One thing I just realized about the cheek EOTS windows is that not only do they allow for larger aperture size but that they don’t protrude and will not impact aerodynamics and RCS as much.
Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36) thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
But there is always a trade off.
You would need at least two cheek-mounted EOTS to achieve the field of view that one chin-mounted EOTS possesses. I would even go so far as to say that you might completely lose the downward field of view (because of no protrude)
PS:maybe i will draw a diagram later,but you got the point
I heard that typical passive IR sensors cannot acquire target distances. Now with one IR array on each cheek, I am wondering if it is possible to estimate distance similar to how human eyes works.
It appears to me that the cheeks are not vertical so these two large IR arrays should have enough downward field of view.
The protrusion follows the shape of the fuselage and the leading edge, because it's mounted at the top, the aircrafts own fuselage angles away which gives access to the downward view.
From the images we see we can clearly see it technically sticks but blends itself very well. We have views from directly below the aircraft itself, and it's pretty clear that the windows has downward vision. Other than losing vision from directly behind the aircraft, it has the ability to also see directly above the aircraft, which offers overall a greater field of view for air to air tracking.
Could these windows be for some very large Laser/directed energy system (100kw or more), perhaps for self defense? If there are upward facing windows as well then the J36 may even be able to dazzle or fry low earth orbit satellites.
my favourite show of all time. Yes, minister.Looking forward to moving to stage 3.