Xian JH - 7 The Xian JH - 7 ( " Jianjiji Hongzhaji " – fighter - bomber ) ; NATO reporting name Flounder ) , also known as the FBC - 1 ( Fighter / Bomber China - 1 ) Flying Leopard , is a tandem two - seat , twin - engine fighter - bomber in service with the People ' s Liberation Army Naval Air Force ( PLANAF ) , and the People ' s Liberation Army Air Force ( PLAAF ) . The main contractors are Xian Aircraft Industry Corporation ( XAC ) and the 603rd Aircraft Design Institute ( later named the First Aircraft Institute of AVIC - 1 . ) The first JH - 7s were delivered to the PLANAF in the mid - 1990s for evaluation , with the improved JH - 7A entering service in 2004 . Development history . A new fighter bomber . In the early 1970s , the PLAAF required a new fighter - bomber to replace the Harbin H - 5 and Nanchang Q - 5 . A request was duly submitted to the Ministry of Aviation Industry ( later renamed to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China ) , which organized a domestic development program when efforts to secure a joint venture with foreign partners failed . The program was authorized on 19 April 1983 by then - paramount leader Deng Xiaoping . The program was also aiming for make use of newly imported British Spey turbofan engines at the time . Key positions were filled as follows : JH - 7 . The PLANAF required a similar aircraft and the program set out to develop a variant for each set of requirements . The PLAAF variant would be a two - man all - weather deep strike bomber , with side - by - side cockpit seating , electronic countermeasures ( ECM ) , and terrain following capabilities similar to the General Dynamics F - 111 . The PLANAF would receive a two - man all - weather , tandem cockpit , strike and reconnaissance aircraft . The PLAAF variant was dropped in the early 1980s , with the PLANAF variant becoming the JH - 7 . Six prototypes were built by December 1988 , and the PLANAF received 12 to 18 aircraft in the early 1990s for evaluation . The first aircraft used imported Rolls - Royce Spey Mk . 202 engines , later replaced by a license - built copy , the WS - 9 . They were equipped with the Type 243H multifunction radar , which could detect ships at a maximum of , and MiG - 21 - sized aerial targets at . The JH - 7 was designed as an anti - shipping fighter - bomber . As with the later JH - 7A , its aerial combat capability was insignificant given the large number of specialist aircraft for that role . JH - 7A . When the PLA examined the future role of air forces , it identified a need for precision air - to - surface capability . An improved JH - 7 , the JH - 7A , was designed to meet this requirement . The JH - 7A ' s general and deputy general designers were Tang Changhong ( 唐长红 ) and Wu Jieqin ( 吴介琴 ) respectively . The JH - 7A had a lighter and stronger airframe than the JH - 7 , allowing the newer aircraft to carry a maximum ordnance load of 9000 kg . In PLANAF , this allowed four YJ - 82 anti - ship missiles to be carried , compared to the two on the JH - 7 . Avionics is one of the major area JH - 7A is equipped with domestic Chinese helmet mounted sight ( HMS ) for evaluation , and this HMS currently being tested is developed by Xi ' an Optronics Group ( Xi Guang Ji Tuan 西光集团 ) , a member of Northern Electro - Optic Co . Ltd ( 北方光电股份有限公司 ) , the wholly owned subsidiary of Norinco , and the HMS on JH - 7A was developed from the helicopter HMS manufactured by the same company , thus both share many common components . HMS tested on JH - 7A is compatible with air - to - air / surface missiles , and it is also compatible with airborne sensors such as radars and electro - optics so that the sensors are slaved to HMS , enabling the fast tracking and aiming of the weaponry . The cockpit of JH - 7A still retains some traditional single function dial indicators , but there are two large color liquid crystal display multi - function display s which can be monochrome if pilots choose to . Other avionic upgrades of JH - 7 include : replacing Type 960 - 2 noise jammer with BM / KJ - 8605 , replacing Type 265A radar altimeter with Type 271 radar altimeter , fully digitized fly - by - wire flight control system , and In addition , Type 232H airborne radar is replaced by JL - 10A pulse Doppler radar , enabling JH - 7A to fire laser - guided bomb s and Kh - 31 P anti - radiation missile s . The existing JH - 7s were upgraded with JH - 7A electronics . Two additional hardpoint s increased the total to 6 from the original 4 , and one - piece windscreen replaced the original three - piece windscreen . The JH - 7A was the first Chinese aircraft to use paperless design , and the software used was CATIA V5 . Operational history . On its maiden flight on December 14 , 1988 , while en route back to airport to land , the engines of JH - 7 prototype suddenly begun to vibrate violently . The test pilot Huang Bingxin ( 黄炳新 ) decided to make an emergency landing , but as he approached the airport , the vibration was so great that two third of the instrumentation had been shaken off from the dashboard , and all of the connectors of the remaining one third instrumentation still attached to the dashboard had also been shaken loose , so none of the instrumentation worked , but the pilot nonetheless managed to eventually land the prototype safely . On June 8 , 1991 , a JH - 7 prototype suddenly begun to leak fuel in great amount in relatively very short time . Lu Jun ( 卢军 ) , a Russian trained Chinese test pilot at the control managed to make a safe emergency landing when the fuel reserve had dropped to slightly more than 30 liters . Lu ' s luck ran out approximately three years later when on April 4 , 1994 , a JH - 7 prototype crashed during test flight , killing the 38 year old test pilot Lu Jun ( 卢军 ) . On August 19 , 1992 , the entire rudder of JH - 7 suddenly fell off at altitude of 5000 meters , while carrying 4 live missiles . Against order to eject the missiles and parachute , the test pilot decided to attempt to make an emergency landing . Using mainly the differential of two engines , the test pilot Huang Bingxin ( 黄炳新 ) made it back to airport and attempted to make an emergency landing , but a tire at the starboard side exploded at the touch down , causing the aircraft to veer off course . Using brakes as control , the test pilot made two attempts before finally releasing the drogue parachute to finally stopped safely . The JH - 7A entered service with the PLANAF in early 2004 , and with the PLAAF by the end of the year . On 19 July 2009 , a JH - 7A crashed during the Sino - Russia military exercise " Peace Mission 2009 " . Both pilots failed to eject and were killed . On 14 October 2011 , a JH - 7A crashed during an exhibition at an air show in central China , outside the city of Xi ' an . The front pilot was killed ; the rear pilot ejected and survived without serious injuries . References . see also International AirPower Revue , Vol . 25 , Focus Aircraft : Xian JH - 7 ' Flounder ' , p . 52 - 75 , ISSN 1473 - 9917 , AIRtime Publishing , 2008 .