The program was also aiming to make use of newly imported British Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines at the time.

The PLAAF variant was conceived as an all-weather, long-range bomber/strike aircraft, with a two-seat, tandem cockpit, electronic countermeasures (ECM), and terrain following capabilities (similar to the General Dynamics F-111).

When the PLA examined the future role of air forces, it identified a need for precision air-to-surface capability.

The JH-7A had a lighter and stronger airframe than the JH-7, allowing the newer aircraft to carry a maximum ordnance load of 9,000 kg.

[14] On its maiden flight on 14 December 1988, while en route back to the airport to land, the engines of the JH-7 prototype suddenly began to vibrate violently.

Lu Jun (卢军), a Russian-trained Chinese test pilot, managed to make a safe emergency landing when the fuel reserve had dropped to slightly more than 30 liters.

Against orders to jettison the missiles and abandon the aircraft, the test pilot decided to attempt an emergency landing.

Using mainly differential thrust of the two engines, the test pilot Huang Bingxin (黄炳新) made it back to the airport and attempted to make an emergency landing, but a tire at the starboard side burst on touch down, causing the aircraft to veer off course.

Using brakes as control, the test pilot made two attempts before releasing the drogue parachute to finally stop safely.

In April 2012, multiple JH-7 aircraft joined a Russia-China joint naval exercise in eastern China.

[23] The crash of the normally high-altitude-usage, aged aircraft happened during a low-altitude training flight, the pilots gave up an opportunity to eject to avoid densely populated residential area and were killed when trying to avoid a school, they were hailed for their bravery as martyrs by local officials.