The nozzles changed again? They looked different from 2nd prototype
Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36)
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
My wish came true. DSI intakes + old nozzles.
Thank you CAC for reading our comments, taking them seriously, and restoring our J-36 waifu to her maximum beauty. I was at risk of joining the Sukhoi DNA fan club up north (SAC) /s.
Some new surprise coming in
According to @Monkey King on Weibo:
"(Traiangle) History will finally remember this day(triangle)"
And from @Crosshair:
"OMG Even 3 months earlier than my "carving the boat to find the sword"(prediction)"
And the closest prediction he made was October 2026 J-36 Production Model will make its first flight
3 months earlier is exactly right now
Still waiting for further picture or video
(PS:Just saw what siege posted and we might not have to wait for further images)
View attachment 178670View attachment 178671
Monkey King has deleted his Weibo post.
In the meantime, there's also @052D成都舰 on Weibo who declared at about the same time the posts above came out, alongside this guy from Bilibili (profile name redacted for obvious reasons, and his post has also been deleted):
Translation:
On one hand, I don't know who this Bilibili guy is (haven't heard of this guy until today), but if his claim at the start of the post (about his activities earlier today, 1st bolded phrase) is factual, then he's probably related to/inside the system(?)
Of course, the above claim of his depends on him being entirely factual/honest.
On the other hand, we do know the @052D成都舰 guy on Weibo has a reliable reputation, albeit his wording is rather vague and open to interpretation.
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"短短2年就跳过原形机了"
actually translates to
"was able to progress through the prototype phase in 2 short years"
The "jump" here doesn't mean jump over, it means speed through.
Thanks for the correction.
Something to take note of regarding the J-20 (EMD) prototype's first flights:
1 March 2014: J-20 #2011 (1st unit)
26 July 2014: J-20 #2012 (2nd unit)
29 November 2014: J-20 #2013 (3rd unit)
19 December 2014: J-20 #2015 (4th unit)
18 September 2015: J-20 #2016 (5th unit)
24 November 2015: J-20 #2017 (6th unit)
Before the LRIP's first flight:
16 January 2016: J-20 #2101 (1st LRIP unit)
From the J-20's experience, we do know that the J-20 took 6x EMD prototypes (assuming there is no #2014, and there are no further new (EMD) prototypes between #2017 and #2101) and about 1 year & 10.5 months from the 1st (EMD) prototype to LRIP.
Coming back to the J-36: Taking the J-36's #36011 (EMD) prototype first flight on 26 December 2024 and this current alleged 1st LRIP unit as of today (23 July 2026) - That would be a duration of about 1 year & 7 months.
Though, as of now (~3.30 pm Beijing time), there hasn't been anything coming out of the other big shrimps (i.e., Adorable Whale, the other three of the Guancha Gang, etc etc) on this new development. But if we take the current claim of this unit being an LRIP to be accurate, then this is indeed a momentous development for China's military aviation sector, and is something of which the significance and impact can never be understated for the global military aviation sector.
On the flipside, this would also point towards the Chinese designers, engineers, and technicians at Chengdu AC today having vastly superior, state-of-the-art, and powerful technologies and expertise in the development of the J-36 (and most likely the J-XDS/50 too) than what was available to their predecessors who worked on the J-20 from 10+ years ago.
On the flipside, even if this is just the 5th EMD prototype (and not the 1st LRIP unit), the developmental pace is still shockingly fast (with the LRIP unit to fly definitely no later than late-2028 or even late-2027).
TL; DR - China will be the first to induct the 6th-gens into active service in the world. In addition, I won't be surprised if China also becomes the first to get the subsequent developments on the 6th-gens (e.g., Gen-6.5/Gen-6+/etc) flying and into service as well.
1 March 2014: J-20 #2011 (1st unit)
26 July 2014: J-20 #2012 (2nd unit)
29 November 2014: J-20 #2013 (3rd unit)
19 December 2014: J-20 #2015 (4th unit)
18 September 2015: J-20 #2016 (5th unit)
24 November 2015: J-20 #2017 (6th unit)
Before the LRIP's first flight:
16 January 2016: J-20 #2101 (1st LRIP unit)
From the J-20's experience, we do know that the J-20 took 6x EMD prototypes (assuming there is no #2014, and there are no further new (EMD) prototypes between #2017 and #2101) and about 1 year & 10.5 months from the 1st (EMD) prototype to LRIP.
Coming back to the J-36: Taking the J-36's #36011 (EMD) prototype first flight on 26 December 2024 and this current alleged 1st LRIP unit as of today (23 July 2026) - That would be a duration of about 1 year & 7 months.
Though, as of now (~3.30 pm Beijing time), there hasn't been anything coming out of the other big shrimps (i.e., Adorable Whale, the other three of the Guancha Gang, etc etc) on this new development. But if we take the current claim of this unit being an LRIP to be accurate, then this is indeed a momentous development for China's military aviation sector, and is something of which the significance and impact can never be understated for the global military aviation sector.
On the flipside, this would also point towards the Chinese designers, engineers, and technicians at Chengdu AC today having vastly superior, state-of-the-art, and powerful technologies and expertise in the development of the J-36 (and most likely the J-XDS/50 too) than what was available to their predecessors who worked on the J-20 from 10+ years ago.
On the flipside, even if this is just the 5th EMD prototype (and not the 1st LRIP unit), the developmental pace is still shockingly fast (with the LRIP unit to fly definitely no later than late-2028 or even late-2027).
TL; DR - China will be the first to induct the 6th-gens into active service in the world. In addition, I won't be surprised if China also becomes the first to get the subsequent developments on the 6th-gens (e.g., Gen-6.5/Gen-6+/etc) flying and into service as well.
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Getting a next generation combat aircraft flying in service, even if it has some interim subsystems (like engines) will also be invaluable in developing next generation tactics (especially alongside CCAs, UADFs etc)
It does seem like this is an example of the whole "弯道超车" thing trying to be pushed as much as possible.
Certainly possible in terms of timeline.... though without getting too deep into the weeds, it is worth considering the possibility that F-47 might surprise us with its capabilities and technologies (e.g.: it might end up being much more capable and/or advanced than J-36 or J-XDS), so I would hold one's horses a little bit.