J-15 carrier fighter thread

[Jeff Head]

PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

I do not know if there is a seperate thread for this or not, but thought there certainly should be one because of the difference this aircraft will make in the Western Pacific. Next to the United States, France, and Russia, there is no strong and vary capable strike fighter available ofr carrier operations in any other Navy. Later, once the VTOL F-35B becomes available, that may be questioned.

This thread is about the J-15 Flying Shark, the Chinese indegenous remake of the Russian SU-33. By all accounts, the aircraft is significantly upgraded and will add a very strong capability to the PLAN as they launch their carriers. Particularly when they set up buddy stores to begin with for the ex-Varyag, and then later as they use catapault launches where they can get more weapons and fuel for these aircraft.

Please post specifications, details, pictures, etc.

Here are some initial photos to start the thread:

The aircraft has moved from the prototype painting scheme to PLAN colors in these photos.

The next two photos are renderings of what the J-15 will look like. Once flying and photgraphed in actuality, those photos will be placed here.

 

[Deino]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

The aircraft has moved from the prototype painting scheme to PLAN colors in these photos.

Be carefull ... the last two ones are only CG's and not real photographs !

Deino

 

[Jeff Head]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

Be carefull ... the last two ones are only CG's and not real photographs !

Deino

Yes...I fixed it in the explanation. Once we have actual photos, we can place them here and I will place them in place of those two. Thanks!

 

[siegecrossbow]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

Be carefull ... the last two ones are only CG's and not real photographs !

Deino

Gaoshan's skills have improved since the famous J-XX photos. It is really difficult telling them apart from real planes. It is a shame that Chinese film makers couldn't hire him to do the CGIs.

 

[MwRYum]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

To call J-15 as strike fighter could be a bit of stretch I afraid. While yes they could've integrated such capability onto the platform but given the fact that carrier takeoff is ski-jump method, it'd restrict its payload significantly, thus to conduct strike it'd have to launch from land...that'd leave its carrier-op primarily air defense role.

 

[asif iqbal]

¦^ÂÃ: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

any pics of folded wings, i still havnt seen any?

 

[Blitzo]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

We've seen the j-15 model on the wuhan training platform holding yj-82 or kd-88 missiles, and I imagine it wouldn't be a massive stretch for it to carry some smaller LT, ft, or LS series pgm's with a reasonable amount of range from ski jump.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

To call J-15 as strike fighter could be a bit of stretch I afraid. While yes they could've integrated such capability onto the platform but given the fact that carrier takeoff is ski-jump method, it'd restrict its payload significantly, thus to conduct strike it'd have to launch from land...that'd leave its carrier-op primarily air defense role.

Well this assumption is based on the fact that the J-15 will only be used to equipped the Varyag. From what I've been able to gather Varyag will primarily be used as a training vessel for future Chinese carriers. We all know that China has been working on catapults so the ski-jump method may not be used on domestic aircraft carriers. It would be a bit of a pity not to utilize the large flanker as a strike aircraft.

 

[SinoSoldier]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

I would not put the Rafale or the Su-33 ahead of the J-15.

The J-15, apart from its airframe and landing gear, is pretty much not related to the Su-33. Its avionics, FBW controls, weapons packages are completely new and represent the next-generation of naval fighter aircraft. Its avionics are believed to be based on the J-11B's avionics, but newer. The engines are also more powerful than the Al-31. Being equipped with these engines, the J-15 would have a higher T/W ratio than the Rafale/Su-33 and thus possess a maneuverability and speed advantage. The supposedly modified airframe and its next generation avionics also should give it a low observability advantage when compared to the Rafale, let alone the Su-33.

Chinese military officials stated that the J-15 and J-11B incorporates a newly developed AESA radar and may incorporate thrust vectoring in the future.

Chinese military officials also said that the J-15 is at least on the same level as the Rafale-M and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in terms of performance. The Su-33 does not even come into the equation.





But again, I do not think the J-15 is the best work. It clearly is based off a Cold War airframe and is far from competing against near future American carrier based aircraft. That is I think why the PLANAF is also building the reported stealthy carrier based fighter (J-18?).

 

[Jeff Head]

Re: PLAN's first Carrier Strike Fighter the J-15 Flying shark

To call J-15 as strike fighter could be a bit of stretch I afraid. While yes they could've integrated such capability onto the platform but given the fact that carrier takeoff is ski-jump method, it'd restrict its payload significantly, thus to conduct strike it'd have to launch from land...that'd leave its carrier-op primarily air defense role.

With a buddy store capability for inflight fueling, the J-15 could take off with minimal fuel and a heavier weapons load and then fill up after takeoff. That's one way to help do more than air defense only off of the Varyag. Also, these aircraft will also be used for later carriers that could be CATOBAR.