Sorry whats the point of using J-15T in STOBARs again compare to the standard J-15?
CV-16, CV-17 STOBAR carrier thread (001/Liaoning, 002/Shandong)
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
The J-15T is an all-encompassing upgraded variant of the original J-15 (with the most prominent feature being the AESA radar that is absent from the vanilla J-15s), alongside enabling cross-deck operations between the STOBAR twins and the Fujian (plus all subsequent PLAN CATOBAR CVs).
J-15T is all round much better than J-15. Comparing it to original J-15 is like comparing a J-16 to a J-11.
I was actually thinking PLAN would put some J-15T onto Liaoning and Shandong while keeping the rest of the J-15 around for missions that don't need the more advanced capabilities (eg buddy tanker) to wring out all the values out of those air frames. But turns out according to CHH and this exercise PLAN's thinking is actually more like let's get rid of old J-15 as quickly as possible and send them to training units while fill out the STOBAR carriers with the latest and greatest.
I remember in that CHH episode the gang and Shilao in particular was thinking about a "J-15H", which would be a J-15T but with the catapult specific thick front landing gear plus any CATOBAR specific equipment removed to make a slightly lighter STOBAR only version. But after reasoning it out Shilao concluded it's very unlikely because the saving are going to be barely worth the effort and PLAN would most likely value interoperability over a little bit of weight saving. I recall Shilao quoted the example of Australian F/A-18, where there would be much more weight saving de-navalizing them for land use than a hypothetical J-15H and even then nobody wanted to fork out the money and go for it even though the offer was on the table at one stage.
Last edited:
Training and land based reserves
They have already been transferred to the Naval Aviation University as advanced training aircraft.
In fact, this is the ideal allocation method. With the increase in the number of aircraft carriers, the Naval Aviation has established itself during the military reform period as a carrier-based air force, transforming from a second air force based on the coast.
They should no longer use the J-11Bs for training as before; pilots can't use them for carrier landing practice, and the maintenance methods are different for ground crew. This is a readjustment after J-15 has become more abundant.
Are you expecting a definitive answer based off insider rumours and/or factory imagery, or an estimate?
Because the former is not available.
But considering J-35 production is winding up, and considering J-15T production likely will need to accommodate the J-15T airwing component needs of CV-16, CV-17, CV-18, and probably 004, as well as accounting for training and future attrition, in context of the possible airframe fleet size that exists currently, it would make sense that J-15T is probably still in active production in some form.