J-35A fighter (PLAAF) + FC-31 thread
- Thread starter ACuriousPLAFan
- Start date
Luneburg lens
Those are some pretty damn clean lines... Sucks that the serially produced-airforce variant (apparently) won't have EODAS (including IRST) for slashing costs though. Especially as it plays an important role for counter-enemy stealth at the dawn of 5th generation air warfare.
I know that China actually leaves everyone behind with it's GaN tech and application to basically everything it can find but I also hope that this jet's radar is as capable as the AN/APG-85 from the start. It'd also suck if it still has 4 PL-15 capacity even with the new bays since the F-35 can carry 6 AMRAAM Ds (in real world 4 BVR + 2 WVR) due to unchanged missile dimensions..
Overall, acc. to my mk.0 eyeball analysis, this jet's a pretty though competitor to the F-35 and I expect it to perform even better than F-35 in some mission critical specs due to not having to meet the requirements of 3 different services with conflicting needs.
This particular airframe must be one of the many prototypes? I saw some Bilibili video from "Expert" sources saying there should be a cannon on the port side of airframe, which from this angle is non-visible, maybe still under development?
J20 used to go to airshows/photoshoots with EOTS/IRTS covered the same way in its early days:
I don't think it's a mock up here
As for EODAS, I'm not so sure. Could simply be covered as well?
It definitely has EOTS/IRST. I would be surprised if it doesn't have EODAS, but I guess we'll have to wait more to see this one for sure.
I think the following countries may want to buy the J-35. Key word being "may".
1. Egypt. There are talks about buying J-10CE already. A new 5th gen plane will certainly spark some interests.
2. Morocco. Their F-5s and Mirage F-1s will have to be replaced at some point. And China had sold them things like HQ-9s before.
3. Armenia. If Azerbaijan buys the TFX, Armenia may want to counter that. Though I doubt if they have the money to afford too many airframes.
4. Serbia. Given the recent SAM and drone sales, China may be able to sell them some new fighters as well. The main issue is again, money.
5. Thailand. The key issue this time is political will. That again, China is a major supplier for the Royal Thai Navy so I think it is possible for Thailand to show some interest here.
6. Angola. The issue is mainly money, though China can certainly accept payments in oil instead of cash. Another problem is that Angola may not need such a jet yet.
