Increased visibility at the cost of being less resistant to battle damage. Then again the Soviet Union wasn't exactly known for making high quality glass in the first place. So it could be that with more modern glass composition the protective capabilities are sufficient.
CV-16, CV-17 STOBAR carrier thread (001/Liaoning, 002/Shandong)
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
My bad NOT if not specific: I'm referring to those two covered in camo on deck. Perhaps I'm so outdated of picture.
No, all fine and now I - at leat I hope I do - understand your point: IMO this is indeed a second mock-up, but a J-15
The one boxed in red looks like a helicopter.
I speculated a while back that possibly PLAN decided to go with all J35 for CVWs and I think this is a more sensible investment that progressing with 4.5 gen J15 as well in a world of proliferating 5th gen fighters. Of course still a place for an EW J15D but if you want a tanker then use KJ600 airframe variant.
There is no Chinese C-2-counterpart so far, only an E-2D-counterpart (KJ-600). Coupled with the much more stringent requirements for any carrier-based aircrafts, the prospect of further retrofitting/designing a Chinese C-2-counterpart into a mid-air refueling variant is rather doubtful.
In the meantime, until the J-35 has proven buddy-refueling capability, the PLAN is still going to be stuck with J-15s for quite some time. Either that, or the PLAN will need to procure their own MQ-25s, which does seem to be the general trend forward for carrier-based mid-air refueling.
On the other hand, having J-15s serving onboard Liaoning and Shandong for the coming years isn't that bad either. Apart from the EW variant and buddy-refueling capability, the J-15 can carry not just AShMs, but also ULRAAMs that will definitely screw up J-35's VLO profile i.e. PL-17. In this context, the J-15s will become the missile trucks for the J-35s in the PLAN, similar to how the J-16s will become the missile trucks for the J-20s in the PLAAF.
Besides, given how the present anti-ship and land-attack operations in the PLAN are mainly conducted by major surface combatants of the PLAN i.e. 052Ds and 055s with YJ-18 and YJ-21, both the Chinese ski-jump twins can certainly focus solely on fleet air defense and control of the skies over allied naval formations and/or maritime areas of interest.
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lcloo
Captain
US Navy C-2 and E-2C/D share the same basic airframe. Therefore, theoritically the basic airframe of KJ-600 can be redesigned for transportation/cargo as like C-2 Greyhound, and as aerial tanker as well. The problem may be the air speed if the KJ-600 airframe redesigned as aerial tanker, but we don't know yet the maximum speed of this aircarft.
Another unknown is whether such aerial tankder can take off CV16 and CV17 with sufficient fuel load to support the fighters, which IMO, not likely.
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Hi,
if I may ask is it a possibility to remove dish & other gadgets around KJ600 & ofcourse reduce number of operators on board KJ600 and keep minimum operators for refuling the jets will be the same weight for Kj600
to take off from ACC as a fuel tanker
thank you
Drone tankers are the future IMO. They ha e high endurance and can be more easily designed to fit different platforms like a CV or LHD.
and although very suboptimal, they can even double as a big missile in emergencies as the specific energy of fuel is comparable to that of warheads.
