Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
People hate J-31 because it looks Western?? Well, I've never heard of that one before... I rather like the concept of standing atop a giant's shoulders to be taller than him. From what I understand, people dislike Shenyang because they are kinda corrupt and under-handed. A scandal was revealed a few years back where Shenyang was caught awarding an inferior model radar for some Flanker variety (was it J-16?) due to some political favors or bribes or whatever. And prior to this, they had used under-handed tactics to gain political favor to be awarded the 4th gen light fighter project. The concept challenge against Chengdu was only done as a matter of formality since everyone knew of their cronyism but Song Wencong still decided to fight tooth and nail with his presentation and by some miracle, the corrupt dickheads who supposedly sold the project to Shenyang realized that J-10 was so much superior to Shenyang's proposal that they would be crippling their own national defense and the future of their children by awarding the contract to Shenyang as planned. This is why people hate Shenyang. Now I quite like the J-31 design since it looks like it draws from the lessons of both F-22 and F-35 but there's a reason that the air force and navy haven't openly committed to it. I don't know how well it performs and I trust their decision 100%.
As for people "hating" the J-20 for using a Russian engine, it's much more like "lamenting" rather than hating. There's a Chinese saying, "You hate the iron for not becoming steel." This is used to describe how people "hate" their kids for not being even better no matter how good they are although this type of "hate" clearly only arises from extreme love. This is how people "hate" the J-20.
From what we know, the Fc31 will be powered by ws 13E, right? What are the estimates of this engine and status of this project? I think It will appear faster than ws 15 ?
WS-13 is not projected to be any better than RD-33 variants. The project exists to have a Chinese alternative to the Klimov engine so that JF-17 does not have to rely on the favourable politics in order to access the only engine the JF-17 can use.
WS-13 however will be favoured over RD-xx if J-31 is ever to come into service anywhere in the world. WS-13 won't be significantly better or worse but it allows China to build as many J-31s as it wants and use its own engines. WS-13 on J-31 is to be celebrated. As far as we know, there are no official projects for next gen medium thrust engines for this class.
Yeah, i'm getting some 4,3 m long weapon bay (perceived length, just tad shorter than distance from sawtooth edges) and around 1 meter wide. that's basically almost as wide and 0,3 m shorter than j-20
depth of the bay, however, i don't believe it will match the j-20's. FC31 is quite slim as it is - and with this huge bay there's just not enough room for fuel. I'd wager the depth will be custom fit to house pl-15 and that's it, nothing wider than that. (that's not to say that a lot of air to ground muntions won't also fit within the pl-15's footprint. 0.35 meters is still quite a lot. Should be enough, for example, for 500 kg class bombs. or even some elongated, slim JSOW counterpart.
depth of the bay, however, i don't believe it will match the j-20's. FC31 is quite slim as it is - and with this huge bay there's just not enough room for fuel. I'd wager the depth will be custom fit to house pl-15 and that's it, nothing wider than that. (that's not to say that a lot of air to ground muntions won't also fit within the pl-15's footprint. 0.35 meters is still quite a lot. Should be enough, for example, for 500 kg class bombs. or even some elongated, slim JSOW counterpart.
Two more...
(1200 x 800)
(1049 x 700)
This is a very pretty, nicely balanced airframe, if we indeed look at the darker green as carbon fibre, the FC-31 will have one of the highest carbon fibre airframes in the world. It has nearly full span ailerons/flaps and a very nicely proportioned set of horizontal stabs, the verts are standing tall and proud as well...
The J-31 appearing at Zuhai wasn't quite as attractive or sweet as the F-31, but it flew very well indeed,, this is indeed as formative, and iconic an aircraft as the J-20,,,as I've said many times I'd be happy to play with the J-31, but the upgrade of this aircraft, just as the upgrade of the J-20 has produced a very fine aeroplane!
and yes, I still love primer-birds, love the up close details, love seeing those RD-93's tucked in there like they grew there... this is a much more refined aircraft than the Mig-29, not taking anything away from the ground breaking nature of the Mig-29 when it first appeared, but this is a ground breaking aircraft, and should be embraced by every Chinese aircraft enthusiast.
It just looks right! the old designer/pilot adage, was that "if it looks good, it'll fly good", something my ole Daddy used to say when we were "running Kodak's over that"!
i must admit i wasn't a big fan of the FC-31 when the first prototype came out but this second prototype is beautiful. it would be a pity if the Chinese military didn't induct this bird into service. even the ''rejected'' plane from China is better than those cancelled wannabee stealth planes from Japan, korea and Turkey!
vesicles
Colonel
I hate the first FC-31 because it looks clumsy and like a toy. Its black paint makes it look like a mess.
Honestly, you are giving me too much credit for being able to distinguishing “western” features vs “eastern” features on a plane. In fact, I don’t even know what defines “western” vs “eastern” features.
And about the engines. To this day, I still don’t know what engines the FC-31 uses. I know it’s not the AL31 series. Exactly what engines? No clue. The J-20 still uses AL31 engines, but I absolutely love the J-20. Why? It looks slick and cool. The F-22 is still my most favorite 5th gen stealth fighter because it looks the coolest. Childish. I know...
My opinion almost solely comes from my view of the esthetics of the plane. I hate it because it looks ugly. Simple as that. It is childish. I know that. I’m not proud of it, but can’t help it.
I know it’s naive and childish to judge a sophisticated machine by its look. But I don’t have the expertise to do it otherwise. I also know that I shouldn’t judge something when I don’t have the expertise to do so. But I am allowed to have my opinions on things. That’s why I always make sure to make it clear in my post that it’s my own opinion and that I don’t ever consider my opinion to be authoritative. Simply my opinion. However childish it may be.
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