J-20 5th Generation Fighter VII

[FirebirdFan]

 

[gongolongo]

What are the advantages of a low supersonic flight profile in modern BVR combat?

The biggest benefit of the DSI I think it's weight saving and cost saving. Stealth fighters don't go that fast anyways because of Ram at the moment so it makes sense.

 

[by78]

Performing maintenance checks on (serrated) engine nozzles.

 

[by78]

View attachment 111142

That's a cropped and compressed version of a very old image that had already been posted in much higher quality.

 

[Ali Qizilbash]

That's a cropped and compressed version of a very old image that had already been posted in much higher quality.

Thanks for information.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Performing maintenance checks on (serrated) engine nozzles.

Read from Weibo that these are from Dingxin AFB, so they've started transitioning to WS-10C equipped J-20 as well. We actually had indirect validation of this last year from one of the interviews in which Chen Liu commented on adapting to new, improved engines.

 

[Overbom]

Does anyone know if the PLAAF has started MLU for its J-20s yet (is there any timeline)?

Also, will the upcoming MLU see the old J-20s switching engines to WS-10C or will they prefer to keep them with their existing engines and put the new engines to new airframes instead

 

[siegecrossbow]

Does anyone know if the PLAAF has started MLU for its J-20s yet (is there any timeline)?

Also, will the upcoming MLU see the old J-20s switching engines to WS-10C or will they prefer to keep them with their existing engines and put the new engines to new airframes instead

I don’t think we’ve see engine swaps but they are definitely upgrades done beneath the hoood. In fact we’ve seen J-20 in ETC which has the two-strip formation lights and retractable luneburg lens seen on later model J-20, but they’ve kept the AL-31 engine.

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

Does anyone know if the PLAAF has started MLU for its J-20s yet (is there any timeline)?

Also, will the upcoming MLU see the old J-20s switching engines to WS-10C or will they prefer to keep them with their existing engines and put the new engines to new airframes instead

I think that depends on the lifetime of the engine. If the AL-31F reaches the end of its service life at the MLU, it will almost certainly be replaced by WS-10C. If not, I think the original engine will be retained.

 

[Overbom]

I think that depends on the lifetime of the engine. If the AL-31F reaches the end of its service life at the MLU, it will almost certainly be replaced by WS-10C. If not, I think the original engine will be retained.

Yes, I was also thinking about if it was worth to allocate the much in demand WS-10C engines to older J-20 aircraft (and probably restricting production of new J-20) when they could be used for new J-20 instead

But this could also depend on how much electricity/power future J-20 updates will need and if their AL-31F engines could supply that demand.

Knowing that, my next question would be if we have data on how much electricity is generated by the AL-31F and WS-10C engines