by78
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What visual aid? For what purpose? Are you making stuff up again?
China Flanker Thread II
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What visual aid? For what purpose? Are you making stuff up again?
They can be using barometric altimeters instead.
So I get that the J11/Su-27 is more of a pure air superiority fighter compared to J16/Su30MKK which is a strike fighter, but can anyone explain the actual physical differences?
Like what makes one more suited for the role than the other? I can't really tell any differences except the J11 kinda looks "slimmer" and it has one seat less?
Like what makes one more suited for the role than the other? I can't really tell any differences except the J11 kinda looks "slimmer" and it has one seat less?
Physically they kinda look the same, much like how a tandem seat F-15D looks a lot like an F-15E (especially when the Strike Eagle is stripped of its conformal fuel tanks).
Some mission sets favor different crew configurations. In air-to-air, the pilot could benefit from the back-seater calling out where the bogie is as he maneuvers the fighter for the kill.... but on the other hand tandem seat fighters take up weight (more weight = extra drag = plane can't maneuver to the full G limit), valuable fuel from the aircraft (decreases the fighter's time on station), which leads to the fighter not being able to fully maneuver at the edge of the designed envelope. With modern developments in radar and avionics (especially helmet mounted sight) technology, quite frankly a pilot has the tools to build a similar (if not higher) level of situational awareness on where the enemy is as well as the energy state of the aircraft he/she is flying... which is why modern air superiority fighters tend to be single seaters. That said with drone technology advancing along, we could see a tandem seat air superiority fighter where the back-seater operates smart wingman drone(s).
But in air-to-ground strike, a pilot might have his hands full flying the plane at high speeds whilst on the lookout for enemy fighters and surface threats... all while liaising with eyes in the sky and/or troops on the ground, operating avionics + targeting pod(s) to designate a target, and then drop a bomb or missile on it - under such scenario a pilot can find his situational awareness and workload management maxed out, and why he/she could benefit from a back-seater working the avionics and targeting pods so that the pilot can focus on flying the plane.
What's the difference again between J-11B and J-11BH? is the former for PLAAF and the latter for PLANAF? Are there actually any physical differences between the two or it's just different designations?
Yes, plain and simple. The additional letter H symbolises "hai" aka Naval - I'm sure a native speaker will provide a better translation! - and at least externally they are not different, only by their colour scheme.
Avionics for naval use, such as radar more resistant to sea clutter.
For the convenience of recognizing the Su-27 family.
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