Production blueprints were completed back in 1960 giving green light to the prototypes to begin. However, with the political climate in China during those years, the project was cancelled the next year. A small team kept the program alive until the work was reinstated at Nanchang. The first flight took place on 10th June 1965 and production manufacture began in 1969 with squadron delivery taking place in 1970.
A total of 1.000 aircraft were produced approximately, 600 of them being updated to the Q-5A standard. Some few of them, maybe a dozen or so (exact numbers are unknown) were modified to carry tactical nuclear weapons. A long range variant was introduced, named Q-5I, in 1983, with an extra fuel tank instead of the weapons bay, with two additional underwing pylons to compensate for. Some of those aircraft have also served with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and have been equipped with an special radar for anti-ship missile guiding. Further improvements include the Q-5IA with new avionics and gun/bomb sighting system, and the Q-5II fitted with radar warning receiver technology.
There were plans for a large modernisation of the type with western avionics and new navigation and attack systems, but those were aborted after Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The aircraft continues in service though.
More recently, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has fielded newer models that include technology intended for the cancelled Q-5/A-5M and Q-5K. One of those new versions introduces a nose-mounted laser rangefinder and, most likely, a laser designator is also fitted, as the aircraft is said to be capable of deliver laser-guided bombs.
The aircraft is one of the backbones of the PLAAF's ground attack fleet and, on 20th April 2017 two Q-5s were seen in Bohai Bay practising air strikes against ground targets in the wake of increasing tensions in the Korean peninsula.
The more newest variants are:
- Q-5E: A variant equipped with new pylon for laser-guided bombs such as the LS-500J. It also featured a new fire control system. The lase pod is missing because of weight issues.
- Q-5F: A laser designator pod carrier. It has a special large belly right pylon mounted for laser targeting pod.
- Q-5G: A Q-5E with internal fuel tank to solve its range problem.
- Q-5J: A tandem two-seater version of the Q-5. According to the manufacturer it can be used also in the forward air control role like the Fairchild-Republic OA-10A and providing target information via data links. The rear seat is slighlty higher than the front one, giving the rear pilot a 5 degree field of vision with the canopy opening to the right. When acting as a trainer the rear cockpit can override the frontal one.
- Q-5L: An upgraded Q-5C with new vision systems for night/day capability, infrared and television cameras mounted on the nose orb. It's also equipped with more modern utilities such as Head up Display, GPS Rx, INS, TACAN and chaff/flare dispensers. It can carry two LS-500J laser-guided glide bombs with a range of 12 km (7.45 milles) and it's also equipped with an optional belly fuel tank.
- Q-5N: An upgraded Q-5D with some improvements of the Q-5L and a different navigation system.
1. 1. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19. The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanchang_Q-5
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