China Flanker Thread III (land based, exclude J-15)

[Schwerter_]

The sharp curved edges of the LERXes probably present particularly strong or difficult to control reflections. I don’t think the application of RAM here is just for testing. These are specific RCS reduction treatments for the production plane. You can’t turn a non stealth optimized airframes into stealthy airframes with just RAM but there are sometimes very obvious and easy wins to get meaningfully better RCS results, and a lot of those will be along sharp edges and corners present on the plane. If you look closely you’ll see the leading edges of the wings and tails also have some black edge treatments.

That makes a lot of sense, although I think the dark patches on the leading edge and vertical stabs are for antennas and not necessarily RAM. One more thing vexing me is the rather jagged application of this black “layer” at some places (see pic below), seems odd that they’d do something like this if it’s standard practice for all jets.

 

[latenlazy]

That makes a lot of sense, although I think the dark patches on the leading edge and vertical stabs are for antennas and not necessarily RAM. One more thing vexing me is the rather jagged application of this black “layer” at some places (see pic below), seems odd that they’d do something like this if it’s standard practice for all jets.

That area caught me eye too. From what I could tell though that section only looks messy because there are a lot of small curve shaped panels there. It’s likely that the specific leading edge piece they ended up applying or replacing with ram also interfaces with those panels in this this way but we couldn’t see it either because it was painted over or because the non RAM version of the piece was the same primer color.

 

[Deino]

By the way, the J-11BS in the first image has been re-engined with a different variant (?) of WS-10.

Indeed, the new Series 3 with the longer nozzle feathers.

 

[Tirdent]

On closer inspection. There seems to be some black regions on the left LERX, note the patch at the very tip that goes onto the side of the nose and have some weird uneven edges. I wonder what those are, since from my memory those haven’t been on any other flanker.

They've been seen on indigenous Chinese Flankers from the J-11B on. My conclusion at the time was also that it was likely RAM, because it closely resembled the early Have Glass modifications for the F-16. As to why they don't seem consistently present, the same caveats apply as on the J-20 with its grey or yellow DSI bumps - they may not have been applied yet or already primered over, depending on the state of completetion.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Maybe, but that’s such a small area… wouldn’t they be covering a major part (or the entirety of the airframe) with RAM coating for tests?

It's less about stealth and more about appearing the size of a garden shed instead of an actual barn.

 

[RadDisconnect]

Indeed, the new Series 3 with the longer nozzle feathers.

Isn’t that the same nozzle feathers as on the WS-10B (or is it A?) on the J-16?

 

[Strangelove]

 

[Deino]

View attachment 104680View attachment 104681

cn. 1018!

 

[by78]

Just a nice image, nothing more.

 

[Strangelove]