China Flanker Thread III (land based, exclude J-15)
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
A nice image of J-16Ds from a parade rehearsal.
Not a huge deal, but these are standard J-16s rather than J-16Ds
Nice picture regardless.
During Shaheen exercise in 2019 they had to use J-16 with pods as imitation J-16D because the latter wasn’t yet available.
I recall the use of J-16s in that role.
I don't see how that is relevant to what I posted? Because either way, those clearly are not J-16Ds (they aren't even carrying supplementary EW pods)
Just flavor text.
it is interesting the prominence they have given to J-16D in this year's air show. Points to how much PLAAF values these dedicated EW aircraft.
It makes me wonder if they have any major upgrade plans for J-16D in the future. At some point, the power generation of J-16D would be insufficient for the level of EW pressure that PLA would like to apply on adversaries. That would entail putting more powerful engine and electrical systems on there. Or possibly its role will be entirely replaced by large drones in the future.
It makes me wonder if they have any major upgrade plans for J-16D in the future. At some point, the power generation of J-16D would be insufficient for the level of EW pressure that PLA would like to apply on adversaries. That would entail putting more powerful engine and electrical systems on there. Or possibly its role will be entirely replaced by large drones in the future.
Or alternately, have the J-20AS serving as the replacement platform for the PLAAF's future frontline/forward EW needs to succeed the J-16Ds, given its massive internal volume and excellent power-generating capacity.
In addition, a hypothetical EW variant of the J-20S could also serve as a command node for allied EW drones in the future too, I wager.
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If the power generation of J-16D onboard is insufficient, they can always develop new EW pods with ram air turbines to provide additional supplementary power. In fact I would consider such a possibility to be rather likely -- the upgrade pathways for most EW aircraft with podded effectors tend to be to upgrade the pods themselves with more minor (less structural) internal upgrades to processors, antennae, etc.
Of course this isn't to rule out the possibility of a J-20S EW variant at some point... nor is it to rule out the possibility that much of the EW role in future may be taken up by UAVs of varying levels of sophistication and size.
But IMO J-16D is still a relatively new aircraft, with lots of obvious upgrade pathways yet to be tapped, even if "onboard power generation" was a concern for future adversary capabilities.
Keep in mind that electrical generator power is tied to the engines and only take up a tiny fraction of the total power generated by the gas turbines, and the engines can always just be upgraded if total engine power really isn’t sufficient.
That would depend on how easy it is to actually install a new generator for the aircraft in the same footprint, and/or to upgrade the engines themselves.
There are also some benefits with having power generation onboard the EW pods themselves (though some drawbacks exist as well). Either way, there's lots of ways to skin that particular cat and the J-16D should have viable means to see upgrades regardless.