J-15 carrier fighter thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
The KD-88 anti-ground missile x 2 and the YJ-91 anti-radar missile x 2, PL8 X 4 have been confirmed in the actual aircraft. From MSSN65
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
New video
New Chinese Navy "promotional" video on its J-15 naval aeronautics pilots. Lots of old people but there are still some new passages.
New Chinese Navy "promotional" video on its J-15 naval aeronautics pilots. Lots of old people but there are still some new passages.
The Tomcat is a looker too and the perfect fleet defence and long range multirole fighter. The timing of the Soviet Union's collapse and rise of China meant the USN were asked to tighten its belt with F-18s until the next generation arrived. The Tomcat if modernised, would be more than a match for any modern flanker. Swept wings mean the best of all worlds (except costs and maintenance complexity) and they could install F-135s on an upgraded build! Imagine the radar and electronic power on such a thing with two F-135s. I think this is why PLAN insisted on avoiding smaller fighters like J-10 and Mig-29 even if they are more suited to the first two smaller carriers. Just doesn't have that raw power in every domain (except stealth). I guess the Su-33 prototype was more available and definitely a familiar platform.
Good to see PLAN continue with the J-15 in newer upgraded variants. They should honestly continue developing it into dedicated EW variants and field those alongside J-35 on new CATOBAR carriers.
The big problem is that tomcat is not stealthy. For that same reason, china needs a more modern plane than j-15.
I still see a lot of utility in something like a modernised J-15 and dedicated EW. J-35 will have shorter range and payload compared to J-15s. J-35s also will not be able to carry any long ranged A2A missiles that are designed to target tankers, AWACS, and larger aircraft like bombers. Similar to what the Phoenix was designed to do against Soviet bombers with air launched anti-ship missiles. There really isn't much preventing a flanker from receiving serious electronics upgrades to the point they approach dedicated 5th gen designs which took those electronics in mind from the ground up. The only downside is stealth but it makes up for that in providing utility elsewhere; range, payload, and greater range of ordinance available for carry. To be honest stealthy 5th gens are very limited in what they are tasked to do - either air superiority force multipliers or very limited strike tasks (tiny bays = 2x bombs etc).
Consider also how many nations have stealth naval aircraft for PLAN to have an absolute uncompromising need for huge fleets of J-35. India won't for decades and they dream about blocking PLAN from Indian Ocean access.
f/a-18, rafale and mig-29k aren't either.