FTC-2000, JL-9 export version

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) presented the first production copy of its FTC-2000 training aircraft at the Anshun plant in Guizhou Province.

The FTC-2000 is the low-cost version for the export market of the JL-9 training aircraft used by the People's Liberation Air Force (PLAAF) and the Chinese Navy (PLAN), where it is called Shanying or "mountain eagle".

The aircraft is the first example of production of an order for a customer not officially confirmed, but which could very probably be Sudan. In fact, at the beginning of November last year, the director of Guizhou Aircraft Industries Corporation (GAIC, a subsidiary of the state-owned AVIC), Wang Wenfei, said that Sudan had ordered six of these advanced training aircraft with secondary attack capability.

The aircraft, which will soon undergo the necessary tests prior to delivery, is a two-seater, single-engine trainer capable of reaching a speed of 1.5 Mach. It uses the WP-13 engine of national manufacture that it shares with the JL-9 but unlike this one it uses different avionics and navigation systems, according to the specifications of the client that also requested more subalar fixation points.

The FTC-2000 made its maiden flight on December 13, 2003, and since then has only been seen in two public acrobatic displays at the Zuhay lounges in 2006 and 2016.