J-35 carrier fighter (PLAN) thread
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
We did not.
Went off the rails can mean several different things.
if it went off the rails because issues with program management by Shenyang or deficiencies of the technical team, then it would seem the optimal solution is to bring in a better team, not restart almost from scratch.
if it went off the rail because basic unsuitability of the airframe, I will have to ask what makes it less suited than the J-20?
also, I find it difficult to believe that, when engine design is the one area where Chinese aviation industry is particukarly weak, the Chinese navy would voluntarily accept a long delay in its premier carrier aircraft if the end result is a single engine aircraft replacing twin engined aircraft for is main shipboard aviation role.
Quite understandable with the long history of rivalry between the two companies, and that procurement by competition does exist in the Chinese defense industry. Besides CAC vs. SAC, other examples are CSSC vs. CSIC, CASIC vs. CASC, CATIC vs. AVIC, electronics Institute 14 vs. Institute 23. Perhaps the competition and rivalry is intentional to create similar rivalries in the defense complexes around the world, such as Sukhoi vs. MiG, Lockheed Martin vs. Northrop Grumman and so on.
Come on ... to speculate why it went of is the completely wrong conclusion. We have several rumours, reports and even confirmation from AVIC/SAC, that all sums up to the single conclusion, that the FC-31 was chosen to develop the PLAN's next-generation carrier-borne fighter. IMO we can take this for granted!
And even if there have been reports during the last 6 years, that CAC proposed a J-20-based design or even a new single engined type, these came all to and end the more the SAC-related reports shifted from rumours, reports to finally confirmation.
As such - and I can only agree with @Bltizo - it makes no sense that there si now again an open competition, a fly-off between two different designs ... and in fact if true this would ruin all my believing in PLA-watching.
So in consequence and even don't know the source nor do I want to question @huitong's words, I would rate these latest rumours simply as unlikely rumours (at least as long as we don't know the source) and I'm still waiting for the public debut of the J-35 (?) as the PLAN's sole next-generation carrier-borne fighter.
Just my 2 Cents.
Just point out a potential blind spot. How late is the "latest rumor" mentioned by huitong? If such a competition is real it could've begun like a couple of years ago or even already provided a result. For all the possibility we could be hearing so much recently because they just finished the competition.
It could have begun long ago and in secret. Chinese companies have an ultra competitive environment, and it would be consistent to this theme of competition to have one company throw a rock along the path of another, especially for such a vital contract as this.
It would be logical to assume that as early as CAC heard about the ex-Varyag being turned into the Liaoning, that there is going to be a long term market for Chinese carrier aviation, you are going to start now, even as a private, secret project. That is to turn the J-20 into a potential carrier fighter or have a variant thereof. They might have already been working on this project secretly for years then suddenly presenting it to government officials, "hey look, we also got an alternative."
If SAC is allowed to have a foothold on the carrier aviation market, once the J-31 or whatever it will be called, proves itself, it becomes a legitimate contender even on land based plane contracts. That will threaten both the J-10 and J-20 future sales. So I don't believe CAC will sit back and take all the punches. They are going to try and give it a shot. But once whose plane is finally decided, it is decided period.
So you really expect an all-new J-20 variant out of the blue and contradicting strictly against what we've concluded after several years of back and forth and finally a settled agreement, that the next generation carrier-borne fighter will be a SAC type??
So if I should bet on if this is the biggest secret plot in Chinese aviation history or just a failed rumour my decision is quite clear.
I think some are too much over-enthusiastic in hoping that CAC has almighty aircraft design capabilities, resources and can keep any leek closed for years.
So you really expect an all-new J-20 variant out of the blue and contradicting strictly against what we've concluded after several years of back and forth and finally a settled agreement, that the next generation carrier-borne fighter will be a SAC type??
This rumor has been there for at least 2 yrs, it was from yankeesama originally , the reason you think it’s something ridiculous is that no one took his words seriously and J-35 thing was overhyped, SAC was never a low key manufacturer and would like to publish as much as allowed, CAC doesn’t do that and somehow everybody think the J-35 is a done deal. Just because we haven’t seen it or heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.