This photo is a disaster. They edited it to the point where the wheels aren't even round anymore.
J-XY/J-35 carrier-borne fighter thread
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
Hi,
so the wings can be folded are not, as I can’t see any divider between the full wing
like J15 kind of folded wings
thank you
so the wings can be folded are not, as I can’t see any divider between the full wing
like J15 kind of folded wings
thank you
Obviously it can be folded. FC-31 has one piece flap per wing while J-35 has two flaps per wing. If the gap on the wing itself is big enough to be seen from a low res photo then there is quality control issue to say the least.
Yes it can be folded.
The pictures posted above are poor quality so you cannot see the fold line in the main wing (but you can see the flaps in the main wing are two piece which are an indirect sign that the main wing is intended to fold).
If you looked up past pictures of J-35/XY over the last few years you will be able to see the fold line in the main wing, for example this is one of the earliest pictures of the aircraft from 2021 when it first flew
Or even this one where it's on the ground you can see the line as well
... and then there are also many photos of the J-35/XY mockups that we've seen at the Huangdicun test site, and in the last few months also mockups on both CV-18 and CV-16 with wings folded up
CV-18:
CV-16:
Huangdicun base:
====
So yeah, I'm surprised that as of 2024 the question of "does J-35/XY have folding wings" can still be asked as a question, given it should have been considered settled in late 2021 when the literal first images of the aircraft came out, and even in recent months there have been repeated images of its mockups with folding wings shoved in our faces.
Imagery aside, shouldn't it be the default assumption for any carrier-based aircraft to have folding wings? It's more or less universal for obvious reasons, and I can't think of any examples off the top of my head which don't.
Yes (with exceptions, like Rafale).
The reason I posted all of that was to demonstrate the sheer extent of actual evidence in the first place, and to dodge the suggestion that his question should not have been asked in the first place, given (as you said) a carrier based aircraft should have folding wings as a default assumption.
Translated an analysis I saw:
The reason for the extended spine could be for the installation of 2D TVC later on. But that's just a hypothesis.
The reason for the extended spine could be for the installation of 2D TVC later on. But that's just a hypothesis.
A lot of those labels aren't really technical lol, and it looks like some of those are mistranslated.
In fact the overwhelming majority of the things labelled are aesthetic or highly generic.
Also, if you mean the "extended spine" (I assume you mean tailsting), I don't think it looks extended at all relative to FC-31V2. If there is any difference in length between the tailsting on J-35/XY and FC-31V2, I suspect it would be more to accommodate the tailhook+tailhook enclosure; you don't really need the tailsting itself to be part of any 2D TVC (I also am skeptical if J-XY/35 will get TVC of any kind but that's another discussion)
I'm pretty sure they aren't. I double checked and just used other words with the same meanings for some of them.
I wasn't aware that tailsting is a word, but yes. I didn't mean it as extended compared to other prototypes, but rather relative to the fuselage.
As for the tail hook housing, I suspect it's the bulge further front and near the rear landing gears. The tailsting is Imo too thin to house it.
The F-22 has it, although I'm not sure of the exact reason, as it's the only aircraft in service to have 2D TVC.
It's indeed a can of worms, but I won't be surprised if it did end up having it.
That's true, most of them are technically correct, though that's as much a fault of the bad original Chinese descriptions.
Right. To clarify, what about the tailsting being extended relative to the fuselage gives the impression that it may have any relation to the possibility of installing 2D TVC on the aircraft? There are quite a lot of twin engine fighters in the world with extended tailstings which lack 2D TVC.
Regarding the tailhook housing, both positions are candidates. The F-35C has its tailhook located more forward relative to the aft fuselage/engine partly due to being a single engine fighter. On something like F-14, F-18 family or even F-22 the end tip of the tailhook is a bit more rearward and near adjacent to the end tip of the respective aircraft's engine nozzles, partly because being twin engine lets them put the tailhook more rearward between the engine recesses.
... but I actually don't think the tailsting on J-XY/35 has any distinguishing features worth noting to begin with, so this is all academic.
I think it is far safer for the purposes of discussion to just ignore the idea of J-XY/35 having TVC or expecting it to have it.
We can't rule out the possibility it may feature it, but unintentionally creating an expectation for it without strong indicators just creates more problems for ourselves down the line. (if there were credible insiders signaling it, of course that would be a different story)
F-22 having 2D TVC and being the only aircraft in service in the world to have 2D TVC should be further grounds to not view it as if its presence on J-XY/35 should be expected.
At any rate, the tailsting on J-XY/35 isn't particularly extended to begin with, either relative to the aircraft itself or to FC-31V2 which preceded it.