I dont see any other large Type "F" from any satellite images. But every other drone that was shown at the parade (or not) is here including the Type E.
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Chinese UCAV/CCA/flying wing drones (ISR, A2A, A2G) thread
- Thread starter VESSEL
- Start date
By the way, Yankee may have casually mentioned that the UADFs flew last year. The following exchange happened when they were chatting about the USAF’s appearance at the parade:
Yankee: “这次能来呢，按照它们娘家的说法，颇为意外。就是，今年不应该我们上啊”
Shilao: ”就是，好像还没这么快吧“
Shilao: ”这就不保密啦？“
Yankee: ”就打断我们的试飞计划了？去年飞的时候你不是这么说的啊“
Shilao: “啊，你去年还是那个，快马加鞭，赶在特朗普公布NGAD之前给他一个下马威，让他吃个甲鱼（TL note by me: 吃甲鱼 = 吃鳖 = 吃瘪），类似于这种事情。啊怎么着，才过了一年，你因为看到他拿出一个PPT来就寻思他真的没有什么本事于是我们这边闲着参加一些这个仪式性的礼仪性的展示活动也可以了吗？“
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Yankee: “The fact that they could come this time, according to what their manufacturer said, was quite unexpected. I mean, we weren’t supposed to be here this year.”
Shilao: “Yeah, it feels like it’s still a bit too soon, right?”
Shilao: “So it’s not confidential anymore?”
Yankee: “To interrupt our flight test schedule like this? This is not what you said last year when we flew.”
Shilao: “Ah, last year you were still rushing ahead, trying to beat Trump’s NGAD announcement to give him a slap in the face, make him look bad, that sort of thing. And now what, only a year later, just because he shows a PowerPoint presentation you assume he’s really not capable of much, so it’s fine for us to just sit around and attend some ceremonial, symbolic display events?”
Italic is their sarcastic tone pretending to be CAC and SAC. Of course, he could also be talking about the 6th gens' flights last year.
Timestamp 1:34:30 (you can access these complete stream vods with $3 a month btw)
Yankee: “这次能来呢，按照它们娘家的说法，颇为意外。就是，今年不应该我们上啊”
Shilao: ”就是，好像还没这么快吧“
Shilao: ”这就不保密啦？“
Yankee: ”就打断我们的试飞计划了？去年飞的时候你不是这么说的啊“
Shilao: “啊，你去年还是那个，快马加鞭，赶在特朗普公布NGAD之前给他一个下马威，让他吃个甲鱼（TL note by me: 吃甲鱼 = 吃鳖 = 吃瘪），类似于这种事情。啊怎么着，才过了一年，你因为看到他拿出一个PPT来就寻思他真的没有什么本事于是我们这边闲着参加一些这个仪式性的礼仪性的展示活动也可以了吗？“
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Yankee: “The fact that they could come this time, according to what their manufacturer said, was quite unexpected. I mean, we weren’t supposed to be here this year.”
Shilao: “Yeah, it feels like it’s still a bit too soon, right?”
Shilao: “So it’s not confidential anymore?”
Yankee: “To interrupt our flight test schedule like this? This is not what you said last year when we flew.”
Shilao: “Ah, last year you were still rushing ahead, trying to beat Trump’s NGAD announcement to give him a slap in the face, make him look bad, that sort of thing. And now what, only a year later, just because he shows a PowerPoint presentation you assume he’s really not capable of much, so it’s fine for us to just sit around and attend some ceremonial, symbolic display events?”
Italic is their sarcastic tone pretending to be CAC and SAC. Of course, he could also be talking about the 6th gens' flights last year.
Timestamp 1:34:30 (you can access these complete stream vods with $3 a month btw)
Could you explain what they meant in this whole conversation? Are they implying China showed off 6th gen too early so that they can one-up US in its NGAD announcement?
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No it has not been confirmed! You are too hasty again.
In fact I see no 100% proof!
Got this from discord they said it's from 2022
From Discord? It's most likely fake.
Broken arrow pla thread the thread is legit but this Pic idk
One thing I have been thinking about this whole Loyal Wingman/CCA concept is, even though it sounds great on paper ( use unmanned, attritable drones to air battles), it might not be that useful in practice due to range limitations.
PLA operates very large fighters like flankers and J-20 with long range. This enables PLA to fight an air dominance battle in the first island chain and even over Japan. It allows PLA air force to attack First island Chain US allies and US bases with its fighters, gain air dominance and perform bombing runs.
However, these CCA drones are by design smaller and thus have limited range. They probably don't have range parity with China's larger fighters. Which means, either China's large fighters will not be able to use their full range if they want to fight aerial battle with CCA's in tow. Essentially limited to ranges where the CCAs can fight and get back to base.
Or These CCA's are on a one way mission and thus cannot get back to friendly air bases due to lack of fuel. But I don't think sending CCAs on a one way mission is cost effective. Even if these CCAs are cheaper than manned fighters, they will be very expensive.
Also, Carriers cannot be the launch pad for Air force CCAs. So, that is not a solution to the CCA range problem. Moreover, Carriers are also vulnerable if they get too close to the enemy shores. So, CCAs are still range limited even if launched from carriers.
So, I think there needs to be good solution for the CCA range problem before they can become useful in air warfare.
I can think of two ways that can happen. One is, you have some kind of transport air craft that can carry these cca planes to the distant battlefield and then launch them into battle with the manned fighters. But again, maybe you can launch them, but how can you get them back to base? It becomes a one way mission again.
Another option is produce very large CCAs with enough range to keep up with J-20s, J-36s. But that will make them even more costly, thus less mass producable and probably less attritable in a real battle.
Yes, overall I think this limits CCAs in a distant attack roles and kind of relegates them to a more limited home defense role. I don't think PLA wants to use its air power for home defense anymore. It is thinking more about how to use air power offensively to gain dominance over the enemy. So, these current small CCA planes are less useful in such missions.
PLA operates very large fighters like flankers and J-20 with long range. This enables PLA to fight an air dominance battle in the first island chain and even over Japan. It allows PLA air force to attack First island Chain US allies and US bases with its fighters, gain air dominance and perform bombing runs.
However, these CCA drones are by design smaller and thus have limited range. They probably don't have range parity with China's larger fighters. Which means, either China's large fighters will not be able to use their full range if they want to fight aerial battle with CCA's in tow. Essentially limited to ranges where the CCAs can fight and get back to base.
Or These CCA's are on a one way mission and thus cannot get back to friendly air bases due to lack of fuel. But I don't think sending CCAs on a one way mission is cost effective. Even if these CCAs are cheaper than manned fighters, they will be very expensive.
Also, Carriers cannot be the launch pad for Air force CCAs. So, that is not a solution to the CCA range problem. Moreover, Carriers are also vulnerable if they get too close to the enemy shores. So, CCAs are still range limited even if launched from carriers.
So, I think there needs to be good solution for the CCA range problem before they can become useful in air warfare.
I can think of two ways that can happen. One is, you have some kind of transport air craft that can carry these cca planes to the distant battlefield and then launch them into battle with the manned fighters. But again, maybe you can launch them, but how can you get them back to base? It becomes a one way mission again.
Another option is produce very large CCAs with enough range to keep up with J-20s, J-36s. But that will make them even more costly, thus less mass producable and probably less attritable in a real battle.
Yes, overall I think this limits CCAs in a distant attack roles and kind of relegates them to a more limited home defense role. I don't think PLA wants to use its air power for home defense anymore. It is thinking more about how to use air power offensively to gain dominance over the enemy. So, these current small CCA planes are less useful in such missions.