China's Super-7 new-generation fighter aircraft is expected to make its maiden test flight later this year, a senior engineer with the China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I) said yesterday in Beijing.

A prototype of the "all-weather, multipurpose fighter jet" has just been completed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Group, a branch of the Beijing-based AVIC I in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, said Gao Zhicong.

Gao, who is in charge of the project, said the new model represents China's most sophisticated light fighter for the 21st-century combat environment.

China independently designed and built the fighter, Gao said.

The single-seat, turbofan engine-powered fighter will go into volume production once tests have been successfully carried out, he said.

"The Super-7 aims to gradually replace the F-7, MiG-21 and Q-5 series aircraft that are currently in service in both China and some developing countries," he told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

A model of the military aircraft, which is also codenamed the Super-7/FC-1, debuted at an airshow in Zhuhai in South China's Guangdong Province last year. It attracted keen interest from many visitors, according to Luo Ronghuai, president of the Chengdu aircraft manufacturer.

Both Luo and Gao declined to specify either the potential importing nations or the price.

Compared with the F-7, Q-5 and other fighter aircraft series currently in use in China, the Super-7 features a larger weapon-load capacity and a greater radar-detection range and it is stealth-capable, Gao said.

Its maximum external storage weight is 3.8 tons, and it boasts a radar-detection range of up to 100 kilometres, compared with the current jets' 30 kilometres, he said.

"The Super-7 is capable of carrying out the dual mission of air-to-air and air-to-surface attacks," Gao said.

The cost-effective aircraft can be used as a fighter or a trainer, he said.

(China Daily 06/13/2003 page1)