Are we certain this is not a fake AI image? If real, perhaps it serves the dual function of boundary layer separation while also providing an internal stream of air for cooling of the electronics.
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J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
That's not a "diverter" or a separation in the DSI. It still is just a DSI bump, it's just an optical illusion because the whole entire DSI is not a singular colour now, and it's been changed to incorporate a sort of island so to speak.
See J-20A in primer:
I respectfully disagree. To me, the second and third images in @slithly's post definitely show some sort of structure whose edge runs along the contours of the DSI bump. (Whether those images have been PS'd/AI'd/otherwise manipulated is an entirely separate matter.)
That's called the intake, which is lined with RAM, which gives the colour discontinuity.
Obviously AI.
no its an illusion caused by the shadow of the intake lip falling on two differently toned panels. no shadow irl is perfectly dark so the ambient light is always going to allow some of the local tones to combine with the shadow. your brain generally does not expect cases of countershading (which is exactly why countershading works as a camouflage technique) so it creates a misread. The strip of darker tone where the shadow overlaps with the darker toned fuselage section forward of the intake liner is what you're misinterpreting as a splitter plate.
Looks to me like the DSI bump is unchanged, and certainly no diverter has been added on top. However the pattern of RAM materials on the surface of the DSI has changed throughout the versions.
It is just the combination of different colors and shadow of outer intake edge on the inner wall of intake.
A better image. The yellow primer would be replaced by dark gray of fuselage. 1 is the composite skin of the bump. It would be the light gray in final product. 2. would be the dark gray strip that you suspect as the diverter gap. 3. would be painted inside the intake. Part 3 can be light at the entrance when enlighted, but would be black when in the shadow of the inlet edge.
this one. The dark strip between the front part and back part of the bump looks more like just color difference instead of a gap.
