Posted on 12/27/2010 4:54:12 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
China's Stealth Striker
Posted by Bill Sweetman at 12/27/2010 4:57 AM CST
Hot from the fence-line is what looks like the best image yet of China's Chengdu stealth fighter, identified so far as J-20.
Remarkable indeed - and at the rate we're going there will be a three-dimensional animated cutaway of this beast by 2.30 Tuesday afternoon, so we can safely stick to what we can see here without having to speculate too far. (Note: this photo appeared on the China Defense Forum. All I've done to it is rotate it and adjust contrast and brightness.)
The impression here is of a big, long aircraft, 70+ feet from nose to tail, which would make sense for a number of reasons. Rob Hewson at Jane's has reported that Russia has supplied 32,000-pound thrust 117S engines for the J-20, which would be adequate for an aircraft in the 80,000 pound class - with perhaps lower supercruise performance and agility than an F-22, but with larger weapon bays and more fuel.
But ask yourself: why would China need or want a short-range stealth aircraft? Any targets with defenses that call for that capability are a long way from the mainland. Also, the bigger that the aircraft is, the more likely it is that it is a bomber as much as, if not more than, a fighter.
The canard is clearly visible and at this point I'm seeing a "lambda" wing planform, seen on some earlier artist's concept out of China, with a single straight leading edge and a kinked trailing edge. It first appeared on McDonnell Douglas JAST studies in the early 1990s:
The wing shape was also flight tested on the X-36 unmanned demonstrator - and the overall "sit" of the Chinese aircraft makes an interesting comparison to this shot:
So much for this morning - but as the "what" starts to take shape, it gives us context to start thinking about "when" and "why".
very interesting...I wonder what the kill ratios would be when Raptors are faced with thousands of these...
I still say it is a lead sled...
If it is that long and those engines can't be as light as ours and who knows the throttle response. I don't see this turning and burning like our birds, Canards or no Canards...
I believe the F-101 Voodoo predates the 1990s...
I am not sure this thing has tradditional Horizontal Stabs, i.e. full moving ones. The pitch control maybe the canards augmented by the V-Tails a-la the Beech Bonanza for pitch and yaw.
Possibly for Stealth, but a great way to pickup wing area, a reverse Double Delta a-la the Saab Drakken if you think of it. From a top or planform view you also have a mini Blended Wing Body planform which the Horten’s backed into with the HO-229 with it’s cuspidate tail. Not a lot of chord at the tip and with the sweep one on this J-20 might ask if she will wong rock like a Delta as the tips stop flying and the center section with the longer chord and reynolds numbers keep flying.
Yeah, I was very mean to him... heh heh heh... My Christmas spirit was lacking for trolls...
Oh..well...
Somehow, in an odd way, I feel lucky that FR “scooped” this. If only TwoEggFoo had not been so communisty.. and had been less of a jerk, we could have engaged him.
But he was Mao in jockey shorts...
How many will they make when the rates rise?
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Maybe they are fake canards....................
I get it. Canard canards.
That PRC prototype looks like a YF-23.
If so, it would have a half a mach speed advantage over the F-22 and could do supersonic turns.
Okay, which is it? Small or large?.....................
Perhaps the extended range stealth strike fighter is something that the CHICOMs want to use to neutralize our Carrier Task Forces? Not that it wouldn’t a formidable up against F-22, but it the primary mission could be to force our carriers to stay away.
Get in close enough and launch large air to surface missiles to sink our surface Carrier Group.
Then they can take Taiwan at the time of their choosing.
They don't need an aircraft for that purpose. The DF-21D, if it performs as advertised, will give the Pentagon second thoughts about sending battle groups anywhere near China.
Yeah, it’d be just like those commie bastards to put canard canards on their stealth a/c..................
The shape of this thing may lend itself to be somewhat stealthy, but there is much more to stealth than just ist shape. What materials are the chins using in its construction? Coatings, Air intake path to engines, edges have much to do with an aircraft stealthiness.
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