Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
- Thread starter RedSky
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There are different kinds of mock up. There are the publicity mockups intended purely for show, then there are engineering mock-ups used during early development process to test for fit of various components before the first prototype is assembled. It appears to me the fasteners and the fit and finish inside of the weapon bay is much too crude to be part of even an hand assembled prototype. It is probably part of engineering mock to test the initial fit of components around the ventral parts of the mid-fuselage, inside the weapon bay, maybe inside the engine bays and main landing gear bay as well.
It seems to me that mid-fuselage engineering mock up may have served its original purpose long ago, so it was repurposed to become part of a publicity mark up. The front fuselage forward of the air intake, the dorsal surface of the mid fuselage, and the vertical tails seems certainly to be functionless publicity mock ups devoid of the surface details of any real prototype. The area around the cockpit should be stuffed full of avionics and thus covered in various access panels. The landing gears are not even a respectable effort to get the the rough appearances right.
Also, I would expect the surface of a real early prototype to be rougher than service aircraft, not smooth like that. Much of the detailed surface treatment for signature reduction for a service aircraft would be unnecessary for a prototype.
It seems to me that mid-fuselage engineering mock up may have served its original purpose long ago, so it was repurposed to become part of a publicity mark up. The front fuselage forward of the air intake, the dorsal surface of the mid fuselage, and the vertical tails seems certainly to be functionless publicity mock ups devoid of the surface details of any real prototype. The area around the cockpit should be stuffed full of avionics and thus covered in various access panels. The landing gears are not even a respectable effort to get the the rough appearances right.
Also, I would expect the surface of a real early prototype to be rougher than service aircraft, not smooth like that. Much of the detailed surface treatment for signature reduction for a service aircraft would be unnecessary for a prototype.
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It’s a demonstrator. Pretty sure that they will enlarge the airframe and bay for the prototype.
Delete.
Sorry to compare, but, even the F-35 carries stand-off strike weapons externally. A weapon like the YJ-12 really doesn’t require stealth capabilities for delivery. Actually, isn’t its max range either just inside or just outside the range of naval tracking-targeting radars?
The J-31 can act as a command and control as well as target search/target tracking while J-15 or even drones can stay behind and fire the missiles. In the future the PLANAF can also make use of loyal wingman drones to carry the missiles as well. (well if you make use of combined arms even surface ships, subs and helicopters can be used to fire the missiles as well). The most important use of the J-31 is to be able to survive under enemy radar and air defense while searching for surface targets/achieving air superiority.
You're referring to vaporware capabilities.
From my point of view, having interceptor or anti-radiation missiles available to take out enemy AEW&C / surface radars is crucial for stealth fighters, because even if they're essentially invisible to fighter radar, they're significantly more visible to long-wave counterstealth radars. So there's a pressure on stealth fighters to be able to launch long-range missiles at these sorts of emitters before they can cue escorting fighters to track or engage.
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