J-20 5th Generation Fighter VII

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crash8pilot

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Akame said:
so what does that mean?
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It confirms that there are now four confirmed J-20 brigades - two brigades for testing+training (they were the first units to receive the J-20), one front line brigade in Eastern Theater Command which we've known about for a while now, and now this story confirms what that the PLA watching community has been speculating for a while now that another front line brigade in Northern Theater Command has received the J-20A.
 
Deino

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siegecrossbow

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Deino said:
That's exactly the image I know since early April.



And even more it is the first J-20A unit fielding the latest variant powered by indigenous WS-10C.
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Unfortunately that part is not readily apparent from the satellite photos. However I've seen other photos that indicate that this is the case.

During the PRC National Defense Ministry’s monthly press conference for January 2021, the ministry’s spokesman was asked whether the J-20 was being fielded on a large scale.3 The spokesman’s response emphasized the “objective laws” governing the research and development of an aircraft and the progressive testing that the J-20 has undergone. 4 In effect, he answered negatively, but having another aviation brigade transition to the J-20 would suggest that his answer was not alluding to problems with the J-20. On the contrary, it would suggest that the PLAAF is satisfied with, and confident in, the capabilities of the J-20, and that more combat units are likely to receive the J-20 in the future.
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I think that previously production of J-20 has been held up by reliance on Russian engines. Now that the hurdle has been removed we will see mass production of the WS-10 variant in the next 3-5 years. Personally I predict that Quzhou will be the next to receive them, since it is located in a strategically important location and the local maintenance crew have almost a year of experience supporting the J-20. They also traditionally operate the Su-30, which is what was operated at Wuhu before the switch.
 
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Z

zbb

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crash8pilot said:
It confirms that there are now four confirmed J-20 brigades - two brigades for testing+training (they were the first units to receive the J-20), one front line brigade in Eastern Theater Command which we've known about for a while now, and now this story confirms what that the PLA watching community has been speculating for a while now that another front line brigade in Northern Theater Command has received the J-20A.
Click to expand...
Do these brigades operate aircrafts other than the J-20? How many planes does a PLAAF fighter brigade have? 18 to 24?

Assuming the 4 brigades only operate J-20's and have 18 to 24 planes each, then there are 72 to 96 J-20's in PLAAF service now.
 
crash8pilot

crash8pilot

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zbb said:
Do these brigades operate aircrafts other than the J-20? How many planes does a PLAAF fighter brigade have? 18 to 24?

Assuming the 4 brigades only operate J-20's and have 18 to 24 planes each, then there are 72 to 96 J-20's in PLAAF service now.
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Each brigade has 3 flight groups (大队), each flight group has 2 flight squadrons (中队), and each fighter squadron operates 4 aircraft. Each flight squadron typically typically carries a spare airframe for backup, so doing the math a brigade should have 24-30 aircraft. In essence a brigade is similar in size to a USAF fighter squadron.

That said the two test and training brigades also operates/tests other airframes, so perhaps they only have a flight group or squadron worth of J-20. 1st Brigade in Northern Theater is the aforementioned front line unit that'll be transitioning it's J-11s for J-20s, so I imagine they'll probably be operating a mix of both until the transition is complete. The interesting thing is that 9th Brigade in Eastern Theater, which was the first front line unit to receive J-20s, also operates JL-10s (I'm guessing a flight groups worth of them). I have two hypothesis for this:
  • They're awaiting new airframes to be delivered from CAC, and the JL-10s helps keep the motor (stick and rudder) + decision making skills of the unit's pilots.
  • Given the rate of production of J-20s, there currently isn't enough airframe time to provide the training/currency to maintain crew readiness... it also helps that JL-10s are cheaper to operate than the J-20, and to a certain extent could also provide dissimilar air combat training for the J-20s (hard to keep visual tally of a small target during a dogfight). The USAF sorta does the same (1st Fighter Wing operates F-22s and T-38s), but whether 1st Brigade or any other brigade transitioning to the J-20 will keep the JL-10 + J-20 ... well I don't know. There is some merit I think in the JL-10 + J-20 brigade structure, because it'll allow for quicker fielding and allocation of J-20s to other brigades and theaters.
 
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siegecrossbow

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New images. Pilot is Chen Liu if I am not mistaken. Hard to tell with the shades on.

1Ujy8JO.jpg


8p1eLYx.jpg
 
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