Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
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My friend at Boeing explains the protective paint: yellow means it is covering aluminum. green means it is covering carbon fiber surfaces. Which means SAC is experimenting with composite materials with this project. I don't remember J-20 is this aggressive at all.
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Skywatcher
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That could explain some of the projected/stated takeoff weights we've seen at international arms shows.
CAC is probably more conservative with regards to material/manufacturing techniques since the Air Force will depend on the J-20 for the next 15-30 years.
The original tender for the J-20 required 25% composite construction. Either CAC managed to hit their target weight and load capacity without surface composites, or the J-20 does in fact actually use surface composites but the primer we see can be applied to both types of materials, or is an extra top coat for RAM.
That seem pretty counter intuitive. Choice of material should be a design time decision. Why would the Air Force care as long as the performance is good?
I don't think these requirements were necessarily strict. It was just in the tender. It's entirely possible the J-20 has higher aluminum content on its surface or it saves weight by other means such as those 3D printed titanium bulkheads we've heard about. That said, keep in mind the J-20 also has signals management requirements that probably helped dictate those composite figures. I'd be surprised if the skin didn't have a good share of composites.
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Just read that reportedly FC-31V2 #02 is out !
This means Saudi is on board?
The guy said he was driving to work, passed by SAC, and saw 2 pairs of V-tails. He thinks he saw both in yellow primer but it was a very brief glance. There is the possibility that he saw wrong or the other pair of Vs belong to FC-31 v1.0.Just read that reportedly FC-31V2 #02 is out !
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