Shenyang next gen combat aircraft thread

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
But that would be a huge amount of internal volume you will be sacrificing to make it work that way. Doesn’t seem remotely worth the cost as they could have gone with a more conventional intake design and saved themselves all that internal volume for more fuel and avionics.

If they wanted such a design, they could have gone the same route as the J20 and have the vents on the outside of the intake on the side of the plane. You get a similar result without needing to duct through your central fuselage.

At supersonic speeds, the airflow is turbulent and also acts to thermally insulate an aircraft.

So could this be a way to provide the following:

1. Better airflow for control surfaces to work with for maneuvering
2. Less aerodynamic drag (analogous to the golf ball dimple effect) and therefore better fuel efficiency
3. Additional cooling for electronics
4. Airflow for the variable cycle engine
 
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