If J-20B is to have WS-15 engines, that should be enough power for mounting a short ranged DEW that can burn though incoming missiles or a UAV?
J-20 5th Generation Fighter VII
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
I'm surprised if the J-20A was designed without a gun. 5th gen stealth fighters make detection at distance difficult; it makes it hard to engage them with long-range missiles in BVR. So it makes sense to me that with missiles failing, 2 dueling stealth fighters would rely on other system cues to find the general vacinity of each other and end up in a gun fight. A stealth fighter without a gun specializes at sniping out 4th gens from afar but would be significantly disadvantaged engaging another stealth fighter from what I can reason.
I find this view baffling. Even if it's a mistake to get into a dogfight, a J-20 might find itself in one anyway. What's the pilot supposed to do then, pull the ejection handle?
Not mounting a gun in the J-20 (if that's even the case) always seemed to me to just be coping with the poor engine power. That's no longer a consideration.
I think everyone's discussion about the gun is coming from the wrong perspective, asking about what can it do, or "does that mean they think dogfights are likely".
A gun in a modern fighter aircraft is like a CIWS on a modern large surface combatant.
It's useful for last ditch self defense and a few niche tasks, but you should never be relying on it for your primary mission or the way in which your platform conducts its primary missions.
And similar to a CIWS, if your fighter happens to not have a gun it also is not a huge deal because you have a large variety of other capabilities to defend yourself leading up to and including that point -- but if you have the ability to include it, then it will let your platform be more flexible to deal with a slightly wider array of contingencies if they emerge, even if they are far from how your platform would primarily be used.
A gun in a modern fighter aircraft is like a CIWS on a modern large surface combatant.
It's useful for last ditch self defense and a few niche tasks, but you should never be relying on it for your primary mission or the way in which your platform conducts its primary missions.
And similar to a CIWS, if your fighter happens to not have a gun it also is not a huge deal because you have a large variety of other capabilities to defend yourself leading up to and including that point -- but if you have the ability to include it, then it will let your platform be more flexible to deal with a slightly wider array of contingencies if they emerge, even if they are far from how your platform would primarily be used.
Up close you would fire the PL10 missiles which would lock on even to the stealthiest platforms due to infrared guidence. It is way faster and more lethal than trying to use a gun, as the J-20 just needs to briefly look at the enemy fighter to achieve a lock on.
They're specialized for that purpose even more so than for shooting at long range, the airframe design favors rapid turns which is barely useful in BVR but fulfils their intended role of being anti stealth fighter.
I wasn’t thinking of low cost battlefield drones. For example the Turkish drones being developed now should proliferate.
Drones that are likely to accompany fighters, bombers and other large aircraft, or HALE drones could be good gun targets. Even cruise missiles.
The J20B is probably going to be faster and more maneuverable than almost all aircraft and drones today or tomorrow, and it can only carry so many missiles internally.
Under that situation you could imagine a J-20 sneaking up on something and blasting it with the gun as a viable tactic.
As I like to speculate, I hope the future gun and ammo is very advanced, even maneuverable, making every round count.
WS-10 is enough to generate enough power for laser, problem is no one has laser with enough power to make a difference. Need to wait for next gen laser to become feasible. Ship-borne 300kW laser is feasible as CIWS, however, a jet plane is operating in much critical conditions. IMHO we need to wait a decade or two for laser to become feasible as a defensive weapon on fighter jets
The three of them did say towards the end of their podcast that indeed this is an advantage. China is working on 6th gen tech spread across 3 projects: this new and improved J-20, PLAAF's version of J-35 and the actual 6th gen. The three projects have synergy and benefit off each other and spread risk around. Where as the US is stacking all their 6th gen development into just NGAD which from project management pespective is riskier.
NGAD may end up being more than one design.
If we take future development and advancements in gun technology in mind then J20 having one may make a lot of sense, but as it stands right now I think making J20 “sneak” close enough to get guns on the enemy (be it drone or manned) is unwise. Stealth isn’t invisible, getting that close it makes no difference if your platform is LO or not, and would be very much a risk.
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