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Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
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siegecrossbow said:
I believe he is referring to this illustration.

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230641r38u3wf8n8pp3az0_zps0fx3yea8.jpg


Which appears to imply that WS-15 with thrust-vectoring nozzle has been tested on J-10B/C.
Click to expand...

is there any reason to believe that picture is showing WS-15 rather than WS-10X, like the same kind of engine that a J-20 recently flew with?

Or are we relying on interpretation of the artist's drawing ability to judge that the slight tilt of the nozzle is meant to represent TVC or something?


furthermore, if it is a WS-15, why would they test it aboard a J-10, rather than aboard the Il-76 test bed? Not to mention testing aboard aircraft would be a good few steps ahead of where we would've thought WS-15's development stage was at.
 
PiSigma

PiSigma

"the engineer"
Bltizo said:
is there any reason to believe that picture is showing WS-15 rather than WS-10X, like the same kind of engine that a J-20 recently flew with?

Or are we relying on interpretation of the artist's drawing ability to judge that the slight tilt of the nozzle is meant to represent TVC or something?


furthermore, if it is a WS-15, why would they test it aboard a J-10, rather than aboard the Il-76 test bed? Not to mention testing aboard aircraft would be a good few steps ahead of where we would've thought WS-15's development stage was at.
Click to expand...
Or it is just a cartoon so the artist can do whatever he/she feels like and take artistic license. Which means that it is nothing.
 
L

latenlazy

Brigadier
PiSigma said:
Or it is just a cartoon so the artist can do whatever he/she feels like and take artistic license. Which means that it is nothing.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but the exhaust in the picture is clearly pointing down.

I guess another possibility is that stealthy nozzles implies it may be the hypothetical J-10D everyone was talking about.
 
L

latenlazy

Brigadier
Bltizo said:
furthermore, if it is a WS-15, why would they test it aboard a J-10, rather than aboard the Il-76 test bed? Not to mention testing aboard aircraft would be a good few steps ahead of where we would've thought WS-15's development stage was at.
Click to expand...
Testing on a J-10 would be rather odd, but in terms of timing, I seem to recall the prototype started being built almost four years ago to today, with an even longer development time for the engine core. If the WS-15 isn’t about to be tested in flight right now then it shouldn’t be too far off (barring problems like the vibration issue one leaker mentioned).
 
D

davidwangqi

New Member
Registered Member
J10C is chained to the ground, which means the engine test before its maiden flight.

WS-15 might have been designed to integrated with TVC from the very beginning. While like X-31, they might believe the best testbed for a TVC engine is a mature and advanced single-engine fighter. And also, testing the final engine for J20 in Chengdu designed fighter makes more sense if than being put on J11 in Shenyang.

Bltizo said:
is there any reason to believe that picture is showing WS-15 rather than WS-10X, like the same kind of engine that a J-20 recently flew with?

Or are we relying on interpretation of the artist's drawing ability to judge that the slight tilt of the nozzle is meant to represent TVC or something?


furthermore, if it is a WS-15, why would they test it aboard a J-10, rather than aboard the Il-76 test bed? Not to mention testing aboard aircraft would be a good few steps ahead of where we would've thought WS-15's development stage was at.
Click to expand...
 
J

Julio Ramos

Junior Member
Registered Member
PiSigma said:
Or it is just a cartoon so the artist can do whatever he/she feels like and take artistic license. Which means that it is nothing.
Click to expand...

I really can´t believe some people are actually trying to extract serious data from a cartoon.
I work with cartoonist and they made that, cartoons.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
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davidwangqi said:
J10C is chained to the ground, which means the engine test before its maiden flight.

WS-15 might have been designed to integrated with TVC from the very beginning. While like X-31, they might believe the best testbed for a TVC engine is a mature and advanced single-engine fighter. And also, testing the final engine for J20 in Chengdu designed fighter makes more sense if than being put on J11 in Shenyang.
Click to expand...

Yes, but none of this changes the reasons to doubt why this is a WS-15 that I described.

Why install it on a J-10 for testing? (even if it is static test before flight testing) The Il-76 testbed is the main flight testing engine test bed anyhow, putting it on a single engine fighter for testing is rather strange
Why is it emerging so early? Flight testing was not expected to happen so quickly.


More fundamentally, is there any reason in the picture or in the original post to make us think it is WS-15 to begin with?
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

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Julio Ramos said:
I really can´t believe some people are actually trying to extract serious data from a cartoon.
I work with cartoonist and they made that, cartoons.
Click to expand...

Sometimes extracting serious information from cartoons is practical, but it depends on what kind of serious information, and what other information is provided along with the drawing.

It is very common for doodles of new developments to precede photo revelations of those new developments.
 
L

latenlazy

Brigadier
Julio Ramos said:
I really can´t believe some people are actually trying to extract serious data from a cartoon.
I work with cartoonist and they made that, cartoons.
Click to expand...
In most domains of life you'd be right, but there's been a history of cartoons, doodles, and other euphemistic clues preceding major developments in PLA watching. This is typical for news that is broken through informal channels. It's just the nature of the beast.
 
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