Shenyang next gen combat aircraft thread

[qwerty3173]

3000km combat range is not achievable with any current fighter, not even close. Even a fighter as large as J-36 will absolutely require the latest engine tech like VCE to possibly hit that range.

I'm just referring to the current design of the J36. When you add up the benefits to range from very low wing-loads, extreme low drag from tailess design and simply larger size, 3000km is not that hard so it requires an extremely bloated fuel storage.

 

[ougoah]

You have it backwards All else held equal sustained turns are helped by larger wing area and lower wing loading. The Mirage’s poor sustained turns come from the drag penalties of the pure delta, a lift to drag issue tied to the wing shape, not a problem from the wing area. It’s also why deltas with vortex lift devices have better sustained turns (and also instantaneous turns, the discovery of vortex lift was basically a rare free lunch for the most part), and why deltas were mostly only found in dedicated interceptor designs until the discovery of vortex assisted lift.

Ahh thanks for correcting. I associated the Mirage's delta with the large wing area.

Delta wing's drawbacks are helped by canards to moderate that airflow over the wings and I don't expect 6th gen fighters to suffer compromising aerodynamic drawbacks of such magnitude.

 

[qwerty3173]

Ahh thanks for correcting. I associated the Mirage's delta with the large wing area.

Delta wing's drawbacks are helped by canards to moderate that airflow over the wings and I don't expect 6th gen fighters to suffer compromising aerodynamic drawbacks of such magnitude.

That is part of the design philosophy of the J36 double delta design, the front small delta also doubles as vortex generators for efficient lift.

 

[Heliox]

That is easier to pull off than combat mode by far. All you need to do is maintain distance between aircraft at varying air speeds. In fact I think the blue angels already have something similar on the F-18 for a while.

I wonder if the reverse is actually easier.

Operational use or "combat mode" can be 1 drone per large area of sky, quite literally a km apart or so. No issues of collision. Gross spacing of that kind is not hard even with degraded GNSS.

Platforms operating in close proximity will need proximity sensors to gauge relative positions and vectors to prevent collisions. Something which I highly doubt most such CCAs are equipped with? Frontal arc, perhaps the radars can handle that but side/rear/ventral/dorsal?

I guess one fix could be similar to civilian drone swarm displays which uses ground based GNSS stations to allow cm accurate positioning. But do you really want the risk of degraded signals causing your parade formation to fall apart or worse still, collide mid-air over the VIP stand?

Fixing a few platforms with the required sensors to hold parade station just for this purpose is simply too much of the "for show" BS that PLA commonly gets accused of.