Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

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latenlazy

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Bltizo said:
Depending on what stage of completion the various parts of the airframe were built to prior to transport, it may well be possible they've chosen to transport these major subcomponents at earlier stages than they did for the initial FC-31 V1 airframe.

A few other observations;
- is the airframe being transported in the rear a second duplicate of the same aft section that we are seeing closer to the camera? I.e.: are they transporting two aft sections of the same kind of aircraft?
- is it just me, or does the "front" of the aft section (both closer to the camera and further from the camera) seem to have some "jagged" parts protruding despite the not-quite-airtight tarp covering them? I.e.: do they look like serrations to anyone else?


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edit:
If these aft sections are indeed related to FC-31/J-XY in any way, I note that there doesn't seem to be a central tailsting/boom like on the FC-31 V1 and V2.
Of course, on FC-31 V1/V2 that central tailsting/boom was quite small to begin with....

OTOH, I also note that the JL-10 doesn't have a central tailsting/boom.

So who knows what this thing is. There are good arguments that it may be a FC-31 derived aircraft like J-XY, or it might only be JL-10.
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Serrations were the first thing I thought of too.
 
Schwerter_

Schwerter_

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Deino said:
Esp. since that attachments for the tails are missing





Do we know, WHERE these parts have been spotted?
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剑门关服务区 or Jianmen Pass highway service area (from the very back of the second pic we can see the writing "门关服务区" on a yellow board

p.s. this service station is located between Chengdu and Xi'an, so most likely J-20 related
 
Deino

Deino

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siegecrossbow said:
I didn't see this at Weibo and I won't say where I found it.
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Based on the latest discussions at Twitter, this is: "剑门关服务区（Jian Menguan Service Stop). It is a major service stop on G5 National Highway and about 250km away from Chengdu."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380908711401517064

So the question now is: Why then a transport of parts / modules from Chengdu/CAC to Xi'an? Could it be for static testing of another variant? Maybe the twin-seater or WS-15 integration? Or are such transports quite common but only not documented?
 
O

ougoah

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Deino said:
Based on the latest discussions at Twitter, this is: "剑门关服务区（Jian Menguan Service Stop). It is a major service stop on G5 National Highway and about 250km away from Chengdu."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1380908711401517064

So the question now is: Why then a transport of parts / modules from Chengdu/CAC to Xi'an? Could it be for static testing of another variant? Maybe the twin-seater or WS-15 integration? Or are such transports quite common but only not documented?
Click to expand...

Probably because when the aircraft is already done, there is far more cooperation between the major design and development bureaus and the factories that manufacture and supply.
 
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taxiya

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Deino said:
So the question now is: Why then a transport of parts / modules from Chengdu/CAC to Xi'an? Could it be for static testing of another variant? Maybe the twin-seater or WS-15 integration? Or are such transports quite common but only not documented?
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I would choose the first option as the answer. But I don't think the second option is exclusive to the first option.

Xi'an CFTE is a test and certification center involved in development. It also has test facilities that CAC and SAC don't necessarily have. So at the early stage of development, such transport should be very common, or even a must because the role of CFTE. However I don't see it has a role after an aircraft has entered serial production.
 
I

Inst

Captain
The truck pics look more like J-20 parts than FC-31 parts.

If you notice, the FC-31 has very narrow tail connectors:

View attachment 70852

The F-35's tail connector also terminates before the full length of the tail:

11324356683_6bc779c6ac_b.jpg


I'd say this is more likely J-20 parts, not FC-31 parts.
 
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