying it in no less than ten squadrons, including one training squad.

Almost all were retired by 2002, replaced by the Chengdu F-7 series - Chinese copies of the Soviet MiG-21 "Fishbed". Albania manages a significant number of 82 F-6 platforms - all of which have been decommissioned since 2005. To date, only Iran, Myanmar and North Korea still use F-6 export models.

By 2005, J-6 fighter jets in service in China officially entered service from the front line, some of which were modified to accommodate the miserable post-deployment life of the target UAV. However, many two-seat trainer derivatives (there are at least a hundred examples) are reserved for jet pilot training.

But even these continued to be actively replaced by the more powerful and modern Hongdu JL-8 series.

Shenyang and others have completed more than 3,000 J-6/F-6 airframes.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes