Hint by official Weibo account of CCTV7.
PLA next/6th generation fighter thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
3 months? J-20 s/n 2001 first flew in January 11, 2011, and we first had images of it taxiing in mid December 2010.
Unless you mean 3 weeks.
In any case I don't think we particularly need to look at the J-20's specific timeline too closely for J-XD.
We're at a stage now where imo quibbling over the exact week or day it emerges is unimportant, and it's time to just lock in and await what comes out.
Trying to make a taxi, let alone a flight in a big city doesnt make sense to me.
If someone wanted to really keep a plane secret, they would have shipped the plane in parts to a remote airbase, assembled the wings and parts there and then fly it there, supported by a team of engineers and a single airframe maintenance facility. And it would taxi and fly exclusively at night.
Even if it taxis in Chengdu, we will know if its a political message or a semi-real attempt at keeping its shape a secret by the decision to do it or not do it during night time.
If someone wanted to really keep a plane secret, they would have shipped the plane in parts to a remote airbase, assembled the wings and parts there and then fly it there, supported by a team of engineers and a single airframe maintenance facility. And it would taxi and fly exclusively at night.
Even if it taxis in Chengdu, we will know if its a political message or a semi-real attempt at keeping its shape a secret by the decision to do it or not do it during night time.
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It makes a lot of sense to me tbh -- after all, we already have very limited footage and pictures of CAC as it currently is.
Clearly people are either deterred already from either taking pictures or posting pictures with existing measures.
The way I see it, all the new measures do is just adds another layer to it, by making it even more impractical to take pictures.
Don't think about it as if it's a way to try to literally hide this aircraft or to keep it secret, but rather as another layer added to inconvenience people who are interested in good quality images of the aircraft being taken +/- released.
Why would there be such a gap between the taxi test and the flight test? The rumor seems to be implying that a prototype of the CNGAD has existed since last year, which is quite at odds with the rumors we've been hearing and the usual developmental timeline of fighter aircraft in general.
This makes sense and would closely mirror the selection process for the PLAAF 5th gen project. The only difference is that the bidding stage would involve physical prototypes, akin to US programs.
In due time there may very well be a "J-XH" competition for a naval 6th gen platform.
Giving major "此地无银三百两" vibes