Chinese Engine Development

Alfa_Particle said:

TBCCE most likely will be what's powering 7th generation stuff - potentially sub-orbital "fighters."

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Sub-orbital requires the spacecraft to reach if not cross the Karman Line (~100 kilometers) and into outer space, even though the spacecraft is unable to achieve orbital trajectory.

So unless the TBCCE is combined with a rocket engine (i.e. RBCC), then that should not be possible, since turbofans, turbojets, ramjets and scramjets still very much require sufficient amount of atmospheric air to operate.

bsdnf said:

They compared it to the J-58, and at the very bottom of the last slide, it stated that the TBCC was considered the most suitable powertrain for Mach 4 flight so far

They weren't just developing VCE for sixth-generation fighters, but also preparing for combined propulsion systems for spaceplanes.

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They gotta be trolling at this point. No way they're already thinking about potential 7th generation planes.

Oh i'm sure they are. As we discussed previously about the current stated design practice in China, by the time the flight articles of the current generation are in flight testing, they are actively looking ahead at the next generation. J-36 and J-50 fly, so now the 7th generation is under active research.

bsdnf said:

They compared it to the J-58, and at the very bottom of the last slide, it stated that the TBCC was considered the most suitable powertrain for Mach 4 flight so far

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You mean Mach 4 onwards.

bsdnf said:

They weren't just developing VCE for sixth-generation fighters, but also preparing for combined propulsion systems for spaceplanes.

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Yes, it is very much reasonable to expect/anticipate (certain) 7th-gen platforms to be powered by TBCC engines for operations at 20-50 kilometers of altitude.

In the meantime, there could be certain platforms where their missions would require going near-space if not suborbital, which would require the more advanced TRCC engines.

As for the detonation-type engines - Unless the associated technologies reach maturity and can be made viable for widespread applications in the military aviation domain by the 2030s if not 2040s, I see this as a very low probability.

GulfLander said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1984909952104993174

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Why posting this tweet when the last page is all over on this already?

Deino said:

Why posting this tweet when the last page is all over on this already?

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Ow didnt see it.. pls delete the post.

Alfa_Particle said:

I wonder how they'll incorporate contra-rotating spools here. LP-HP one way and IP the other? That seems more "conventional" but the gyroscopic forces might be worse than, say LP-IP one way and HP the other if that's possible.

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Might still be two spool. Hard to tell from the diagrams alone.

MeiouHades said:

They gotta be trolling at this point. No way they're already thinking about potential 7th generation planes.

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ACuriousPLAFan said:

You mean Mach 4 onwards.


Yes, it is very much reasonable to expect/anticipate (certain) 7th-gen platforms to be powered by TBCC engines for operations at 20-50 kilometers of altitude.

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I'm not sure if those engine types (or this VCE demonstrator itself) should be viewed in context of fighter aircraft (whether it's future generations or otherwise).

Applicability to say, reconnaissance aircraft, or future high speed strike bombers may be more relevant in the near term.

Blitzo said:

I'm not sure if those engine types (or this VCE demonstrator itself) should be viewed in context of fighter aircraft (whether it's future generations or otherwise).

Applicability to say, reconnaissance aircraft, or future high speed strike bombers may be more relevant in the near term.

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hard to say, "Mach 4" has appeared a lot in publicly available materials recently, like aerodynamic simulations for dropping HCM, all of these suggesting a of SR-72-like concept.