J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII

Aval

New Member
Registered Member
Apologies if this question has been asked or debated to death before, but are there certain canard use scenarios where it would physically block the opening of the side-bay doors and thus prevent the missile (PL-10) from being put into "deployed for LOBL" mode or even just block ejection altogether even for LOAL (which the PL-10 is capable of)?

I understand that the canards are expected only to be used for maneuverability in WVR situations where stealth has already failed, but doesn't this mean that the PL-10's have to be moved into "deployed for LOBL" mode (sitting outside of the plane) before aerial maneuvers utilising the canards can be made? This could induce a crucial lag time of a few seconds between first detection (and decision to forsake stealth and enter WVR combat) and being able to maneuver using the canards while also having the WVR missiles ready for firing. Or is it expected that there would be a few seconds to spare during WVR combat where the canards can be straightened out and the PL-10 deployed and fired?
 

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
I forget, did the last Zhuhai actually have an official AVIC placard on J-20 with some basic specifications? I'm not finding any images of that on the internet, though.
 
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