Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36) thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
The loyal wingman?
There are reasonably serious Chinese PLA watchers out there who believe China is now ahead of the US in tailless aircraft design and control methods.
Until we see a tailless NGAD prototype or something along those lines flying, some of us might be inclined to agree with said PLA watchers.
The teacup perhaps? Looks like it has a tail, but obviously need better quality images.
This is getting ridiculous. The U.S. is only expected to fly its YFQ-42/44 Increment 1 CCA later this year, whereas by the looks of it China is already flying the equivalent of the U.S. Increment 2 (!) CCA.
China seems to be pulling ahead across all dimensions of tactical airpower.
Why can't it be J-16?
If its UCAV it's doing some pretty aggressive maneuvers for a UCAV
But why three engines? Wouldn't it make more sense to have two and reserve space along the centreline for fuel, weapons? Could this suggest that Chinese engine technology isn't quite ready to power such an aircraft with two engines? Or given the experimental nature of this jet, do they want to test with three, and if J-36 is proven move to two engines?
If it was 3 engines for a smaller plane the “inefficient engines” line of thinking would have more cache. But this is a very large plane, easily 50% bigger by volume than any flying 5th gen today, which tells you they’re not simply trying to compensate for lower thrust. The actual reason has far more to do with electrical power. This plane is designed to have a massive amount of available electrical power to power its hungry sensor and EW capabilities, and the higher the electrical power demands the more beneficial it is to have an always available power source. A third engine simplifies the power architecture to enable this since you won’t have to constantly optimize power availability between thrust and electrical demands.