Shenyang next gen combat aircraft thread

[bsdnf]

View attachment 161580

Rear facing radar(s)? Or just some radar absorbing treatment....? BTW the two "bone" protrusions behind the cockpit is interesting....

Blocking the wake to reduce infrared signatures, and possibly installing rear-facing ESM equipment, but rear facing radar is less likely.

 

[Mearex]

ok here is another angle. The intake geometry looks... very interesting... Maybe there's a groove at the front due to the massive intakes and then flattens out near the back

 

[Tomboy]

View attachment 161583
why is this brown part protruding so much?

According to the comments on some youtube video, all traces of this image has been removed in China, which supports its authenticity. Everything looks about right except for the protrusion of the intakes, not sure what's happening there

It's been seen on other pictures so it's authentic feature

 

[Syrida2887]

View attachment 161583
why is this brown part ping so much?

According to the comments on some youtube video, all traces of this image has been removed in China, which supports its authenticity. Everything looks about right except for the protrusion of the intakes, not sure what's happening there

Nope,it's impossible to stop pictures' spread in which everyone want to see.

 

[bsdnf]

View attachment 161583
why is this brown part protruding so much?

According to the comments on some youtube video, all traces of this image has been removed in China, which supports its authenticity. Everything looks about right except for the protrusion of the intakes, not sure what's happening there

The frontal photo of the J-36 was also deleted at first, and then gradually no one cared about it because it had spread and could not be stopped

 

[laurenjia]

View attachment 161583
why is this brown part protruding so much?

According to the comments on some youtube video, all traces of this image has been removed in China, which supports its authenticity. Everything looks about right except for the protrusion of the intakes, not sure what's happening there

Good question. No idea.
- I would like to imagine it is some opening for some small self defense missiles, smaller than PL-10 or defensive munitions against missiles
- But maybe the explanation might be simpler......I would probably think this bulge is merely to promote airflow separation between top of the engine inlet and the bottom of the inlet. A similar bulge exists in J-20, albeit much further back and smaller to separate the airflow and not affect the bottom stabilisers?. The opening may be just for maintenance / other uses.

 

[siegecrossbow]

If CCAs can be used for dogfights in case furball happens, I don’t see why they carry the point defense missile either. I think that the bulge hides something more exotic but we won’t know for sure until more images leak.

 

[siegecrossbow]

One other thing I noticed is that there are luneburg lenses mounted both on the dorsal and ventral parts of the fuselage.

 

[Alfa_Particle]

Wouldn't this mean a inlet diameter of 920mm? It's larger than F-110s and Al-31/41 but iirc smaller than F119

Nope, it's combustor diameter to my understanding.

 

[ougoah]

If CCAs can be used for dogfights in case furball happens, I don’t see why they carry the point defense missile either. I think that the bulge hides something more exotic but we won’t know for sure until more images leak.

Next gen short range missiles could potentially be far smaller and capable of intercepting missiles, similar to APS for armoured vehicles.

I don't see much point for shorter ranged missiles when it comes to 6th gen which appear to be stretching the range of engagement while achieving similar or better P(K) than previous gens. However, even if we can apply this theory to J-36, the J-XDS may still be a dogfighting capable aircraft. It may not be what it's intended for but with the design goal of being able to get closer for a shot, even PL-10 equivalent missiles may have a place with the J-XDS.

Having said that, I think we should expect 6th gens to approach this entire air combat philosophy with entirely revolutionary equipment. PL-10s barely have a place with 5th gens. 6th gen with high end UADF, 5th gen, 4.5 gen and smaller CCAs, there are just too many shooter nodes in the network that have guns and short range missiles. If J-20 goes into a fight without a gun, we should expect J-XDS to go without PL-10s. Wasted room and weight to be honest.

J-XDS should be viewed as J-20's successor and J-36 as an entirely new concept - fast and relatively agile A2A focused shooter platform.