AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I have no idea if this is credible but China Aviation News reported that on April 29 at Yanliang an aircraft that travelled at Mach 5 was tested possibly with a scramjet engine.
PLA Air Force news, pics and videos
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Sounds like B.S. to me. Source?
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I got this stuff from the Chinese boards. I have no idea of the credibility of China Aviation News. I thought it was interesting because before I had seen some consistent threads on the Chinese boards talking about such a development was going to take place.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
To be fair, a Chinese scramjet has been tested. This could also be a re-hash of the supersonic drone test.
Chengdu is gonna bring out a single engine 5th gen fighter. The engine is W15. The plane has a delta wing. Weight is below 10 tons. Internal weapons bay can hold 2 medium range missiles
Thanks ... As such it would be some sort of J-10-successor !
But how reliable could such a report be ?
Deino
Skywatcher
Captain
That doesn't sound very useful, to be honest, if it's weapons bay is just two PL-12s.
As for the scramjet test, it could just be another X-51 equivalent being launched (unless that combined cycle engine drone can reach Mach 5).
It's described as a "stealth J-7" so I suppose it could be somewhat useful as a stealthy, medium range, light to medium weight interceptor produced in small numbers, if it had relatively affordable materials and stealth with good shaping...
That said, if it's meant to be powered by a WS-15, an internal weapons load of only two MRAAMs seems a little bit low.
Skywatcher
Captain
Could be an export bestseller (for a ten ton weight, is that the empty airframe)?
Sort of like a 5th generation Saab Gripen if true.
Sort of like a 5th generation Saab Gripen if true.