We know the original requirements document for the J-20 specified a 1200 nm combat range.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
I was under the impression we were talking about new production J-20A/S airframes for whenever WS-15 is not production rate constrained.
Vanilla J-20 airframes that are already produced -- absolutely I expect them to be re-engined with whatever the latest and appropriate WS-10 variant will be.
For J-20S, I suppose I'm of two minds on. I could see them giving it WS-15 because it seems to be a two seat version of J-20A (or rather, J-20A is a single seat version of J-20S), but it's possible J-20S isn't expected to operate in as many of the same regimes or mission profiles as J-20A.
I just meant to address the question of whether the PLA would continue to support multiple engines for the J-20 series for the foreseeable future.
antiterror13
Brigadier
Assuming the dimension of WS-10B/C and WS-10C2 are about the same ... yes. it is obvious I think
However regarding MLU, the earliest would be around mid 2030s (~10 years from now) .. I highly doubt that WS-10C2 will be around at that time, the replacement would be much more advanced version of WS-10C or D or E version
The first J-20 airframes are approaching 10 years soon. Their AL-31s might be up for replacement as well.
Oh that is a definite yes, if we are talking about the "J-20 series/family". To clarify, I was only referring to new build J-20A (and maybe J-20S)
I don't think vanilla J-20 are able to be re-engined with WS-15 anyhow (at least not without substantially rebuilding the airframes to a degree)
They can upgrade all of them to C2 ASAP and use the replaced C engines for the CCAs.
antiterror13
Brigadier
ahhh if you are talking about ~50 J-20 with AL-31F/M2, that make sense ..... when do you think it will happen?
No idea. I just think that seeing the WS-10C2 as a MLU project makes a certain amount of sense.
We'll see, but more often than not changing engines is a trouble not really worth it.