plawolf
Lieutenant General
They are certainly designing this thing to be able to mix it with in a dogfight.
J-20... The New Generation Fighter III
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They are certainly designing this thing to be able to mix it with in a dogfight.
Quick question: does the location/size of the air brake indicate the role of the fighter? I saw someone discussing this on another forum.
Would that kind of airbrake be useful in a dogfight?
I imagine the Flanker family would use theirs in such a manner but I've not heard of such a mode of operation.
I don't think the airbrakes themselves are gonna do any good. If I guessed correctly it is the location/size of the brakes that indicate the plane's role.
One thing we have to consider is that the hydraulics will add extra weight to the plane. This is not a good thing. Wonder what makes it worthwhile.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Actually, come to think of it, a big air break is probably also useful for high flying aircraft because of the thinner air, but even up there its probably not a great idea to be fully deploying such a massive air break. You are much better off zig zagging to bleed speed off quickly.
But if you are not flying super high, and you deploy something that big fully during high supersonic flight, you are likely to sheer the air break clean off provided you don't flip into an uncontrollable stall first.
Such massive air breaks can only be fully deployed when flying at subsonic speeds, and they will slow a plane down pretty quickly, and that is most useful in a dogfight.
But if you are not flying super high, and you deploy something that big fully during high supersonic flight, you are likely to sheer the air break clean off provided you don't flip into an uncontrollable stall first.
Such massive air breaks can only be fully deployed when flying at subsonic speeds, and they will slow a plane down pretty quickly, and that is most useful in a dogfight.
I don't think losing speed too fast is a good idea. Using air brakes to get your enemy to overshoot you probably will cause your plane to lose too much energy.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
That depends on how big your engine is.
Big beefy fighters that rely largely on power (eg F15, Su27) usually have massive air breaks compared to fighters with less power and which rely on nose pointing ability (F16, F18, Mig29, J10(?)).
Loosing speed/energy fast is less of a problem if you can regain it quickly. The size of that air break would suggest to me that the J20 is firmly in the 'power' side of the fence. So CAC is expecting some powerful engines for their baby.
I don't think so. I believe this is the first time we've actually had physical (or electronic, I s'pose) evidence that it does and can operate its airbrake. But people camping at CAC have said they've seen the airbrake before I believe.
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