J-35A fighter (PLAAF) + FC-31 thread
- Thread starter ACuriousPLAFan
- Start date
The addition of the ladder is really useful.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Must have a reason for it I imagine; F-35's canopy free space at the rear is similar
Yes, of course there would be a reason for leaving that space empty, I’m just pointing out that since space is at a premium on combat aircraft, that reason must be very important to warrant the expenditure of that space, and figuring what that reason is could give additional insight into design decisions.
The most obvious reason why they would leave that space unfilled is to allow easy access to the space in the hump behind the cockpit. That would make extra sense for a 5th gen as you don’t want to have unnecessary additional access panels on the outside that then needs careful signature management treatment. You also don’t want maintenance personnel to be walking on the wings and spine of the aircraft to get to such panels and potentially damaging the stealth coating.
If the space behind the cockpit was used for additional fuel, there would be no need for regular access to require that design decision. As such, I think this points to the space behind the cockpit in the hump being used to house additional avionics and/or other key subsystems that require regular access to maintenance and servicing.
NTC already started mixing the birds. Is it Anshan? Guess it’s time to phase out the flankers.
Last edited:
Is this available in a larger format? As long as the serial number on that J-20 isn't readable it could also be they J-20 from the 1st AB were transferred to the 2nd AB and the 1st got J-35A.
@by78
As I expected ... As long as we don't see a J-20 still with 61x2x serial number or at Anshan via satellite besides J-35A I would keep it as a likely option, that indeed the 1st AB got J-35A that replaced J-20 which in return went to the 2nd AB.
