J-20... The New Generation Fighter II

Bltizo said:

CAC were going to make the first flight of the J-20 a bit of a ceremony anyway, just like they did the J-10 (keep in mind they probably already flew the J-20 before this "first flight" in front of VIPs, just to make sure everything worked). Gates was due in China around that time, so someone must've had the bright idea to time it perfectly for some political funsies.

We're not seeing any pictures now because the show's over and they don't need to show it off anymore because it's undergoing proper tests in a remote airbase probably somewhere in western china.

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Does anyone know if China has an equivalent of a NAWS China Lake, Groom Lake/ Area 51 or a White Sands type missile range? if so where is it and what are the names of the bases?

I was originally skeptical of the proposition that the first flight wasn't really the first flight. But the fact that it has been a few months and we have heard, frankly...NOTHING, means that either there is something terribly wrong with the machine, or they have somehow managed to sneak the plane into China's west for further testing. If they can do it now, they surely could have flown it a long time before anyone saw it.

Centrist said:

I was originally skeptical of the proposition that the first flight wasn't really the first flight. But the fact that it has been a few months and we have heard, frankly...NOTHING, means that either there is something terribly wrong with the machine, or they have somehow managed to sneak the plane into China's west for further testing. If they can do it now, they surely could have flown it a long time before anyone saw it.

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It'd be risky to fly a radar-less prototype at night, but it ain't impossible to have it disassemble into blocks and ship out in container trucks or flew it out on an Il-76, all done during night time, no?

Also even if the prototype is not moved out of CAC does not mean they don't have another one testing elsewhere.

no_name said:

Also even if the prototype is not moved out of CAC does not mean they don't have another one testing elsewhere.

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If they do indeed built 2 prototypes, that's because they want to accelerate the testing phase, plus as a safety measure should there be on prototype incapacitated - or worse, crashed - minimize the delay that the project have to suffer.

Two is what we see, but could be more.
Although it is entirely possible that they disassembled the plane and fly it out. But CAC by now should be amongst the hottest surveyed site in the world.

no_name said:

Two is what we see, but could be more.
Although it is entirely possible that they disassembled the plane and fly it out. But CAC by now should be amongst the hottest surveyed site in the world.

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If the plane was tested a few times out west, they would be confident enough to fly it at night at this point. It might have been flown in to Chengdu for Gate's visit, put on show, then flown back out in the cover of night to resume testing.

MwRYum said:

It'd be risky to fly a radar-less prototype at night, but it ain't impossible to have it disassemble into blocks and ship out in container trucks or flew it out on an Il-76, all done during night time, no?

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Why would it be more risky to fly a stealth jet at night compared to day time?

Night testing of a stealth fighter is hardly unprecedented, just look at the F117.

If stealth was an issue, radar reflectors could be added with almost no effort.

plawolf said:

Why would it be more risky to fly a stealth jet at night compared to day time?

Night testing of a stealth fighter is hardly unprecedented, just look at the F117.

If stealth was an issue, radar reflectors could be added with almost no effort.

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Why would it NOT more risky to fly at night? Even for a tested airplane, flying at night is more risky due to limited visibility and need to rely on instrumentation. In a unexpected situation such as a sudden burst of wind, that will be critical.

Testing aircraft is even worse, because if everything is expected, then you won't need testing. Take off and landing due to unexpected events or damage will be much harder due to limited visibility. In air, it will be much harder for the chase aircraft to inspect damage, unexpected vibration/flutter due to limited visibility.

In another word, don't try it unless you have a even more compelling reason to do so.

I'm still wondering if J-20 is still in the Chengdu facility where it took its flight. I think it's probably there, but no new photos emerge becuase the fans are simply no longer as interested. The heat kind of cooled down.