When should we expect that roughly. 2025 you think?
J-20 5th Generation Fighter VII
- Thread starter siegecrossbow
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yeah, one guy in the video just said "爬得好快哦“, "climbing so fast".
So is this basically the unofficial-official unveiling?
Unofficial in the sense that this is not something announced by the media, but pretty much official if you are going to print out a banner when you know people are creeping in the bushes...
Unofficial in the sense that this is not something announced by the media, but pretty much official if you are going to print out a banner when you know people are creeping in the bushes...
So the new nomenclature:
J-20 single seater with AL-31 or WS-10C — J-20
J-20 twin seater — J-20S
J-20 with rear cockpit bulge and WS-15 — J-20A
This does explain a recent comment in Yankee’s article in which one of his PLAAF’s contacts stated that even though their unit are not getting the latest and greatest J-20, they hope to be the first to achieve aerial combat kills in honor of their Korean War forefathers.
J-20 single seater with AL-31 or WS-10C — J-20
J-20 twin seater — J-20S
J-20 with rear cockpit bulge and WS-15 — J-20A
This does explain a recent comment in Yankee’s article in which one of his PLAAF’s contacts stated that even though their unit are not getting the latest and greatest J-20, they hope to be the first to achieve aerial combat kills in honor of their Korean War forefathers.
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I thought it was just revealed to be the J-20A?
Noted. Old habits die hard. I just edited the post.
I am not surprised though, afterall I have never seen any official designation of J-20A anywhere. From the practice of older aircraft (not sure of J-10), the very first operational variant does not have any letter (A) such as J-7, the next upgrade was J-7I or (歼七甲). By that practice the initial variant should be J-20 (AL-31 or WS-10), the next with WS-15 will be J-20A(歼二十甲). However if AL-31 and WS-10 equiped are counted as different variants, we should have J-20 (AL-31), J-20A(WS-10) and J-20B(WS-15). This is what is assumed so far.That in fact is a bit of a surprise!
But, the plan was that WS-10 is for initial small scale delivery for operation, that is J-20 without letter suffix. The insertion of AL-31 was not part of the plan, not used in big numbers anyway, so it does not deserve a separate designation. Therefor J-20's first upgrade version (A) is WS-15.
What surprises me is J-10. We have seen J-10B painted on the front landing gear door, so it is assumed that the early variant with intake ramp and splitter plate is J-10A and there is no J-10 without letter. That is a practice different from all others.
I've actually been wondering about this for a while.
3D TVC felt to me like the range of motion would impinge and come dangerously close to the additional aft fuselage structures, namely the twin tailbooms in particular. Not impossible, but it did strike me as a potential concern in terms of proximity.
However if they go for 2D TVC, that would actually make a lot more sense in terms of rear structures as vertical movements of the nozzle and thrust won't have anything to impinge on.
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