J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII

[siegecrossbow]

All air superiority fighters transition to multi-role after a few years of production as the next gen air superiority fighter comes along.

So, it was expected J-20 will also transition to more multirole fighter to keep relevance as 6th gen comes online.

But there is a flaw or drawback in J-20 design though that makes it a less useful as a multi-role.

Its not that big compared to J-16 and other Flankers. When I look at size comparisons, J-20 is slightly smaller length than a flanker. Keep in mind J-20 is much bigger on length than width, so its width far smaller than a flanker. So, overall area, volume and thus weapons capacity is probably less than a strike optimized flanker.

A lot of people used to say how big J-20 is, But its actually on the smaller side compared to a flanker.

You can always carry the load externally.

 

[by78]

A nice image of J-20A for the weekend.

 

[siegecrossbow]

A nice image of J-20A for the weekend.

If anyone still doubts that the EODAS is transparent all around, this is definitive proof.

 

[by78]

Two more for the weekend.

 

[Aval]

This is a really good visual comparison of the J-20S vs J-20A vs J-20. It captures more or less all the main surface-level differences that have been discussed recently:

• J-20S and J-20A have a new, enlarged hump behind the cockpit vs J-20. This hump is also present on the J-20S in addition to already lengthening the cockpit into what would have been the J-20A's "hump" for the second pilot.
• The differing engine petal lengths are clearly visible. The J-20A/S have clearly longer petals and slightly shorter silver collar on the WS-10C2 vs the WS-10C on the J-20.
• The new black camo is applied on the J-20A/S, but only on the ventral side. This makes discerning the side weapon bays more difficult in the picture. The dorsal side of all the variants still use the grey two-tone pattern.
• The EOTS-IRST of the J-20A/S are an aqua blue colour that still stands out amongst the darker blue sky backdrop and shows the entire module is glass (no sides covered), whereas the J-20 has a grey EOTS-IRST (perhaps due to the angle mostly seeing the opaque back-side cover of the module).
• The radome of J-20A/S seem to be painted in a lighter colour than the J-20 (although this could just be the lighting), and the slightly more beak-like tip (slightly more aggressive, higher angle, shorter tapering of top of radome down to the tip) of the J-20A/S radome is just barely visible.

Are there any other major visual differences between these variants that I missed?

 

[siegecrossbow]

This is a really good visual comparison of the J-20S vs J-20A vs J-20. It captures more or less all the main surface-level differences that have been discussed recently:

• J-20S and J-20A have a new, enlarged hump behind the cockpit vs J-20. This hump is also present on the J-20S in addition to already lengthening the cockpit into what would have been the J-20A's "hump" for the second pilot.
• The differing engine petal lengths are clearly visible. The J-20A/S have clearly longer petals and slightly shorter silver collar on the WS-10C2 vs the WS-10C on the J-20.
• The new black camo is applied on the J-20A/S, but only on the ventral side. This makes discerning the side weapon bays more difficult in the picture. The dorsal side of all the variants still use the grey two-tone pattern.
• The EOTS-IRST of the J-20A/S are an aqua blue colour that still stands out amongst the darker blue sky backdrop and shows the entire module is glass (no sides covered), whereas the J-20 has a grey EOTS-IRST (perhaps due to the angle mostly seeing the opaque back-side cover of the module).
• The radome of J-20A/S seem to be painted in a lighter colour than the J-20 (although this could just be the lighting), and the slightly more beak-like tip (slightly more aggressive, higher angle, shorter tapering of top of radome down to the tip) of the J-20A/S radome is just barely visible.

Are there any other major visual differences between these variants that I missed?

Ventral fins on J-20A/S are completely solid whereas ones on older J-20 have a metal frame around it for structural support. This should improve RCS reduction.

 

[sndef888]

Damn.. how long have I been away, i had no idea the two seaters had grey paint already, let alone such amazing photos

 

[by78]

One more.

 

[Blitzo]

Two more for the weekend.

This is a useful picture because we can see how the J-20S and two J-20A airframes in the picture have a darker two tone camouflage than the vanilla J-20 in the picture -- but they are ultimately still two tone.