J-20... The New Generation Fighter III

I got a random question, can these fighters fire their missiles while upside down/sideways?

swimmerXC said:

I got a random question, can these fighters fire their missiles while upside down/sideways?

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Well SRAAMs fire up their motors while they are still the launch arm, while MRAAMs I think are "pushed/thrown" out the ventral bays from the pylon it's attached to (I remember hearing massive g forces the action entailed for the missile) before its motor ignites, so yes F-22 and I believe J-20 and T-50 should be able to fire missiles in such positions.

However I'm not sure whether the F-22 can fire JDAMs or SDBs upside down and whether they're "pushed" out the weapon bay either.

I think possible from side weapon bay(which house short range missiles), but not the main bays.

Could most fourth gen. fighters fire missiles while belly up?

You need to exclude the possibility of the aircraft hitting the missiles it launches. So you cannot depend on gravity for separation.

Bltizo said:

Er no I don't think the narrower panel (shouldn't it be nearer to the inside rather than side?) is vertical, it's horizontal, so the final configuration is like a "Z" shape on both J-20 and F-22

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I guess it's easier to draw it out rather than explaining it in words.

So, here's what I meant: (Please ignore the dots and also the gaps in the 2 lines.)

..........|.....|...........
........./.......\..........
......../.........\.........

What I still can't see is the 2 horizontal panels that some are expecting to be attached to the bottom of the above panels.

I see -- using the same format, this is what I believe J-20 and F-22 share:
..........|...............|...........
........./.................\..........
......../___.........___\.........

From this photo we can see the "horizontal" panels with the panel lines



From this one you can almost make out the horizontal panel from the starboard bay door.
Actually, if you look at the area around the port rear landing gear, you can see the sillhouette of the horizontal panel door sticking quite distinctively there.



With this image, you cannot see the horizontal panel due to the angle but it's high res enough that you can see the hinge connecting it to the bay door, as well as the white line indicating the interior of the horizontal bay.





Everything points to J-20 having that kind of weapon bay config. We need to wait for a clear frontal or rear shot to confirm this.

ARES should probably check their sources lol. Hiring a photoshop expert would probably be a good start.

swimmerXC said:

I got a random question, can these fighters fire their missiles while upside down/sideways?

Click to expand...

generally speaking yes. 2 planes coming to mind are the Jaguar and the Lightning and these are 2+/3rd generation planes.

Differential canard action?