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Fog Lifts At Chengdu (Chinese Stealth Aircraft)
Aviation Week Ares Blog ^ | 29 December 2010 | Bill Sweetman

Posted on 12/29/2010 5:41:33 AM PST by Yo-Yo

More photos. The PLA has clearly been reading Air Power Australia, because this looks not unlike a stealth F-111.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: aerospace; china; stealth
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Well, at least it is real. It does look large enough to be a tactical strike aircraft.
1 posted on 12/29/2010 5:41:35 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: Yo-Yo

It does look rather large........................


2 posted on 12/29/2010 5:47:04 AM PST by Red Badger (Whenever these vermin call you an 'idiot', you can be sure that you are doing to something right.)
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To: Yo-Yo

“The PLA has clearly been reading Air Power Australia, because this looks not unlike a stealth F-111.”

The only thing the Chinese need to read are the classified US documents that they clearly have had no trouble getting their hands on.


3 posted on 12/29/2010 5:48:38 AM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

... there are many monkeys and parrots out there....


4 posted on 12/29/2010 5:50:37 AM PST by himno hero
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To: Yo-Yo

What the hell is a stealth F-111? This looks more like the a larger version of the F-22.


5 posted on 12/29/2010 5:53:04 AM PST by maddog55 (OBAMA, You can't fix stupid...)
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To: Yo-Yo

I don’t see the resemblance to the F-111 and I never thought the F-111 was a stealth plane??????


6 posted on 12/29/2010 5:56:05 AM PST by SeeSac
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To: Yo-Yo; All
Hmmm....

I was right not enough tail, so they added the underside strakes a-la the Lear 45 Series and the add on Strakes fot the Beech V-Tail Bonanza via an STC. They help at high alpha or so I read.

The Planform does not look like what was discussed here the other day a-la F101 Voodo., just tapered.

Notice the little but subtle Leading Edge Extension ( LEX ) from the wing to the Canard, it looks like a hard chine, again to create vortices's at high alpha.

From the rear end the lower strakes and pod it sits on is to busy, my guess not good for RCS.

Also notice the wing, a great deal of aero or geometric washout near the tip. I believe the Mirage's and the Concord did this with their Delta platforms, so this maybe more of a delta augmented by a canard and Ruddervators...

7 posted on 12/29/2010 5:57:15 AM PST by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: Yo-Yo

How much juice for this goose... What about the engines?
Are they copies of russian, french , british, or american?


8 posted on 12/29/2010 6:03:35 AM PST by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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To: taildragger

Then again, fully flying rudders can be smaller than combo rudder/vertical stablizer. But they were huge on the FX-23 as they were for pitch and yaw. The F117’s were pretty good sized and they were for Yaw only or so we were told....


9 posted on 12/29/2010 6:04:46 AM PST by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: SeeSac
The resemblance is in size and potential strike payload. The F-111 was not a stealth platform, Sweetman said it looks like a Stealth version of the F-111 concept.
10 posted on 12/29/2010 6:06:21 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo
That is not a F-111, the author's eye if a bit off... OTOH, it's not unusual at all for the plans of failed U.S. designs to get out... YouTube vid of Northrop's YF-23
11 posted on 12/29/2010 6:09:04 AM PST by kAcknor ("A pistol! Are you expecting trouble sir?" "No ma'am, were I expecting trouble I'd have a rifle.")
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To: taildragger
Good analysis. Note also the dihedral in the canards.

But remember that this is not an operational fighter, it is a technology demonstrator.

I have read elsewhere that the lower strakes will not be on the production aircraft. They also need to figure out a way to hinge the flaps without those large hinge fairings under the wing. Makes it look like the wing of a 737.

12 posted on 12/29/2010 6:13:55 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo

That plane looks like the Northrop Built F-23,The competitor to the F-22.

I wonder if the Chinese stole the plans.


13 posted on 12/29/2010 6:16:31 AM PST by puppypusher (The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: Yo-Yo
It looks like a strike fighter up sized for bulky, inefficient engines and the need for internal volume for large quantities of fuel for those inefficient engines combined with internal storage of bulky lower tech Chinese weapons.
14 posted on 12/29/2010 6:17:39 AM PST by rdcbn
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To: Yo-Yo
Thanks Yo-Yo.

The original pictures and blowng them up from Av Week helped.

Yes those fairings are huge. Flaps on a canard don't work if you will , They cause pitching moment down and I can't remember a Rutan design that had them on the main wing other than his "Grizzly" which was a three surface design.

15 posted on 12/29/2010 6:18:39 AM PST by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: puppypusher
This plane has been in the works since the mid 80’s
16 posted on 12/29/2010 6:19:26 AM PST by rdcbn
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To: Yo-Yo

Forward fuse from F-22
Rear fuse from the Mig-25
Vertical Stabs from the F-117
Canards from the X-29
Landing gear from the F-15

can’t tell the wing shape

Jack of all trades, master of none


17 posted on 12/29/2010 6:19:53 AM PST by hattend (The meaning of the 2010 election was rebuke, reject, and repeal. - Sarah Palin)
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To: taildragger
Notice the little but subtle Leading Edge Extension ( LEX ) from the wing to the Canard, it looks like a hard chine, again to create vortices's at high alpha.

My guess is the canard is a design compromise to give more pitch control at high angles of attack. This tells me they haven't figured out fly-by-wire quite yet. The canard also won't help the RCS a bit.

The Chinese will learn early on in this aircraft's first engagement with a foe that just because it looks like a stealth airplane doesn't mean it is a stealth airplane. There's a lot more to radar stealth than just shape....

18 posted on 12/29/2010 6:22:01 AM PST by Thermalseeker (The theft being perpetrated by Congress and the Fed makes Bernie Maddoff look like a pickpocket.)
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To: Yo-Yo
One more thing...

This thing looks more and more like the HiMAT below...

The Canards Dihedral may shed a vortex off the tip onto a strategic spot on the main wing at a given AOA...


19 posted on 12/29/2010 6:24:09 AM PST by taildragger ((Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: Yo-Yo
It's a copy of an old Russian design from a Clint Eastwood movie:

FIREFOX

But, we could probably get a hundred of them for the price of one F-22 if they'd sell em to us and loan us the money ...

20 posted on 12/29/2010 6:31:55 AM PST by Errant
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