J-20... The New Generation Fighter III
- Thread starter siegecrossbow
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plawolf
Lieutenant General
If anyone has seen the wider shots of this scene, there are a lot of people gathered to the side all dressed the same. I don't know if they're pilots. They don't look like the the typical guys we've seen already. I think they're showing off the J-20.
Here it is.
My guess is that these guys were in the busses we saw in front of CAC a little while back. Hard to tell who they are, but the color of their jackets does seem to match PLAAF uniforms.
Moral boosting field trip for new pilots maybe?
Definitely from PLAAF. Could be anyone though, if I had to guess I'd say people (including pilots, maintenance personnel etc) from the first regiment PLAAF plans to field J-20 with.
Can't imagine new pilots being taken to CAC for a test flight just to boost morale.
Can't imagine new pilots being taken to CAC for a test flight just to boost morale.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Anybody notice all the buzz on the chinese sites about the J-20 engine? They seem to be mentioning some breakthrough over the WS-15. There was a Xinhua story even I think mentioning something like the next prototype will have new nozzles and a new radome because of some breakthrough on the AESA radar too for the J-20. The traffic on the subject seems to be unusually higher.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
That would suggest that the first regiment will be formed next year (
). I just don't believe that.Btw for photographs of many people on a wing check out the Fokker F-32 with many people standing on the box spar of the wooden wing.
That would suggest that the first regiment will be formed next year (
Btw for photographs of many people on a wing check out the Fokker F-32 with many people standing on the box spar of the wooden wing.
Umm no, it doesn't suggest anything about exactly when the first regiment could be formed. My suggestion was that the personell were having a look/ brief intro to the plane.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Far too early for that.
Even going by the best estimate of 2017-18 for the IOC of the first squadron (a whole regiment by then seems a little too optimistic in my view), that is still 5-6 years away. A lot of those people might have been transfered/promoted to different positions/units by then, and some might have left the PLAAF.
Also bare in mind that this is the first prototype. The pre-production and production models may have a lot of differences, especially if they use WS15s instead of whatever is powering the prototype. Thus starting training of pilots and ground crews now seem very pre-mature. These skills are highly specific and perishable.
Also, these guys are just there to watch, the test flights would be happening whether they are there or not, and bussing them over would not cost that much money or take that much effort to organize, so I don't really see why it would be such a big deal if they just brought a class of freshly qualified pilots from a training facility somewhere nearby to see the J20 take off and do a test flight before they are shipped off to their new regiments.
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