J-15 carrier fighter thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Attaching original video.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
The lack of rumors concerning a follow-on variant is starting to make me suspect that the entire program has been semi-guillotined in favor of their naval 5th-gen fighter (which is said to be in some form of testing already).
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
But they still need another 24 x J15B or batch 3
CV-16 trains the pilots
And CV-17 to maintain those skills
5th generation is not going to be ready that soon
Bad to wait for 5th generation
They need fighters
CV-16 trains the pilots
And CV-17 to maintain those skills
5th generation is not going to be ready that soon
Bad to wait for 5th generation
They need fighters
Agreed. At least 30 more J-15 is needed.
Oh, I think they will fire up the J-15 batch production for another 24 J-15 at least, I see little logic in truncating J-15 production at 30 birds, but there could well be anotherr bird in the pipeline?
Brumby
Major
Without doubt PLAN will produce more but that is the mystery. Why isn't it happening? J-15 is also by default acting as trainer because there is no navalized trainer. So no birds for CV-17.
Pretty sure that the navalized JL-8 is fulfilling the trainer role. That is evident from the documentary I linked which directly states that it is being used train naval aviation fighters.
My theory is that they are waiting to re-engine and upgrade avionics for the next batch of J-15s. Current ones are still using Russian engines and slotted array radars.
Brumby
Major
AFAIK none of the trainers are hardened to conduct carrier landings. I remember reading this in one of the aircraft magazine featuring on Chinese trainers. Effectively for carrier qualification the rite of passage is landing in a J-15.
Engine and avionics upgrade is normally part of scheduled maintenance and would be unusual in my view to delay production especially the acute shortage.