It's not just the engine upgrade. There is actually more (new radome, new hump behind the cockpit, possibily also new cooling system, new avionics and computing systems, etc) that comes with the "A" sub-designation for the (not so much as new) J-20 variant.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
It's not just the engine upgrade. There is actually more (new radome, new hump behind the cockpit, possibily also new cooling system, new avionics and computing systems, etc) that comes with the "A" sub-designation for the (not so much as new) J-20 variant.
antiterror13
Brigadier
Would that kind of upgrades deserve a new "letter" ? I knew that WS-15 would bring many upgrades considering significant more power from WS-15
The problem is that you seem to believe the existing in production WS-10 (and previously powered by Al-31) J-20 variants are called J-20A.
Instead, the existing in production J-20 is just called "J-20".
Meanwhile, the new variant which has a hump, a beaked radome and other upgrades including using WS-15, is called "J-20A".
So yes, this is a major new variant of J-20 and because it is a major new variant it received a new letter J-20A.
Come on this is all basic stuff that's been established over the last couple of years.
Have a read of Huitong's website to at least get partly up to speed.
New GaN AESAs, probably. Along with a new sensor suite with EOTS/EODAS upgrades I would wager.
There are a whole range of upgrades including but not limited to the aforementioned sensor suite which would all benefit from upgrades that a new dedicated variant can and likely will offer.
Apart from a new radar and a new passive (electro optic and ESM) sensor suite:
- improved active EW suite
- new power and thermal management system (this is highly significant, just see the impact of the upgrade of this for F-35 upgrades)
- improved computing/processing
- improved datalinks
- new production processes
- new materials
- internal structural optimizations
Etc
It's not wrong to view J-20A as something akin to the F-35 Block 4/TR3 equivalent, albeit with a much greater uplift in propulsion and thus kinematics due to the major change from WS-10 to WS-15 (whereas Block 4/TR3 retains the same very capable but largely unchanged F135)
I agree and therefore added to be careful, but I think for the first time this is the real deal clear and close:
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Not maybe a new AESA but guaranteed to be a new AESA. We already got a new AESA between J-20 AL-31 and J-20 WS-10C. They are definitely going to take advantage of the greater power generation for this.
Imagine how much more power the WS-15 can generate. I can see the pilots salivating.
In that case - Honestly I do wonder when will China start to mass-deploy ground/surface/airborne AESA radars that are made of Ga2O3 instead of GaN.
Imagine the potential upgrades of such radars to the PLA's overall warfighting capabilities across the board.
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