asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
well spotted that is indeed a Arleigh Burke
J-15 carrier fighter thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
One of the pictures posted by by78 in the "CV-16, CV-17 STOBAR carrier thread (001/CV-16/Liaoning, 002/CV-17/Shandong)" thread in post #315. I think this one should be here too since if you look closely you'll see that the 2nd J-15 from the right has the serial no. 57.
I initially brushed it off as no. 67 at first but below a zoom in on the serial no. to convince yourself. I've pulled images of the serial no. 35 and 67 from Huitongs blog and it demonstrates that the first digit is clearly drawn like the digit 5 on other PLAN J-15 rather than the digit 6 making it 57 for sure.
Now if we think back we initially observed a gap in the serials between the 30s and 60s digits. As it turned out #46 was a J-15S and now #57 seems to be a normal J-15 single seater. This gives us more questions than answers, the latter of which were already in short supply but it does seem like the PLAN has been trolling us a bit.
I initially brushed it off as no. 67 at first but below a zoom in on the serial no. to convince yourself. I've pulled images of the serial no. 35 and 67 from Huitongs blog and it demonstrates that the first digit is clearly drawn like the digit 5 on other PLAN J-15 rather than the digit 6 making it 57 for sure.
Now if we think back we initially observed a gap in the serials between the 30s and 60s digits. As it turned out #46 was a J-15S and now #57 seems to be a normal J-15 single seater. This gives us more questions than answers, the latter of which were already in short supply but it does seem like the PLAN has been trolling us a bit.
I believe it’s 67
In fact I am not sure … especially the top of the number looks IMO more like a 5 than a 6
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
ok so how many J15 do we think there is ?
01-09= 9 units
10-24= 15 units
30-35= 6 units
60-73= 14 units
74-88= 15 units
90-92= 3 units
Total identified 62 x J15 aircraft
how many unidentified ?
if we say 24 x J15 for CV-16
24 x J15 for CV-17
and 36 x J15 for 003 that means another batch is due? or could they mix it with J35?
01-09= 9 units
10-24= 15 units
30-35= 6 units
60-73= 14 units
74-88= 15 units
90-92= 3 units
Total identified 62 x J15 aircraft
how many unidentified ?
if we say 24 x J15 for CV-16
24 x J15 for CV-17
and 36 x J15 for 003 that means another batch is due? or could they mix it with J35?
I believe CV-17 can carry a couple more J-15s than CV-16. I'd put that at 2-4 more J-15s on CV-17 than on CV-16.
For the 003, it depends on the development progress of the J-35, plus the timing of which the 003 is commissioned and obtaining initial operational capability. That would take a few years. However, it is also claimed by Silao and/or Yankee that the J-35s would be ready in time for the 003's entry into service with the PLAN.
Therefore, if the claim is accurate, then we would see a mix of J-15s and J-35s onboard the 003. If that isn't the case (i.e. J-35 isn't yet ready by the time 003 has entered service), then we might see a fighter airwing of purely J-15s on the 003, at first that is.
For comparison, a Nimitz/Ford carries 40+ fighter jets during peacetime operations. And, yes, the size difference between the J-15 and the F-18 should be taken into considerations as well - we can't just simply do one-on-one equivalent.
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Another grainy image of J-15T.
Finally. I wonder if this is the first clear picture showing the entire underside of J-15T.