J-65 "Yan"

Template:Vehicle (air)The Shannan J-65 "Yan" (Swallow) is an Opian built, twin engine, all weather air superiority fighter. The 65 denotes the year the model was accepted in service.

Development

The J-65 was born from an effort to design a fully Opian fighter for domestic use. Necessary characteristics included a high operational ceiling, good maneuverability and both beyond visual range (BVR) and dogfighting capabilities.

The demands called for a variable geometry intake, but due to inexperience with aircraft design, a conventional shock cone intake had to be installed, leading to the J-65O prototype series.

A J-65O prototype with shock cone intake

The first prototype flew in August 2063, and a pre-production batch of ten aircraft were ordered. In the J-65O2 series, new intakes were experimented with, until the J-65O3 provided the final configuration for the aircraft type.

Following satisfactory testing against former foreign export aircraft, the J-65 was accepted in service in 2065, giving it its designation. The current model in service is a slightly modified J-65O3, which name was changed to J-65I. The plane's nickname is "Yan" or swallow.