Shenyang Aircraft Corporation is one of the biggest Chinese aircraft manufacturers, was found in 1953 in Shenyang city in Liaoning northern province, most of other manufacturers were found with the help of SAC.
No doubt JJ-2, the two-seat Chinese variant of Mig-15UTI trainer was the first airplane produced by Shenyang.
After JJ-2, and in late 1950s Shenyang start the mass production of the license-built Mig-17 under the designation J-5, more than 700 airframe saw the light until production ended in 1969.
An image of assembly line of J-5's in Shenyang plant, this plane was exported to few air forces in the world under the designation of F-5.
Although the Soviet Mig-19 was a very short step between Mig-17 and 21, its Chinese variant J-6 was widely admired by PLAAF as production started in 1958 and never ended until 1981.
In late 1970s, Guizhou took part in upgrading J-6 to J-6A (as shown above) enabling it to carry IR homing AAM's.
J-6 was exported as well as F-6 and still operational in North Korea and Iran AF's.
Since the J-7 was incapable to counter bombers and spy planes such as B-58, F-105 and U-2, PLAAF requested Shenyang to design and build an aircraft which can do so, the result was the twin-engined J-8 which was an all-weather high-altitude interceptor.
J-8 came with a design influenced by Ye-150 in its initial stages and by Su-15 later although it was neither license-built nor a copy of the later ones, almost 300 units were built and serving PLAAF supposed to be replaced by the J-10 and J-11 in the coming years.
An agreement between Russia and China in 1995 licensed the later one to build 200 Su-27SK under the designation of J-11 using Russian supplied kits, only 63 units were built when production suddenly halted after PLAAF complained of the capability of the obsolete avionics and radar, while Russian media said that Russia cenceled the agreement after it discovered that China had reverse-engineered the technology and was developing its own copy.
J-11 received many indigenous upgrades using Chinese radar, avionics and weaponry and playing the main role of air superiority in PLAAF.
An unfinished Su-33 prototype was acquired from Ukraine in 2001, been extensively studied by Chinese and started the program of J-15 the carrier-based multirole fighter.
Photos of early airframes under development were revealed (as above) while it's expected to be introduced in 2016.
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