J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread V

[Deino]

No, not really , but since '2101' was cleraly making its taxi tests last week, additional hint apperead about a possible 2102 and even 2103, I think it is safe to assume that they are at least "close to" maiden flight. If that 111-date has something special CAC actually cares about I don't know, it would have been however surely a nice PR-coup.

Deino

 

[tphuang]

I think it's quite obvious that 111 is a special date. Although, I haven't seen anything of maiden flight yet and its night time there by now, so probably won't happen today.

 

[Air Force Brat]

I think it's quite obvious that 111 is a special date. Although, I haven't seen anything of maiden flight yet and its night time there by now, so probably won't happen today.

Well Happy New Year any way, we'll just have to "hold our breath" until they do fly the darn thang!

 

[2=GT]

5 years have past...

 

[Deino]

5 years have past...View attachment 23710

Thanks a lot my friend ! This image alone makes You the poster of the month.

So, let's keep fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Deino

 

[Deino]

Two more nice shots ....

 

[plawolf]

It's interesting that all the boarder line surfaces seem to have a grey (dielectric?) strip running along them.

Are they all long and ultra-long wavelength radar array annetenas, specially treated RAM material to help reduce RCS, or a combination of the two?

 

[Totoro]

it is ram material. same thing can be seen on factory made raptors before painting. not all edges have it, though. only ones that are deemed most sensitive angles. (lex, surprisingly, don't have them. i guess they're viewed as not crucial, seeing how their angle is relatively similar to longitudinal axis)

 

[Blitzo]

it is ram material. same thing can be seen on factory made raptors before painting. not all edges have it, though. only ones that are deemed most sensitive angles. (lex, surprisingly, don't have them. i guess they're viewed as not crucial, seeing how their angle is relatively similar to longitudinal axis)

I don't think so, I think the very limited presence of the grey strips around the aircraft makes me think they are dielectric rather than RAM, and are indicative of some sort of antennae under the grey.

If it were RAM, then we would see them on the edge of all major panels, but on 2101 we do not even see them on the edge of basic things such as such as weapon bays, landing gear. I wouldn't be surprised if RAM had not yet been applied to the edges yet for 2101.

edit:
actually a quick search makes me more confused.
F-22 had once used yellow primer, and it featured limited grey bands similar to 2101, such as no grey bands near its weapons bay, or around major panels etc.

But later F-22 production photos show green primer with highlighted panels and edges at all the various locations you'd expect RAM to be applied. So I'm not entirely sure how to make sense of it in context of 2101

 

[Totoro]

its two different ram materials with different ways of incorporating them into the plane. The gray/black ones on f-22 are built-in ram, a part of the wing/tail/whatnot structure.

The reddish outlines on the second image are additional ram that can be applied after the plane has been assembled. Some is on non moving surfaces but most of it is used for panel gap filler.

Difference, in my opinion, would be of thickness and microstructure. Built in ram would be against lower frequency radars, applied ram would be against higher frequency radars. (again, panel gaps are bigger issue for higher frequency bands, whereas lower frequency bands don't even notice such gaps) I'm sure there are other practical differences too, like cost, maintenance needs and so on.