J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII

[by78]

J-20S cockpit view.

 

[HereToSeePics]

One interesting about luneburg is that Yankeesama mentioned that they used a luneburg lens on the J-20 that was detachable in flight. Guess that it was not as economical as retractable luneburg and was replaced later on.

Also if it was jettisoned during an op, you want a way to return normal radar visibility when returning to base to aid ATC especially when flying through civilian airspace.

 

[burritocannon]

Also if it was jettisoned during an op, you want a way to return normal radar visibility when returning to base to aid ATC especially when flying through civilian airspace.

how would the us address this issue considering their lunebergs are a groundside modification?

 

[Wrought]

how would the us address this issue considering their lunebergs are a groundside modification?

They don't, obviously. They just assume that the decision to fly with/without LL will be made before takeoff. Which is not terribly unreasonable, mind you, just a bit less flexible.

 

[Deino]

What do you want the source to be? J-20 production rate is unknown, J-20 induction rate is unknown. If it was 250 two years ago. Even conservative estimates would place the current inventory to be around 400+. You can go back and scroll through Deino's twitter posts counting the tail numbers. But theres been massive opsec increases I believe. So even doing that is getting more difficult.

It is very difficult. I guess people want someone like @Blitzo to update his assessment since he’s been the person behind most if not all quoted J-20 figures that are reputable (including even Wikipedia mentioned by others).

I'm indeed trying to update this assessment based on my own list - which maybe is not as complete like @Blitzo's - but if you take a timeline and mark the respective dates, when a first rumour about a new unit surfaced and when it was confirmed, you'll at least get a rough estimated timeframe for each unit, which, while knowingly incorrect in terms of exact dates, since we're always lagging behind, at least provides a list on the "safe side."

And based on what i see right now, I think we can assume quite safely there was actually a decline in regular J-20 production - also evident from fewer rumours and confirmations - which I would maybe explain by the change in production from J-20 to J-20A/AS.

But I need some more time ...

 

[Blitzo]

I'm indeed trying to update this assessment based on my own list - which maybe is not as complete like @Blitzo's - but if you take a timeline and mark the respective dates, when a first rumour about a new unit surfaced and when it was confirmed, you'll at least get a rough estimated timeframe for each unit, which, while knowingly incorrect in terms of exact dates, since we're always lagging behind, at least provides a list on the "safe side."

And based on what i see right now, I think we can assume quite safely there was actually a decline in regular J-20 production - also evident from fewer rumours and confirmations - which I would maybe explain by the change in production from J-20 to J-20A/AS.

But I need some more time ...

Imo the important question is not whether the number of vanilla J-20 production has changed, but rather if the total number of J-20 family production has changed (inclusive of J-20 J-20A, J-20S).

These days, when people talk about "J-20 production rates" I assume they mean J-20 family rather than only the vanilla J-20 itself.

 

[Deino]

Imo the important question is not whether the number of vanilla J-20 production has changed, but rather if the total number of J-20 family production has changed (inclusive of J-20 J-20A, J-20S).

These days, when people talk about "J-20 production rates" I assume they mean J-20 family rather than only the vanilla J-20 itself.

Agreed and at least my impression at the moment is, it indeed dropped a bit. My theory therefore is, CAC shut down one production line and changes it to J-20A/AS after another ... and therefore at least a minor drop in overall output seems likely.

On the other side the for me most important question is: Has production of the vanilla J-20 even ended and is CAC producing already only J-20A/AS?