I do not agree with your conclusion and how you derive your conclusion. I will walk through the process to explain.
The starting point is that the look up/look down range of No35E is 200/170 kms (per UAC site). This is based on 3m2 RSC.
Converted it is 152/129 kms at 1m2 RCS.
The statement by Yankeesama said the following "The N035E's look-up range is only slightly more than the J-16 radar's look-down range" We first need to agree whether Yankeesama is making meaningful statements or conversely the poster doesn't know what he is talking about. In other words, there has to be consistency in interpretation. For example, if the argument is that by comparing look up and look down is like apples and oranges comparison - why is Yankeesama making it? Either the poster is providing meaning with the statements or it does not. If it is the latter, than whatever Yankeesama has said becomes questionable. You can't be selective to suit your chosen narrative. I have chosen the former and that there is meaning to it and that I can reasonably apply meaning to it.
We have no basis to speculate that Yankeesama has no reason to be making the apples and oranges comparison.
In fact, there is exactly a reason for us to believe Yankeesama is making that apples and oranges comparison, because in the post he had also stated that N035E is less powerful than current Chinese AESAs. In other words, it is entirely reasonable to assume that he is making the apples and oranges comparison because it is consistent with his other statement that N035E is less powerful than current Chinese AESAs.
The only way in which you could try to interpret it in another way is if there is a widely accepted rule that the look up range of a radar is equal or approximate to the look down range of a radar (which I will address below).
We don't know what is the J-16's look up/look down range but we do have a reference point using the data from No35E and that is 152/129 kms I am assuming that when Yankeesama is providing meaning here is in the context of specific range regardless of mode. Since the look up range of No35E is slightly better than the look down range of the J-16, my interpretation is that the J-16 look down range is say 145 km. That would fit the meaning of slightly better simply in terms of relative range measurement. One can argue that it is 148km and would still fit the meaning but in the overall scheme of things it does not matter as will become apparent as we progress with this conversation.
We know the difference in look up and look down with the No35E is approx. 23 km. The difference is typically marginal. I also shared the lookup/look down data on the Zhuk-AE and that is 130/120 km, a difference of 10 km - again marginal. At this stage we should also note the second part of Yankeesama's statement i.e. "the former (No35E) is not as effective as the latter in anti-surface mode". This statement means that the look down mode of the J-16 is better compared to the look down mode of the No35E. This also indirectly suggest that the difference between the lookup/look down difference with the J-16 is not as much as the No35E. So if we extend this reasoning the lookup/lookdown mode may be about 160/145. a diffrence of 15 km. This would mean that the J-16 in lookup is possibly slightly better than the No35E in the same mode. However given the variables that are involved in getting to a detection number there are many things that actually affects the range on any given day with aspect and clutter and well within any margin of error. As such in my initial conclusion I said they are about equal because that type of difference is immaterial. With that said how can the No35E be significantly weaker than Chinese radar? In radar terms, significant is when there is at least 50 % to typically 100 % difference.
The entire crux of your argument for why you believe Yankeesama's statements about the N035E vs J-16's radar (and current Chinese AESAs) is dependent on what the relationship between a fighter radar's look up range vs look down range is.
It is fine for you to use the N035E's numbers. 152/129km means look up range is 18% longer than look down range. ZhukAE's 130/120km means look up range is only 8% longer than look down.
However, I also listed the specs for a US radar for the F-16 on the last page, which showed APG-66V1's look down range is listed as 20-30 nm, its look up range is listed as 25-40 nm; as well as APG-66V2's look down range is listed as 24-36 nm, its look up range is listed as 29-48 nm.
Being consistent and using the high end number for both look up and look down ranges for both variants, we get:
APG-66V1 40/30nm; look up is 33% longer than look down
APG-66V2 48/36nm; look up is again 33% longer than look down.
A 33% difference is far from marginal and is well within what I would consider to be significant. Even a 20% greater range would be significant.
So, for the purposes of our discussion, we are wanting to settle what Yankeesama meant by comparing the look up range of N035E with the look down range of J-16's AESA.
First of all, we need to accept that it is black and white where he said that N035E is weaker than present Chinese AESAs. There is no room for interpretation there, and this statement will inform what he meant when comparing N035E with J-16's AESA.
So for the N035E look up vs J-16 look up question, what we are really asking is how much greater is J-16's AESA's look up range vs J-16's AESA's look down range.
Option 1: If the J-16's AESA's look up range is 20% or even 30% greater than its look down range (which is in turn described as almost as great as N035E's look up range), then that would be entirely consistent with Yankeesama's prior statement about N035E being weaker than present Chinese AESAs.
Option 2: If J-16's AESA's look up range is approximately equal to its look down range (only 5-10% longer for example), then that would be inconsistent with Yankeesama's prior statement about N035E being weaker than present Chinese AESAs.
Therefore to choose between which of those 2 options is more likely to be true, we have a few questions we can ask.
How likely is it that Yankeesama made those two statements if they were inconsistent (i.e.: if option 2 were true)?
Do radars in general tend to have greater or shorter look up vs look down ranges?
Unfortunately we do not have the look up vs look down range for many contemporary western AESA radars, however we do have numbers for past generations of western radars such as AN/APG-66 performed in look up vs look down mode, where look up range was 33% higher than that of look down.
Zhuk AE and N035E ahave much lower differences in look up vs look down range, and the reason for that is not explained. For all we know it could be related to the way the Russian companies measured it. Who knows.
However, I think I have demonstrated that in existing radars that have been developed, a difference of as much as 33% can exist between a radar's range in look up vs look down mode.
So for us, we should really be asking -- could a difference in 30% ballpark between look up vs look down be possible for J-16's AESA as well? In my opinion, if it were the case then it would make Yankeesama's statements about radars entirely consistent and sensible. If it were not the case, then it would make Yankeesama's statements inconsistent and illogical and cause one to wonder why he would bother mentioning the look up mode of N035E and J-16's look down mode in the first place.
I believe taken all of this information and taking Yankeesama's statements altogether, the logical conclusion is that J-16's look up mode enjoys a meaningfully longer range than its look down mode, and thus J-16's look up mode also in turn happens to be meaningfully greater than N035E's look up mode, which would be consistent with Yankeesama saying that N035E is weaker than present Chinese AESAs.
So there you have it. It is my view that the J-16's look up/ look down detection range is approx. 160/145 kms relative to a 1m2 target. Would there be a relative detection advantage when the J-16 with AESA is pitted against a F-16V with APG-83? I have done the numbers but I don't think this forum is ready for such conversations. There is just too much emotions attached to it.
I'm not too interested in comparing J-16's radar performance with that of other aircraft, because that complicates things very quickly and it is essentially relying on N035E's range instead.
But what is possible is to settle just what Yankeesama meant.
