The yellow flag says "second hand car". The dealer is located right outside of CAC airport. It tells once again how impossible CAC can keep a secret.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread V
- Thread starter Deino
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Doesn't the serial numbers only go with the airframe before joining the airforce? So it will be there temporarily therefor possibly being skipped by CAC, a break from the tradition as Quickie said.
It is of course inconvenient for us to count and follow the production rate, but doesn't make much difference to CAC or PLAF.
It is of course inconvenient for us to count and follow the production rate, but doesn't make much difference to CAC or PLAF.
Or maybe they did it to make it harder for people to track the number of J-20s.
Brumby
Major
That was my initial impression. It seems to be a new bird but no one is actually saying it is except from the excitement. It is long overdue but without the serial it will make counting rather next to impossible.
We are just desperate due to the drought of J-20 related photos and info since February. Literally any tidbit can satisfy the cravings of us hardcore junkies.
Part of the excitement is just because we finally have a glimpse of LRIP J-20 in service colours with service roundels after months of teasing.
And I think part of the excitement is also exactly like you said, because it'll make counting next to impossible.
I've been expecting that as J-20 entered LRIP and as it transitions to eventual full batch production it'll make keeping track of the actual number of J-20s more and more difficult... either because the photographers may deliberately try to doctor out the service serial numbers or because the air force itself may even change up when they put on their serial numbers (i.e.: possibly at the air force base after delivery, rather than at CAC)
Nope! in the aviation world, serials are required for certification, even in the military, now there were two MC-130Es that we know of? that had their serials "scrubbed". There were 14 Rivet Yards, 12 with serials, and 2 clean, those birds were prolly operated by the extreme covert operators, I have a picture of my Dad flying from the right seat of a Chain, about 200 ft off the deck, wearing Khaki's and a white tee, with smoking a Winston, with a seriously NASTY look on his face. We lost two Chain's in SEA and those clean birds were then reserialed to cover up those losses...
So that bird has a serial, and it will remain with it for life, may not be painted on, but the airframe does have a serial, and each engine has a serial as well.
Yep, the Chinese and the Russians like to play those games, that way you can "inflate your numbers, but with satellite's shooting Kodak, it really won't be too hard to keep track of the few J-20's, and honestly, I rather doubt we will ever see the kind of numbers that some of you anticipate.
Same for the T-50, unless India ponies up, I don't think we will see that many, I really don't. For one, they know the US is very unlikely to fly any long range penetration missions with the F-35, and only slightly more risqué of the F-22 doing a long range deep strike, though if the target were important enough, we have a history of "one-ways", like the raid on Tokyo.
Actually the serial number game gives the whole program a "circus sideshow" flavor. Serious players build as much for deterrence, that's why we get our toys out and "war game" all the time, one to build our "street cred" and two, to train and prepare our friends for "interoperability, from a US point of view, if you actually have to use your kool toys, and we are fully prepared to do so, then you have failed in your primary purpose, we really do train to "maintain" the peace.
No, the entire point of not showing the serial numbers is so that potential foes are not fully aware of the actual capability that you have.
The US military is powerful enough such that it benefits their policy of deterrence to openly disclose most of their advanced capabilities against potential foes who are weaker than they are.
But for China's military policy and for the very capable potential foes China faces, it makes more sense to avoid disclosing that information, so that potential foes have to use more resources to accurately estimate the Chinese military's actual capabilities, and that if they are unable to accurately judge China's military capability it may mean the potential foe will make less than efficient procurement decisions or strategic deployment decisions that can benefit China if a war ever occurs.
It has nothing to do with "inflating numbers," rather it has everything to do with operational security. By creating more uncertainty in the potential foe's intelligence, that itself creates the opportunity for strategic miscalculation and introduces more caution into the foe's willingness to conduct war -- i.e.: by selectively avoiding disclosing certain information in the open (such as the number of fighters of each type and where they're deployed), it creates a degree of deterrence in and of itself on top of actually showing the capabilities which China is willing to disclose in the open.
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