With all the disinformation... i'm not even sure that's a WS-10 variant on last batch of J-20''A''... it could already be WS-15.
Chinese Engine Development
- Thread starter jackbh
- Start date
I dont think that anyone here knows for certain if WS-15 has been test-flighted or not. But people here keep saying that it must have been already tested-flighted. Based on what?
There is a rumor that it has been tested on a J-11 but no one has any photos. I’m more of a I’ll believe it when I see it person when it comes to new engines/platforms.
Besides the rumor of WS-15 testing on J-11,
- On being questioned about it, a senior military leader threw a counter question at the reporter "How do you know it has not been tested yet?". I can't seem to remember the name but I'm fairly certain it's about WS-15 on J-20.
- There was an Alert5 piece on a component supplier stating in an annual release of 2019 on very low component supply numbers (4-8) over the coming years.
- Then this piece stating that the engine has passed final design verification.
These are all I know about WS-15.
From these, I drew the conclusion that WS-15 has completed final design verification and would've probably been tested already.
What they are dealing with would be prepping up for Mass production that'd throw its own set of challenges.
I believe that was regarding TVC for J-20, and was concluded to likely refer to a TVC variant of WS-10 rather than WS-15. That was in 2018 at Zhuhai.
The rumour about WS-15 having been flight tested was from a couple of years ago from Shi Lao, but obviously everyone treats any rumours about WS-15 with great caution even if they are considered to be quite credible.
The people who speak of it as if it is definitively confirmed or "must have been" already flight tested are overreaching a bit, because at the end of the day we don't have the evidence to make that kind of definitive claim.
But at the same time, for the purposes of discussion and trying to project things, it's far from unreasonable to say it probably has been test flown, until we have more definitive evidence (which may be in retrospect).
Ukrainian engines are garbage anyway. Better to invest in the Russians.
The Ukrainians just commenced in combat against the Russians and China is a quasi-ally, no surprise there. I doubt they’ll pay anything.