Xi'an is also where Yanliang/CFTE is located... so unless there were any additional rumours suggesting J-20 would start testing with WS-15 there is no reason to think J-20 in Xi'an means it's there for WS-15s
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VI
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Xi'an is also where Yanliang/CFTE is located... so unless there were any additional rumours suggesting J-20 would start testing with WS-15 there is no reason to think J-20 in Xi'an means it's there for WS-15s
But the point of the cartoons has been to reveal significant news. So in keeping with that pattern, it is far more likely that this is hinting at J-20 being equipped with WS-15 for tests rather than simply visiting for flight tests. J-20 is operational and currently there is only one variant so why reveal it is going for flight tests?
Agree, the cartoons have served that purpose of revealing news.
But I don't see anything in the picture that suggests to me it indicates WS-15. For all we know it might be one of the J-20 WS-10 testbeds going to yanliang for the next phase of flight tests.
More importantly, the idea that they would fly in J-20s to Xi'an merely for the purpose of installing WS-15 and starting WS-15 tests seems a bit dubious to me. Wouldn't it make more sense to ship the WS-15s to Chengdu and do the maiden flights there instead? Why move the aircraft to where the engines are rather than move the engines to where the aircraft is?
Now I'm not saying that this cartoon can't represent WS-15 starting tests on J-20 but I'd like a bit more than merely "J-20 in Xi'an therefore WS-15"
I would have imagined that all the main flight testing programs would have finalised many years ago. Any more flight testing would be related to actual operations and developing tactics which should be done all over the place by J-20 pilots. It doesn't make sense to fly J-20 to where WS-15 is but I don't think that's what is actually happening. This cartoon suggests some link between J-20 and Xian that's its main purpose. I don't think it indicates a literal meaning - J-20 flying to Xian. Rather suggesting the link between the two serves to hint at something from Xian, not necessarily something that will remain in Xian. Don't know if I've explained it well.
Also the markings seem to show a significant change to J-20. Typical flight testing usually does have it as well like on the J-15 but the time for that phase of J-20 development is far behind us. The pattern here has been markings on J-10 and new engine (TVC one) being tested even though the actual J-10/s that had been testing new TVC engines were not photographed with those markings. Therefore it's possible those marking on the cartoon are to suggest new engine since that's been the pattern so far, albeit a questionable one. I think it's more likely this is hinting at WS-15 + J-20 connection rather than J-20 going to flight testing in Xian.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Uh, don't they usually test new engines as one of four on a large aircraft like IL-76 first? Have we seen that with WS-15?
Jura The idiot
General
Yesterday at 2:53 PM
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There is a rumor that they'll be performing the famed Pugachev's Cobra maneuver during the airshow.
now
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There is a rumor that they'll be performing the famed Pugachev's Cobra maneuver during the airshow.
Good point. We certainly haven't seen that. Doesn't exactly mean it hasn't been done yet. What else is in Xian? Maybe the cartoonist is trying to imply that squadrons near Xian will soon be equipped or J-20 being positioned there? Only issue would be the markings.
I imagine most of the flight testing should have been done as well, with Al-31s at least. But it could be referencing the WS-10 equipped J-20s going to Yanliang.
But if the image is meant to be taken figuratively rather than literally then I suppose one could interpret it to possibly suggest some kind of relationship between J-20 and "Xi'an" which one could stretch to mean WS-15 if one really wanted to, but it's really a stretch.
Either way, I see nothing compelling to suggest that it is literally or figuratively suggesting that it's suggesting that J-20 will be flying with WS-15 soon. At best, we can't rule out that it may be what the picture is trying to convey, but there's far from anything convincing in the image to suggest it imo
True, but we haven't seen that with the WS-10. There's no reason to believe we'd see it with the WS-15, especially in the atmosphere of increased secrecy of the Xi Administration.
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