Shenyang J-8

J-8 / J-8B
J-8 at the China Aviation Museum
General information
Type	Interceptor
National origin	China
Manufacturer	Shenyang Aircraft Corporation
Designer	Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute
Status	In service
Primary users	People's Liberation Army Air Force People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force
Number built	At least 408[1]
History
Introduction date	1980
First flight	J-8: 5 July 1969 J-8B: 12 June 1984

The Shenyang J-8 (Chinese: 歼-8; NATO reporting name: Finback) is a family of interceptor aircraft developed by the 601 Institute (Shenyang) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was conceived in the early 1960s as a low-risk program based on enlarging the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F, a version of which the PRC was producing as the Chengdu J-7. The original J-8 experienced protracted development due to disruption from the Cultural Revolution; the prototypes first flew in 1969^[2] but the design was not finalized until 1979 with the aircraft entering service in 1980.^[3]

The J-8II/J-8B (NATO reporting name: Finback-B) was a major development of the J-8 and was essentially a new aircraft. The J-8II replaced the distinctive nose air intake^[2] with a conventional radome (which now made the aircraft closely resemble the Sukhoi Su-15) and side air intakes to create room for a modern fire-control radar,^[4] and used more powerful engines.^[2][4] The aircraft started development in 1982,^[4] and was cleared for production and service in 1988.^[5] The J-8II was the basis for all later major additions to the J-8 family.^[6]