Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36) thread

[antwerpery]

I'd expect that China should still need some bigger warplanes to travel beyond 2IC and lob larger missiles at targets that may be half of if not close to the distances the warplanes travel from their home bases, and return safely.

The missiles can be BMs or perhaps even HGVs.

Only a large-sized H-20 could do that.

If the 6th gen fighter bomber can take on some of the H-20's roles and the 6th gen program is going well, the higher ups could decide to delay the H20 for even more development time and to really focus on the high end capabilities that only the H-20 can do.

 

[AndrewS]

I'd expect that China should still need some bigger warplanes to travel beyond 2IC and lob larger missiles at targets that may be half of if not close to the distances the warplanes travel from their home bases, and return safely.

The missiles can be BMs or perhaps even HGVs.

Only a large-sized H-20 could do that.

Beyond the 2IC (Second Island Chain), I think the focus will have to be on a blue-water Navy with aircraft carriers. The distances are just too far.

But for Guam and the rest of the 2IC, enough of this aircraft should be able to achieve something like air superiority.

 

[AndrewS]

Since this one doesn't have TVC, it makes more sense with WS15s. Then again it's the 3601 prototype so maybe they took random engines from the workshop instead of stealing them off J-20s that actually need to do stuff.

The WS-15 is still pretty new. So it makes sense to work with the WS-10 for now

 

[bsdnf]

Since there is a larger weapons bay and high-altitude flight capabilities, what about carrying YJ-21 or sth like DF-17 glider in the main bay?

 

[hellodarknez]

I will post a few photos for better archiving


View attachment 141694

Nice ads Xiaomi

 

[lcloo]

I think this looks like there is a central weapon bay and 2 shorter side bays.

 

[AndrewS]

Ramjets only start working at speeds of mach 2-3 so the other two engines would have to get this plane to that high speed first. Not sure about that, however I saw a post somewhere sometime in the past that described a 3 engine system. The middle engine could produce a small amount of thrust but its main job was to generate electrical power in order to power the compressor fans of the other two main engines when cruising, in effect giving them a variable bypass ratio. So when the aircraft is taking off, all three engines are producing thrust, then when the plane reaches cruising altitiude, the middle engine cuts thrust and starts generating power to help turn the other two engines' fans which also reduce fuel intake simultaneously. This gets long range fuel efficient subsonic cruise. I think that was the gist of what I saw.

@Overbom

Logically, it's best to optimise all 3 engines for maximum thrust (whether dry supercruise or for afterburner) because these are the scenarios where you need the most thrust, and this is a big plane.

For anything less than this, you can literally shut down combustion in engines which aren't required for a given speed.
And for the engines which aren't combusting, they may still be generating thrust from the electrically-powered compressor fans which are still operating.

You can't do this with a 2 engine design because the engine thrust will be imbalanced.

Call it 1.5-2 tonnes of fuel per engine per hour.

 

[AndrewS]

Since there is a larger weapons bay and high-altitude flight capabilities, what about carrying YJ-21 or sth like DF-17 glider in the main bay?

The DF-17 is just way too big and heavy.

A YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile (1200-1500km range) might be possible, based on the measurements from @Jason_ in a previous post

So if we assume the requirement is to reach Guam some 3000km away and achieve air superiority, then you can add another 1200-1500km for an air-launched anti-ship ballistic missile

 

[phrozenflame]

I think this looks like there is a central weapon bay and 2 shorter side bays.
View attachment 141710

Is it possible the IWB is taller/deeper? It can carry a magazine of 2x per slot for certain weapons type?

Another question, if this is not the fighter-bomber US intel talked about few years back, then that means there are still 2 more stealthy platforms under the curtain? The fighter bomber and the bomber?

 

[by78]

Since this one doesn't have TVC, it makes more sense with WS15s. Then again it's the 3601 prototype so maybe they took random engines from the workshop instead of stealing them off J-20s that actually need to do stuff.

Are we certain that it doesn't have TVC? Some photos clearly show that there are gaps between the exhaust nozzles, indicating at least the possibility that they are movable.