A Chinese newspaper is reporting that the People’s Liberation Army -Navy has upgraded its carrier-launched J-15 fighter jet with new wingtip missile pylons, wing configuration, radar and an infrared search and track system.
A few of these kinds of adjustments, depending upon their technological sophistication, could be significant, yet the upgrade does not really seem that significant for a number of reasons.
Should, for example, the infrared search and track targeting technology now integrated into the J-15 in any way parallel the F/A-18s recently added IRST, then it could present some challenges.
There is, however, no available information as to its level of sophistication, but the F/A-18 Infrared Search and Track targeting system, which has been integrated onto Super Hornets over the last few years, introduced advanced infrared targeting technology designed to function effectively in a spectrum-challenged environment. Given the large extent to which the future warfare environment is expected to have an EW component.
An even more im pactful adjustment may be the addition of a new radar. The Global Times speculates that the J-15s upgraded radar could be an Active Electronically Scanned Array, (AESA) system
