China's V/STOL studies, concepts & considerations

It seems that China is literally just going down the exact same technical route as the US, I mean look at this:

Even the clutch is similar in design and concept

Tomboy said:

It seems that China is literally just going down the exact same technical route as the US, I mean look at this:
View attachment 155233
Even the clutch is similar in design and concept

Click to expand...

Most probably because the shaft-driven lift-fan design employed by the F-35B is the best pathway that current S/VTOL technologies can achieve within the given constrains of a fighter jet.

Two more S/VTOL-related tender documents. Posted by Captain on Weibo.

If people here also frequently visit the Chinese space thread, they should be aware that China has been and still is actively working on lots of programs that may never end up in actual application. Just for CZ-9, there are YF-130 (480t), YF-135 (360t), YF-XXX (240t), YF-90 (240t) and YF-215 (200t) being actively developped. It is almost certain that most of them will never get a chance to be used in CZ-9 or any rocket. China has started lots of programs some ten years ago when China's economy growth exploded. Many of the programs are meant to catch up the top level in the world and to master the knowhow even if their use cases have gone. China knows that. So seeing some long running program progressing does not mean China is going to put it in use.