Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
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AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I have no idea. I'm reading some are saying the street view is Shenyang. People are saying the lanes are 3.5m wide so the estimate is 16m length.
Interesting how many people know to take pictures and what they're taking pics of to let everyone know.
Interesting how many people know to take pictures and what they're taking pics of to let everyone know.
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all this flaunting in public leads me to believe this is indeed primarely aimed at export. of course possible sales wont start for another 6-7 years, since the thing hasnt even flown yet, but it is a way of creating a buzz. i dont know of a single example of a fighter plane made with one piece wing/fuselage. The wings were left on the plane on purpose, so everyone would know what was underneath - a new plane. It would be much simpler to take wings off and load the whole thing into a box, cargo plane, etc.
Secondly, i dont think any air force nowadays has room for a hi-med-lo mix. indians are doing it for now, but theyve got a bunch of older planes to take care of first before creating a proper hi-lo-mix.
Thirdly, hi-lo mix made out of just j20 and this mystery plane, lets call it j21, again doesnt make much sense as the low bit is still too expensive. SSSR tried it in 80s with su27 and mig29 and, frankly, that wasnt such a good idea. Both the ruaf and mig bureau would have had it much better if mig29 was a slightly smaller, single engined plane.
Only good spot for this new plane would be on the carriers. And for that it just doesnt make too much sense to invest in j15 only to have it superseded by j21 not even 10 years later. I dont think china will be so much wasteful (it wasnt before) to construct a new plane, produce 50 airframes, train the ground crews and pilots and make infrastructure for it, and then double all that effort with another brand new type of plane within a decade.
btw, that top down pic show how large wings are. my rough measurements say around 10.5 meter wingspan, but maybe someone can try to do a more precise assesment.
Secondly, i dont think any air force nowadays has room for a hi-med-lo mix. indians are doing it for now, but theyve got a bunch of older planes to take care of first before creating a proper hi-lo-mix.
Thirdly, hi-lo mix made out of just j20 and this mystery plane, lets call it j21, again doesnt make much sense as the low bit is still too expensive. SSSR tried it in 80s with su27 and mig29 and, frankly, that wasnt such a good idea. Both the ruaf and mig bureau would have had it much better if mig29 was a slightly smaller, single engined plane.
Only good spot for this new plane would be on the carriers. And for that it just doesnt make too much sense to invest in j15 only to have it superseded by j21 not even 10 years later. I dont think china will be so much wasteful (it wasnt before) to construct a new plane, produce 50 airframes, train the ground crews and pilots and make infrastructure for it, and then double all that effort with another brand new type of plane within a decade.
btw, that top down pic show how large wings are. my rough measurements say around 10.5 meter wingspan, but maybe someone can try to do a more precise assesment.
broadsword
Brigadier
They ain't going anywhere with this way of flaunt.
Mig-29 is a rather large plane, which didnt get good upgrades and had poor capabilities after the USSR broke up. F-18, Rafale, and Eurofighter are all closer to the size of this aircraft, and they have been successful enought. There is really nothing wrong with a smaller twin engine fighter. With modern manufacting cost how much will stealth really add to the cost? I bet it will increase cost less then 30%. I think that china wants to have a first rate military and if that mean relegating the J-10 and J-11 to the bomb truck role then that is what they will do as soon as the can afford to. Both aircraft were not exactly cutting edge when the first flew anyways, and were not produced in huge numbers. Both type cant really fight in the type of environment which is going to exist in 10 - 20 years or does even today to some extent.
On the move.
my my... perfect shot/angle for a sci-fi movie flick or commercial ad, they even put up some lighting!
did they ask someone from ad agency to take that pic?
with this top view, it's becoming more and more like F-60
Quickie
Colonel
J-15 is the near term solution which explains why they did not bother with designing a third/fourth gen carrier fighter but rather speed up the development process by basing it on the Su-33 design.
Equation
Lieutenant General
First of all welcome to the SDF. Secondly, Uh-oh, don't let one of our members "Mig-29" here you say that...lol, no worries, him and "Engineer" are both expertise on aerodynamics and stuff. They both can answer any question you like regarding the physics of aerodynamics and planes.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Well, they did boost it half a generation by installing a new suite of electronics, engines, and the rest of the gadgets. With AESA, RAM, composites, other 5th gen features, etc, the price is going way up, but it is still much cheaper than designing their own airframe.
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On the move.
I doubt this is the flying prototype because all this transportation is going to wreck its radar absorbent material.
---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 PM ----------
Which is why they built upgrades to the MiG-29, J-11, and J-10 to fit future needs.
What radar absorbent material? Not even the two J20 prototypes have RAM applied since technicians walk on the airframe without shoe covers. RAM will be applied to the prototypes at a much later stage of development.
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