China Flanker Thread II

[crobato]

What advantage does a holographic HUD actually give? (Apart from looking awesome)

A much better wider field of vision and displaying more things. Being able to display more for the pilot is of course, naturally better, just like any computer screen.

The tail shots on the J-11B are not that very definitive but I am inclined to say it is WS-10A.

Do note that brand new J-11B made from scratch would probably use the WS-10A, while J-11A that are converted to J-11B standards electronically are likely to retain AL-31F.

Thus spotting a "J-11B" with AL-31F does not negate the possibility that J-11B will use WS-10A. It only means you got a photograph of the tail of a J-11A converted to J-11B standards.

This pattern existed elsewhere. J-8F built brand new used WP-14 Kunlun, but J-8F converted from J-8D still used the J-8D engines, which were WP-13B.

 

[plawolf]

Well the description for 6,7,12,21 and 24 are that they have hidden potential. What types are they operating? Could mean that they have had upgrades and this would be true if some of them operates J8IIs or early blk J11s.

 

[maozedong]

A bunch of J-11B pictures came out as part of this TV program.

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It's in Chinese and contains a bunch of the usual boasting, but it does have some nice parts like the part on J-11B and also Z-8K (I'm totally convinced there are a lot more Z-8Ks than people think). Anyway, here are some of the photos and the final one compares the exhaust of Su-27 against J-11B. I think it looks to be using WS-10A here.

The more meaty stuff are at the end.

sorry, tphuang, I did't see that, I will take care.

 

[Roger604]

Finally we have photographic proof that J-11B is on track! For a while there it seemed like SAC had fallen horribly behind.

So it looks like J-11B (with the WS-10A engine) has been deployed to the front-line regiments for a while now. The photos we saw earlier with AL-31F was probably just the upgraded J-11's with new avionics.

The next step is to deploy the J-11BS. The introduction of J-11BS would be a huge boost to PLAAF's striking power. The MKK's and JH-7A's are becoming too dated for the elite regiments.

I believe that's because J-11B is using holographic HUD like F-22 and Rafale. Most fighter jets out there don't have this, but I think it's becoming pretty standard starting from J-11B with J-10B also getting it.

That sounds like a new technology, and probably wasn't in the original batch of J-11B's that had engine problems in 2007.

What kind of radar is J-11B using? Are there plans to upgrade to AESA in the near future? You could put a very powerful radar in the those of a J-11B / J-11BS.

 

[Centrist]

Deleted

 

[Baibar of Jalat]

Do you think, PLAAF will still order Russian engines because I assume Chinese engines would not be produced fast enough to fill all aircraft orders?!

 

[Curious George]

I heard that China's carrier aircraft is going to be called the J-15, which will be based on the J-11/Su-33. I was wondering that since it will be a carrier aircraft, is there any chance that the J-15 will be a "miniturized" J-11 (ie between J-11 and Mig-29 in size)? Would this be possible, or will it adversely affect the plane so that it does not fly as well as a "regular sized" J-11?

 

[rhino123]

I heard that China's carrier aircraft is going to be called the J-15, which will be based on the J-11/Su-33. I was wondering that since it will be a carrier aircraft, is there any chance that the J-15 will be a "miniturized" J-11 (ie between J-11 and Mig-29 in size)? Would this be possible, or will it adversely affect the plane so that it does not fly as well as a "regular sized" J-11?

From the mockup in Wuhan, I don't think the J-15 is going to be smaller than the actual J-11. Actually big plane could still take off and land on carriers - look at F-14, that is a massive aircraft. And I don't actually think Su-33 is smaller than Su-27 too.

 

[In4ser]

From the mockup in Wuhan, I don't think the J-15 is going to be smaller than the actual J-11. Actually big plane could still take off and land on carriers - look at F-14, that is a massive aircraft. And I don't actually think Su-33 is smaller than Su-27 too.

I agree for example the F-35 is pretty big compared to the current F-18. As in the F-35C vs. F-35A the carrier variant is larger. While smaller planes would allow carriers to have a larger quantity of aircraft, it also means less payload and range typically. PLAN has yet to learn to operate aircraft off carriers unless its using a trainer.

 

[Roger604]

I would be cautious with these statements. The J11B prototypes all had AL31F engines. What does that tell us? It tells us that early J11B's were never intended to have WS10.

Also, the J11B and upgraded J11's are very different from one another in appearance. Upgraded J11's look like J11's but are equipped with more advanced electronics. They still have the light grey radome. J11Bs have always had a dark black radome. Don't confuse the two.

The black radomed aircraft we have seen since 2007 are J11B's with Russian engines NOT upgraded J11's.

These new photo's that have emerged are not the first J11B's produced, they are simply among the first using WS10.

Note that the J11BS photo that emerged earlier this year clearly showed the prototype using WS10. That was a big hint that the J11BS was not going to use Russian engines from the start.

Good points. Then the question is: how many newly built J-11B are there with the AL-31F and how many newly built J-11B are there with the WS-10A? Right now we simply don't know. It's possible that all the available photos of the J-11B until recently have been AL-31F deliberately to hide the development of WS-10A. It's also possible that J-11B has only been equipped with WS-10A recently.

In any case, there are at least two blocks of J-11B -- the more advanced one is equipped with WS-10A. As you suggested, the J-11BS will start at the higher technology level of the WS-10A equipped J-11B. Most likely, the more advanced blocks have different HUD and avionics too.