China Flanker Thread II

[Deino]

So which Chinese flankers now incorporate AESA radars?
J-11BG, J-11D, J-16 and J-16D? J-15s and their variants?

And is the J-11D a full rate production, latest variant of the J-11 family or is it a research variant?

Q1 - AESA: J-11BG allegdly, J-16 and maybe Batch 03 J-15 ... J-11D and J-16D in prototypes most likely

Q2: J-11D is not in production

 

[Deino]

Based on an image just released by Kanwa Defense Review 漢和防務評論 it seems as if the PLAN Naval base at Huangdicun has what appears to be five J-16 multirole fighters.

Given their light grey colour scheme I don't think these are PLAN Su-30MK2 but indeed J-16 ....
... however so far the PLAN does not operate thsi type.

(Image via Kanwa Defense Review 漢和防務評論 /

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[siegecrossbow]

Based on an image just released by Kanwa Defense Review 漢和防務評論 it seems as if the PLAN Naval base at Huangdicun has what appears to be five J-16 multirole fighters.

Given their light grey colour scheme I don't think these are PLAN Su-30MK2 but indeed J-16 ....
... however so far the PLAN does not operate thsi type.

(Image via Kanwa Defense Review 漢和防務評論 /

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View attachment 72169

The only surprising aspect is that PLAN is still acquiring land based fighters going forward.

 

[Deino]

The only surprising aspect is that PLAN is still acquiring land based fighters going forward.

Could be these are still just J-15s

 

[plawolf]

I know, isn't there even a joke saying that any type in PLAAF service is only declared fully operational after being cleared to fire unguided rockets?!

Hey, gotta respect your traditions!

If and when the Chinese develop space fighters with shields and energy weapons, I would still expect the first question asked to be:

 

[siegecrossbow]

 

[Jono]

View attachment 72221

pardon my ignorance in asking this stupid question.
how can the planes fly so low, seemingly only 10m or so above water surface?
is such low level flight controlled automatically by the avionics, or manually by the pilots ?
thanks in advance for the explanation.

 

[plawolf]

pardon my ignorance in asking this stupid question.
how can the planes fly so low, seemingly only 10m or so above water surface?
is such low level flight controlled automatically by the avionics, or manually by the pilots ?
thanks in advance for the explanation.

Those flankers are at least 30m above the water, which fairly standard low level penetration height, nothing special really.

All manual control by the pilots. Currently autopilot is only to keep the plane on fairly basic level flight, and cannot handle the split second decisions needed for low level flight.

Although that is slowly changing, as the F35 FCS can automatically recover the plane from stalls and spins etc. But even that is nothing close to what is needed for nap of the earth flight.

 

[crash8pilot]

pardon my ignorance in asking this stupid question.
how can the planes fly so low, seemingly only 10m or so above water surface?
is such low level flight controlled automatically by the avionics, or manually by the pilots ?
thanks in advance for the explanation.

It's based on the radio altimeter, which measures altitude directly beneath an aircraft based on how long it takes a beam of radio wave to travel to ground, reflect, and return back to the aircraft. The radio altimeter indication also appears in the cockpit Heads Up Display, and the pilot can also preset an altitude so that an aural and visual warning is triggered if he/she flies below the set altitude.

 

[Totoro]

I do believe Argentinean pilots did not have even radio altimeters in their planes in 1982, when they flew attack sorties on British ships, flying at 15 m (some more dubious sources say 10 m) above the sea during the approach to the enemy ship.