Are the BGs being produced new or are they just upgraded B? Are there any known plans to upgrade part of or the whole B fleet to BG?
Edit: just saw deino's post that production ended in 2018 with batch 07
China Flanker Thread II
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Edit: just saw deino's post that production ended in 2018 with batch 07
The Su-27 has it, too, on both sides:
Whereas later variants as well as J-11B on the PLAAF side have omitted it:
I can't say for sure, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say those are backup batteries for the nav lights and antennae dotted around there. Improvements in electricals could've made those batteries unnecessary. But that's just my wild guess.
Could they be small sensor for a IR missile warning system that become obsolete ?
That could just as well be it, yeah.
Exactly my point ... if you look closely on several early PLAAF Flankers, you can see it only on the original Su-27SK and the very early Batch 00 & 01 J-11. From the Batch 02 on it is deleted.
Thinking about it some more, I wonder how much sense it would make to include an obsolete sensor for the early batch J-11s when you consider that by the time the PLAAF started acquiring the Su-27s in the late 90s the Su-30 was already available. In fact the PLAAF would proceed to purchase the MKK and MK2 only a couple years later, both of which lack those specific "pimples".
Which leads me to think that whatever those things were, they were integral to the Su-27/J-11(A), and when the domestic batches came along, just like with the newer Russian variants, it was no longer necessary to include them there.
Heureka!!!
I've got it, so thanks to @GuyPlopsky on Twitter ... it is a SPO-15LM-related system, but now, why was it deleted, was it replaced by what other system or simply by nothing?
That's what I like ... one mystery solved and three mysteries noted.
Best,
Deino
I've got it, so thanks to @GuyPlopsky on Twitter ... it is a SPO-15LM-related system, but now, why was it deleted, was it replaced by what other system or simply by nothing?
That's what I like ... one mystery solved and three mysteries noted.
Best,
Deino
Indeed a missile warning system, thx.
The OG is not very good. It doesn’t tell you useful information like the speed and distance of the missile and only provides limited info on the direction. No wonder they replaced it.
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