J-10C

China's workhorse 4.5-generation single-engine multirole fighter — a delta-canard design with an AESA radar, active in PLAAF and Pakistani service, and credited with the type's first air-to-air kill in 2025.

Overview

The Chengdu J-10C (export designation J-10CE) is the principal current variant of China’s J-10 “Vigorous Dragon” (Menglong) family. It is a single-engine, canard-delta multirole fighter that entered PLAAF service in 2018 and today forms a large part of China’s fourth-generation fighter fleet alongside the heavier J-11/J-16 family and the stealthy J-20. Pakistan has been the launch export customer, inducting the J-10CE from 2022 and giving the type its combat debut in the 2025 India–Pakistan air clashes. The aircraft is built by AVIC’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation and is offered as a lower-cost 4.5-generation alternative to Western and Russian twins.

Development

The J-10 programme began in the 1980s and produced the J-10A (service ~2004–06) with an AL-31FN engine and mechanically scanned radar, followed by the J-10B with a diverterless supersonic inlet, PESA radar and IRST. The J-10C, which emerged in the late 2010s, upgraded the J-10B airframe with an indigenous AESA radar, a Chinese WS-10B engine and modern avionics, creating a 4.5-generation fighter in the same class as the latest F-16 or Rafale. According to Airforce Technology, the J-10C is a thorough modernisation that rectifies earlier performance and sensor shortfalls, bringing it in line with contemporary Western multirole types.

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