PLA next/6th generation fighter thread

[lzqoct]

Some preliminary thoughts on this historic day:

1. We should call the Chengdu 6th gen the J-XXX in honor of its three engines.
2. J-XXX is comparable in length to the J-20 and significantly wider and thicker. This is consistent with rumors that it can have MTOW of >50 tons.
3. Three engines likely reflect a requirement to provide >40 tons of thrust with low-bypass turbofans. For the near future, the WS-15 will be China's premier engine. Thus, three engine is the only viable option.
4. The J-XXX has very prominent shiny apertures on both sides of the chin. This is likely a pair of metalic RAM-coated optical windows (which is why it is shiny) for IR sensors. The IR sensors occupy prime sensor real estate on the J-XXX which indicate the enormous emphasis on IR detection which will be highly useful against B-21, NGAD as well as current 5th gens.
5. There are side facing AESA on the chine. There appears to be two pairs of two RF apertures, one large and one small. These could two arrays of different radar bands or the smaller array may be a datalink. At present, it is unclear if the J-XXX has a radar in the traditional location. Side facing arrays would be very useful for SAR.
6. We need to popularize the term all-aspect/broad band (A2B2) stealth. All-aspect means stealth from the front, sides and back. Broad band means stealth from Ku band all the way down to VHF. A2B2 stealth will be the defining characteristic of 6th gens. J-XXX, B-2 and the B-21 are A2B2 stealth. 5th gen are relatively frontal-aspect/higher-frequency band stealth.
7. Surprisingly, ventral intakes of the J-XXX are caret intakes similar to the F-22. This likely reflects a very high supersonic speed requirement in excess of Mach 2, which is beyond the efficient speed range for DSI. Its wing sweep angle is around 50 degrees (larger=lower supersonic drag=higher speed design). For reference, the J-20 and F-22 are around 42-43 degrees and the SR-71 was around 60 degrees. The dorsal intake is likely a DSI and cleverly used the cockpit as the bump which also likely reduce RCS.
8. At present, there are no known Chinese drones with the same range and flight performance as the J-XXX. I am therefore very skeptical of claims that close-integration with drones will be a key component of 6th gen aircrafts. I envision the J-XXX to primarily coordinate with other J-XXXs far from the Chinese mainland.
9. My very rough measurement of the weapon bay suggests a wideth of ~4m and a length of ~7m. This is enough for the 5.76m PL-17 but not quite enough for back to back 2*4m PL-15.
10. It goes without saying that the strategic impact of the J-XXX will be immeasureable. It's essentially a death sentence for all existing American battle plans. CSIS needs to rewrite their garbage reports.

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it seems that you didn't take the angle of the plane which relatived to the shooter into account, your outcomes are definitely inaccurate

 

[sutton999]

Someone has seen Shenyang J-XD2 with its tail laid down. "sort of like x-02s"

 

[Nautilus]

Cooooopes aside. Tri-engine makes a lot of sense to me now, the 6 gen is not going to replace all tac-air for China as China still needs "smaller" more affordable fighter, it is much better to use common engine among the big boi and its smaller brothers.

Makes no sense to develop a whole new line of engine just to power a somewhat larger plane, when next gen engine come online 6 gen big boi and "smaller" J-20 can upgrade to new engine instead of going through another duplicate development

Not sure I understand this. China by all accounts is still playing catch-up when it comes to the bleeding edge of engine development. If they could develop a two-engine configuration that serves the same need as the tri-engine platform we've seen today, and do so in a reasonable timeframe, why wouldn't they?

 

[siegecrossbow]

Cooooopes aside. Tri-engine makes a lot of sense to me now, the 6 gen is not going to replace all tac-air for China as China still needs "smaller" more affordable fighter, it is much better to use common engine among the big boi and its smaller brothers.

Makes no sense to develop a whole new line of engine just to power a somewhat larger plane, when next gen engine come online 6 gen big boi and "smaller" J-20 can upgrade to new engine instead of going through another duplicate development

From what I’ve read it is more of a node in a family of a system, kind of like the fulcrum to China’s next gen air superiority. It will be alpha wolf to unmanned air assets.

 

[iewgnem]

Dude still thinking about PL-17 when China is already having PL-XX ULRAAM lmao

It's lack of object permanence, to most Americans the world is static until someone updates them, which is why they still think a bunch of equipment from the 80s and 90s are still the "most advanced" or that they can counter whatever China has with a 10-year program.

 

[banjex]

So what's the point of J-35 if they're gonna have a sixth gen "low" fighter?

 

[siegecrossbow]

So what's the point of J-35 if they're gonna have a sixth gen "low" fighter?

1) we don’t know if there is a sixth gen lo fighter.
2) we don’t know how soon sixth gen will be ready in numbers
3) we don’t know when genius decision makers in DC will set off the powder keg in Taiwan.

 

[enroger]

If I assume the shorter bays are PL-15 length, than the long middle bay is roughly 1.5 times the length of PL-15....

 

[CannedFish]

So what's the point of J-35 if they're gonna have a sixth gen "low" fighter?

Given past trends, it'll still be 7-8 year before the 6th gens go into production, not factoring in that AVIC isn't really playing catch up any more it might take longer, so the J-35 will still be needed.

 

[coolgod]

So what's the point of J-35 if they're gonna have a sixth gen "low" fighter?

Forcing Indians to buy Su-57. China is the every country's MIC best friend, this is why the west doesn't really want to destroy China. Arms race is good for humanity in terms of science and development.