It doesn't seem likely that the wing folding actuators would have been designed with the so much surplus power that it can fold up the wings up against the weight of several thousand pounds of ordinance.
Agreed 100%.
In any case, you can't possibly attach the ordinance to the folding portion of the wings until the wings are level. The ordiance loading carts wouldn't be designed to turn the weapons 90 degrees and lift it up to the level of the folded wings. This means if you have big pylons on the folding portion of the wings, you won't attach anything to these pylons until the aircraft is up on deck and the wings have been extended.
Well, this goes back to the model shown earlier.
The aircraft in the model are clearly, IMHO, a representation of someone who wants to see fully laden J-15s (which IMHO are too heavily laden for Liaoning opertions in any case, folded wing or not) on the carrier.
I responded to a question that wondered if that was just out and out wrong and that no aircraft would be spotted on a carrier deck with ordinance on a folded wing. I indicated that usually, that is correct, but not always, and showed pictutes of US aircraft on deck with folded wings and ordinance on those wings. Buit, in the US pictures you will see Sidwinder missiles, or in the case of the Growler, a relatively light ECM pod on the wing tip station when folded, but no heavy weapons on the folded wings.
Why would you then want to fold the wings up again?
Well, that is so that when they are forming up an Alpha Strike group, or any larger group of aircraft readying for launch, they can spot the aircraft in numbers close to the cats and take up less deck space while doing so. Then, as they approach the cat for "their turn," they fold the wings down and off they go.
