Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
- Thread starter RedSky
- Start date
- Status
drunkmunky
Junior Member
Chengdu has the J-20. Xian is apparently working on Drones
FarkTypeSoldier
Junior Member
Xian has experiments in building / developing bombers... So the drones are most likely attack UAVs (I hope so)
The main difference was cultural differences. Plus the Chinese only like to show off their products when they are sure the products could work and work well.
Plus for J-20 case, the Chinese are not exporting them, so the secrecy till the time it was about to fly. And even then, I believe it was more political then anything else. As for the J-31 or F-60 or whatever, the main thing was that the purpose of the aircraft was still unclear (to us) and so it would not do good to show the public just yet.
It had absolutely no connection with Russia and US being the biggest arm exporter or whatever, because China's arms export is no slouch either.
I agree that a VSTOL aircraft is useful in many instances such as needing a very small airstrip. What I mean is... you cannot launch or land a VSTOL aircraft from any ships unless that ship is specially designed to launch and land the aircraft, or it will surely be capsized or having damages to the ship.
VSTOL is not a fairytale that allow you to jump from anywhere on earth. You still need a flat land big enough for the aircraft to land, and I can tell you that land is still pretty big. Have you try to land a helicopter on a very small flat surface that are basically a bit bigger than the size of the helicopter itself? This can translate to a fighter aircraft too.
True, I do agree that a fighter with VTOL or STOL is very useful when your airstrips are bombed and your aircraft might still take off to engage the enemy, but that is not the bible in designing of an aircraft.
What you say is very true, no matter how good an aircraft is, it is useless if your aircraft cannot take off. However, I would not agree in your example on VSTOL aircraft beating conventional aircraft. That is not because the aircraft was VSTOL or conventional... the main idea is when both aircrafts are already in the air, it boils down to
1) Radar
2) pilot skills
3) General aircraft capability
4) missiles
and not because it can VTOL or needed an air strip.
Another thing that I don't agree on for single and double engines differences, it is a fairytale that two engines aircraft can still fly if 1 engine fail. I mean, if you are the pilot and 1 of your engines failed, do you
1) Continue to patrol or fight
2) fly back to base or eject?
I think most pilots would fly back to base, wouldn't that cut down patrol time.
few years ago, Chinese website reported that PLAN approached Yakolev possible of reviving Yak-141 Vtol aircraft. ;ater japanese newspaper reported China is testing VTOL in inner mongolia.some expert doubt it,since the blogger may have confused STOl with VTOL.
but there is 50/50 China may have VTOL aircraft project,even though Yakolev told kanwa,that they do not assist nor provide the technology.
but there is 50/50 China may have VTOL aircraft project,even though Yakolev told kanwa,that they do not assist nor provide the technology.
Engineer
Major
Just like variable swept wings and TVC, VTOL capability sounds good on paper but is impractical in real life. The subsystems required for VTOL are nothing more than deadweight when VTOL is not exercised, such as when the aircraft is in a dogfight. The F-35 being over weight, over time and over budget owes much to accommodating VTOL capability.
From quite a number of sources, there are indication that China do have a VTOL program known as the J-18. Not sure how accurate those sources are though. If that is true, then I believe the J-18 are for the carriers.
- Status