"Gernot Hassenpflug" wrote in message
...
I saw an article in the local Chinese paper last night, but didn't
have the time to decipher it. Picture showes a tandem jet in flight,
and the caption said something about a two-seater, the first
home-grown trainer of the Chinese Air Force. Did anyone else notice
this news, or is it old hat?

It is not their first homegrown jet trainer--that laurel would rest with the
JL-8 (K-8 in western sources), which is used not only by the PLAAF but also
by Pakistan and Egypt, and IIRC Sri Lanka has/had some on hand. What you saw
was a story about the first flight of their new more advanced trainer, the
JL-9. The photos I have seen of that aircraft are a bit strange--the front
end resembles a lot of the current crop of new advanced training aircraft
popping up throughout the world, but the ass-end resembles in some ways the
lines of some of their older fighter aircraft (MiG-21 derivitive). The JL-9
will likely become their new LIFT platform.

Brooks


--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan