J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
There's been persistent rumours that WS-15 would improve the thrust to weight enough that autocannon will be introduced. The most recent hint was by Xi Yazhou:
I don't think it is a big deal, really. Modern combat aircraft never depend on their gun to do anything. Even 4th gen aircraft are nowadays expected to disengage if close-range combat (might still be BVR) is likely. Modern missiles are so effective that close range usually means both sides are getting a missile. An aircraft ending up in a situation where it was out of missiles, and couldn't disengage, and didn't get shot down is very unlikely.
The rationale behind the inclusion of the gun in the F-35 was that USAF thought an aircraft should be able to engage targets of opportunity on the ground. An F-35 spent its bombs and then saw a convoy? Strafe it. This is also why they switched to 25 mm from 20 mm.
One question regarding the idea of fitting a gun pod onto the J-20 is - Where?
There seems to be no space underneath the J-20 to fit a gun pod, unlike the F-35B/C?
There seems to be no space underneath the J-20 to fit a gun pod, unlike the F-35B/C?
Just load it onto a wing like these fuel tanks. As far as I know the current J-20 only has 4 hardpoints.
It would look like this
lol, but i don't think plaaf will risk j-20 on ground attack with gun pod
If J-20 in future gets a gun (whether as a new variant or as a backfit to existing airframes or both), it wouldn't be as a dedicated gun pod, but rather it would be installed integral into existing growth space, likely on the shoulder of the aircraft behind the air intake on the dorsal side, similar to the location of the gun on F-22.
I'm not sure why one would think a gun pod would be a likely way in which J-20 would receive a gun if it did so...
Agree 100%. A gun pod would increase drag, lessen the aerodynamics of the aircraft, increase the structural stress on the wing or another hardpoint and would reduce it's stealth. It's just smarter to have an integrated autocannon in the J20 versus a gun pod mounted to a hardpoint.