J-35 carrier fighter (PLAN) thread

[Blitzo]

Am basing it on the arrow markings. Apologies that the photos are not of enough resolution for us to decipher what's being written. I assume the words meant ladder inside or something. The second photo shows the same markings on a naval J35.

I honestly would be surprised if the naval version omitted the ladder; cos they are the ones who would need it most, over the air force who has the entire base to store spareloads of ladder.

I expect the ladder to also be present on the naval J-35. I never suggested the naval J-35 would lack the ladder.

However the picture posted above should be of a PLAAF J-35A rather than PLANAF J-35, because it lacks the big two digit unit number on the side of the nose which is a feature of PLANAF fighter jets including J-35.

(Left pic is air force J-35A, right pic is naval J-35, note how the J-35A lacks the two digit unit number, which should be partially visible if it were a naval J-35 in the boxed section)

 

[laurenjia]

I expect the ladder to also be present on the naval J-35. I never suggested the naval J-35 would lack the ladder.

However the picture posted above should be of a PLAAF J-35A rather than PLANAF J-35, because it lacks the big two digit unit number on the side of the nose which is a feature of PLANAF fighter jets including J-35.

(Left pic is air force J-35A, right pic is naval J-35, note how the J-35A lacks the two digit unit number, which should be partially visible if it were a naval J-35 in the boxed section)

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Oh no worries sir. I wasn't trying to suggest anyone said anything. All I wanted to do was to share what I noticed about the various markings and try and make an educated guess about ladders on naval J35 to contribute to the body of knowledge here.....

Agree that the pic above was an air force J35. That's why I had to scour through all the naval J35 pictures to see any hint of presence of a ladder and report back.

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

I have to question the wisdom of this setup; internal space in any fighter is at a high premium. I understand the J-35/A was designed from the beginning FC-31 days to be a "guerilla" 5th gen fighter for cash-strapped air forces without a lot of supporting infrastructure, but you're in really rough shape if you don't even have a ladder.

 

[Blitzo]

I have to question the wisdom of this setup; internal space in any fighter is at a high premium. I understand the J-35/A was designed from the beginning FC-31 days to be a "guerilla" 5th gen fighter for cash-strapped air forces without a lot of supporting infrastructure, but you're in really rough shape if you don't even have a ladder.

It's a tossup of the cost in terms of the amount of space that a retractable ladder needs, versus the benefits of not needing flight crew (whether it's at an air base on land, or aboard a carrier) to bring over a ladder every time the pilot embarks or disembarks.

The presence of a retractable ladder wouldn't be so much a benefit for a "cash strapped" air force (after all a ladder costs next to nothing from a monetary perspective), but rather the ability to not need to carry one piece of somewhat bulky item as part of one deploying your J-35/A to a different location whether it's a different air base that normally doesn't receive those aircraft, or a more austere air base where maximizing the amount of useful stuff you can carry with you (such as in associated supporting transport aircraft) is desirable.


Personally I think either option (retractable integral ladder or external removable ladder) is defensible and fine.

 

[laurenjia]

I have to question the wisdom of this setup; internal space in any fighter is at a high premium. I understand the J-35/A was designed from the beginning FC-31 days to be a "guerilla" 5th gen fighter for cash-strapped air forces without a lot of supporting infrastructure, but you're in really rough shape if you don't even have a ladder.

Apologies this is in Mandarin. I try and summarise the clip.
- Notice the ladder for J-15. This can be a weakness and affect operations of plane
- Large planes no issues, typically carry own ladder due to size
- Russian type planes typically don't carry own ladder (or means of getting in and out of plane); US type often does
- Those that do not carry their own ladders have to rely entirely on ground technicians
- Need to deploy on remote / less ideal locations necessitate planes to carry own ladder
- Different height of planes require different / specialised ladders for each type of aircraft
- Naval vessels have v little space and operating in an intense environment, so best solution to have plane carry own ladder
- J15's birth was "forced" due to urgency of need and designers didn't spend time to design ladder into the [Russian-based] plane
- Expect J35 to solve this and have its own ladder

Am just sharing my rough translation of the video and not saying what's right wrong or agreeing / disagreeing to any of the views and comments by the video's author.