Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

Equation said:

Do we know for sure that the WS-13 is dead or a myth? It may still be going on without us knowing it's progress. Remember people used to think J-20 was myth, along with the WS-10 engines, DF-21D ASBM, and etc.

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No, we actually know nothing (or at least not much) but in comparison to the WS-13 is the J-20 an almost open book.

Deino

Deino said:

No, we actually know nothing (or at least not much) but in comparison to the WS-13 is the J-20 an almost open book.

Deino

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Yeah, but before it even came out there was years of speculation and rumors.

Air Force Brat said:

It seems the Chinese have a little different perspective on "air combat maneuvering". One of the reasons Red Flag and Top-Gun came to the fore was to "ingrain" this type of flying into the curriculum in order to bring people up to a high level of "airmanship", where aircraft maneuvering was second nature.

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Well, I don't think you can speculate about the "airmanship" based on what is happening with the J-20. Most of the photos / videos that we have seen with the J-20 so far have come from the prototypes flying in Chengdu. Now, Chengdu is a highly populated city, in fact one of the most populated cities in China with 12-13 million people. In almost all the photos with the J-20 in the air, you can see apartment buildings nearby. I don't think it is safe to make any of the aerobatic maneuvers in the sky above a major city over a densely populated area even with a mature plane, much less a prototype. the same reason that we used to see F-16's and F-18's flying by all the time when I lived in College Station, Texas, but never saw any of them making any kind of cool maneuvers... they do those exercises in the desert in the west Texas...

Secondly, IMHO, the PLA wants to keep what the J-20 can actually do a secret. So it makes sense that they don't want to expose any of the advanced capabilities in a place where it can be seen and photographed so easily.

So with that said, if someone can go to Yanliang, he / she might be able to see the J-20 making all kinds of awesome maneuvers, assuming that they can take a photo. However, I do believe that the security at Yanliang might be a lot tighter than at Chengdu.

A question regarding DigoSSA's pictures above. What is the thing that looks like an IRST in front of that cockpit mock-up? Is it really an IRST or a DIRCM? Presumably the small windows either side of the nose edge is for an EODAS like system. Thanks.

Btw, there are four PL-12 class missiles in FC-31's bays. There are pics on the pakistani forum, but can't post it for some reason.

Equation said:

Yeah, but before it even came out there was years of speculation and rumors.

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Did it ever come out ??? As far as I know there is NO, not a single confirmed image of a WS-13 available. As such this engine is more speculation and rumors than hard fact.

Deino

Deino said:

Do we have an image of a F-35 in the same position ?

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Without external pylons:


Open weappons bays:


With external pylons and gun pod:


See all my High res F-35 shots at my

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by78 said:

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If you look here, the colour and the feel of the map is very "Googly", I'm not sure if it's for sure Google, but currently Google is the only one that looks like it.

Verum said:

If you look here, the colour and the feel of the map is very "Googly", I'm not sure if it's for sure Google, but currently Google is the only one that looks like it.

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Rofl all electronic colour maps these days have a "googly" feel, are you serious?