J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread V

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Blitzo

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four J-20s (including maybe one 2001/2 prototype?) at Dingxin, on 1 June 2017

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Air Force Brat

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It just occurred to me that when they start to do flight testing of the WS-15, they might possibly just integrate the engine into one of the 200X prototypes instead of the IL-76 test bed.

I'll second that, as the 200X prototypes had the larger intake ducting that was modified on the LRIP birds, that seem "optimized" for the AL-31FN's! Would be a "no-brainer" and I bet the mounts are already there!
 

Deino

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It just occurred to me that when they start to do flight testing of the WS-15, they might possibly just integrate the engine into one of the 200X prototypes instead of the IL-76 test bed.


To admit I'm not that optimistic. IMO both differ too much esp. in regard to the revised intake and I can't think that they would use a 200x demonstrator, more likely a 201x prototype, which are closer to the LRIP-standard.
 

latenlazy

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To admit I'm not that optimistic. IMO both differ too much esp. in regard to the revised intake and I can't think that they would use a 200x demonstrator, more likely a 201x prototype, which are closer to the LRIP-standard.
I think a 201x prototype is also possible, but I've always thought the 201x prototypes could be inducted into active duty at some point, or they be used for more development testing, and are thus more valuable. They're probably keeping the 2001x prototypes around for a reason, and because the airframes are older and demonstrators they're probably more disposable. If it really mattered they could modify the intakes, though admittedly that'd be more work. A 201x prototype would of course provide more accurate flight and performance data, but maybe they could move onto a 201x frame after validating on a 200x, though that would be an extra and potentially redundant step. They could just integrate the engine straight into a J-20B airframe for development and production testing after testing and validating the engine on a 200x frame.

Anyways, it was just a wayward thought. Fwiw though I hope they don't skip the IL-76 testbed, because that would be a lot more transparent for us and make it easier to track the progress of the engine.
 
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