No, J-20 always had GaN-on-SiC radar not just J-20AS/A!
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
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J-20 certainly did not enter production with GaN-SiC...
They've had a few radar types during J-20 between production batches. It is likely they would've started with GaA, and it's possible they progressed to GaN at some point.
Have we got any hints to J-20 radar size or ranges from designers/pilots similar to what we heard about J-16 relative to other types?
I'm trying to organize the PLA's latest aircraft models by dates of prototype first flight.
I've gone through this and the previous J-20 threads, yet I can't find a clear date for J-20A's 1st flight.
I know #2052 with WS-15 took to the skies on 06/29/2023, and that #2051 with WS-10C taxiied on 12/23/2022, but does anyone know when the latter (i.e., #2051) had its first flight?
I've gone through this and the previous J-20 threads, yet I can't find a clear date for J-20A's 1st flight.
I know #2052 with WS-15 took to the skies on 06/29/2023, and that #2051 with WS-10C taxiied on 12/23/2022, but does anyone know when the latter (i.e., #2051) had its first flight?
I don't think so? Thus far what I've seen posted is more on the level of academic journal articles and industry notes and such. Like this stuff is in development and not yet in a finished product. Of course given PLA OPSEC it might be in testing already. However until we get more credible rumors of that I'm going to err on the side of caution and not assume PLA already has this in the field.
Commercial GaN MMIC was being mass produced since 2015, and it should be a few years earlier for military. J-20 LRIP started in 2015 so there is no reason for J-20 to ever use GaA.
Translation: In 2015, by combining GaN-MMIC technology with circuit topology technology, a series of high-efficiency, high-power and broadband amplifier products from C-band to W-band were manufactured. At the same time, multifunctional MMICs such as broadband robust low-noise amplifiers, Ka-band high-power GaN SPDT switches, X-band high-power GaN high-pass/low-pass phase shifters, W-band GaN voltage-controlled oscillators, X-band transceiver front ends, and X-band GaN multi-chip modules were developed, as well as CMOS gate bias control circuits on Si substrates and direct monolithic heterogeneous integration products of GaN amplifiers. The manufacturing process of GaN-MMIC is similar to that of GaAS-MMIC.
Would need to check to be sure but those academic journal articles may not be contemporary. Part of the recent news on GaN on SiC is that they’re already growing wafers for commercial purposes, which would suggest this material is already being adopted in the field.
Although this is true, LRIP J-20 was probably finalized quite a while before hence it likely uses the original radar used for trials IMO. But it is far more likely that GaN was used starting from the first serial production J-20s from ~2017 onward. Considering changes like radome color, WS-10s etc.
I'm not sure how that supports your argument that J-20 entered production initially with GaN-SiC.
As for commercial GaN MMIC being produced since 2015, I am aware of that, however commercial production does not equate to having a it in active use for the J-20's radar, considering the time needed for development, testing, systems integration of a major subsystem like that.
If anything, it is a good rule of thumb to assume that actual in service application of new technologies like this in a military setting will be older/delayed a little compared to commercial settings by virtue of military product development cycles.
My expectation is J-20 entered production initially around 2015 with a GaA radar, between 2015 and J-20A production beginning, they likely had at least one major radar upgrade (among other subsystem and material upgrades), of which at least one radar upgrade was moving to a GaN radar which should be in use among the latter J-20 production batches.
Whether J-20A/20S is entering production with a new GaN-Sic radar or "only" another new GaN radar, who knows.