Ask anything Thread (Air Force)

[MELTY]

The real world importance of TGPs is irrelevant to whether they deserve a thread or not, rather a thread for a given topic is created if there is expected to be productive discussion and tracking of rumours/information/pictures about them that can be held over time.

For things like TGPs or EW pods, apart from identifying a few types that exist and the aircraft they are mounted on and the rare instances we see them, we won't have any access to the sort of meaty information about performance, functions, and specifications that one may get for some foreign products.

And of course that is even more so for something as sensitive as EW pods.

On the few occasions that we do see a TGP or EW pod that is of interest, they can be posted in the relevant thread for the aircraft it was mounted on, or related threads (like air to ground weapons for TGPs).


The lack of meaningful information for TGPs and EW pods, and the lack of ability to have any meaningful discussion or tracking of progress apart from "yup, they exist" is why there's no dedicated thread for them. (Though I recall many years ago there may have once been a thread for targeting pods, but the fact it has not been used in a long time just demonstrates my point).

There was never a pod thread. That's why I asked. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the reason there's a perceived massive lack of pod info is because there was no centralized thread here to put the info in (the biggest source of PLA info in the English internet). It is not intuitive to search for pod info in individual aircraft threads.

Many threads here don't even contain real documents and specs so I don't see how that's a problem.

If this is a community concensus rather than one man's opinion then so be it.

 

[Blitzo]

There was never a pod thread. That's why I asked. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the reason there's a perceived massive lack of pod info is because there was no centralized thread here to put the info in (the biggest source of PLA info in the English internet). It is not intuitive to search for pod info in individual aircraft threads.

Many threads here don't even contain real documents and specs so I don't see how that's a problem.

If this is a community concensus rather than one man's opinion then so be it.

From memory in the mid 2000s there was a FLIR thread.

But the fact it wasn't used speaks volumes.
If you feel very strongly about it, you can create a pod thread yourself, and who knows maybe it will be populated by actual useful information.
But as someone who tries to track PLA targeting pod developments over the years, let's just say I think there is a perfectly good reason why a dedicated targeting pod thread was never made.

 

[lcloo]

What aircraft was/were used to transport Xi Jinping's official and the rest of the convoy cars to San Francisco for 2023 APEC?

 

[iBBz]

What aircraft was/were used to transport Xi Jinping's official and the rest of the convoy cars to San Francisco for 2023 APEC?

a Boeing 747-400

 

[agm]

What is current ORBAT of PLAAF ?

 

[Deino]

What is current ORBAT of PLAAF ?

Well, in fact that‘s a difficult to say since there is barely anything official, OSINT-guys like me do have an always updated list but are not eager to share it for free and so a good start may be:

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Or these two:

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[agm]

Well, in fact that‘s a difficult to say since there is barely anything official, OSINT-guys like me do have an always updated list but are not eager to share it for free and so a good start may be:

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Or these two:

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Thanks

 

[grulle]

The WS-10B produces 30,000lbf with afterburner. comparable to the latest American engines powering the most advanced F-15s (F-15QA)
The WS-15 produces 40,000lbf with afterburner. comparable to the P&W F135 powering the F-35 (43,000lbf).

Chinese jet engines have caught up with Western engines in terms of thrust. but how about other factors such as reliability, longevity, and fuel consumption?

 

[gelgoog]

The F-35's engine isn't as reliable as it's supposed to either. The engine lifetime went down with Block-3F because the engine cannot keep up with the aircraft's cooling requirements.

The WS-15 only recently started serial production. As with any engine, the lifetime will improve with time as it gets more used. As an example, the Al-31 originally had 100 hours lifetime, they had to delay introduction into service of it in the Su-27 until the lifetime reached 300 hours. And today variants of the engine have 3000 hours lifetime and higher.

The engines need to be put into serial production and stressed in actual flight, they will later get dissembled at the factory when it comes time for the overhaul. Fatigue and wear and tear will be evaluated on each part, and remedial solutions will be invented which will increase lifetime in the long run.

 

[grulle]

Learning today that the WS-15 produces thrust comparable to the latest and greatest of American engineering surprised me lol. And to add that the F-35 only has one while the J-20 has two. I'm so glad that China has a vibrant jet engine program producing world class engines for its jets. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside haha. This kind of self sufficiency is invaluable. Imagine having to import all your engines and jets.