Are those engines WS-10?
J-15 carrier-borne fighter thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Great question actually. This appeared in the video:
And it actually looks short enough to be WS-10s. I don't have access to photo editing software but someone can try to manipulate the image to make it more clear.
WS-10s for reference:
However, another J-15B also appeared later on and it's definitely AL-31s. Could be a different airframe though.
And it actually looks short enough to be WS-10s. I don't have access to photo editing software but someone can try to manipulate the image to make it more clear.
WS-10s for reference:
However, another J-15B also appeared later on and it's definitely AL-31s. Could be a different airframe though.
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Screenshot_2024-08-17-23-47-36-91_6b26a6c56e60a8073a58a8a51c55ef41.jpg
Potential jackpot.
Definitely looks shorter than AL-31s. WS-10 equipped J-15B confirmed?
AL-31s:
Definitely looks shorter than AL-31s. WS-10 equipped J-15B confirmed?
AL-31s:
No idea, but at least a WS-10 prototype is pretty much confirmed. The chances of the J-15B entering production with WS-10s just shot up by a bit.
Final comparison image:
Nice, China can now be fully independent of Russian jet engines.
I would say NOT CONFIRMED.
They look a bit shorter than Al-31s, but the quality of the image is insufficient to make that declaration yet. We've had past images as well of Al-31s on other aircraft that looked like they had shorter nozzles but in picture quality that was otherwise poor which then was followed up as being Al-31 rather than WS-10.
Having a high standard for clearance to confirm engine identity (especially for a likely in production aircraft) should be normal.
Sure. How about "likely?"
I do want to see examples of how you can make the AL-31 look almost 1/2 shorter though. It's pretty clear side-by-side here that one is definitely much shorter than the other.
I think "possible" is a better word.
We've been burned too many times with calling an engine's identity too early in the past.
Wait, I've got a new angle.
J-15s equipped with AL-31s have pretty long nozzles. So long in fact, they protrude just a tad bit beyond the horizontal stabs if you look at it from most, if not all angles.
However, the J-15B in question have nozzles that doesn't stick out beyond the tails. Feel free to verify that by rewatching the video.
Case in point:
(Regular J-15. The nozzles protrude just slightly beyond the tails.)
(The J-15B in question. The nozzles doesn't extend beyond the horizontal stabs.)
Crossposting from the land-based Flankers thread.
It seems that the J-15B may adopt an airframe that's almost entirely made out of composites along with a new iteration of the J-16.
It seems that the J-15B may adopt an airframe that's almost entirely made out of composites along with a new iteration of the J-16.