Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

tphuang said:

so I don't understand what you were trying to say all along if you agree with me that there is no ready current option.

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I'm saying that most likely China & Pakistan are purchasing RD-93 version based on RD-33MK, with FADEC, reduced smoke and max thrust around 9000 kgf (88 kN) . That would be enough for further development of J-31 and new blocks of JF-17 .

thunderchief said:

I'm saying that most likely China & Pakistan are purchasing RD-93 version based on RD-33MK, with FADEC, reduced smoke and max thrust around 9000 kgf (88 kN) . That would be enough for further development of J-31 and new blocks of JF-17 .

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There is no proof of that at all. No article has indicated a RD-93 variant with thrust between RD-93 8300 kgf and 9300 kgf. That 1000 kgf of additional thrust in RD-93MA would actually match what China got with AL-31FN series 3 over earlier versions. But they did just order another batch of RD-93, so if it has increased service life or thrust, we will find out in short order.

Looks like the Chinese hacked the American's F-35 program (if the US is to be believed), and used the concepts and technologies gleaned from these efforts to create the FC-31, then Korean's hacked the Chinese (SAC), for their KF-X design which they're sharing with the Indonesian's who'll call it IF-X, which leverages US power plants...



OR

...there are only so many practical aircraft design layouts for stealthy combat fighter / attack aircraft that don't need optimal F-22 style stealth-at-any-expense after the initial opening stages of a conflict and which don't blow the budget.

Kyuryu

kyuryu said:

Looks like the Chinese hacked the American's F-35 program (if the US is to be believed), and used the concepts and technologies gleaned from these efforts to create the FC-31, then Korean's hacked the Chinese (SAC), for their KF-X design which they're sharing with the Indonesian's who'll call it IF-X, which leverages US power plants...

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OR

...there are only so many practical aircraft design layouts for stealthy combat fighter / attack aircraft that don't need optimal F-22 style stealth-at-any-expense after the initial opening stages of a conflict and which don't blow the budget.

Kyuryu

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Compromised information security of Pentagon contractors for the F-35 is a known fact.
However the extent of how those information is being used and how it benefits the development of J-20 and FC-31 is unknown.

The saying of there is only so many ways of designing an airplane is both true and false (mindboggling I know!), but if people would look further back to YF-23 and YF-22, and even further trailing the history of aircraft development, the design convergence does not play a factor as much as the low risk taking and project management would have.

The KF-X/IF-X is solidly within FC-31 league and market though, with the advantage of FC-31 flying first, and Lockheed/US backing for the other.

Developing fighter jet is very difficult business. We will see how well it turns out to be, but I guess Indonesians don't have too many other options.

Someone had a bit of fun with this pic.



Girls need makeup, planes need good paint job.

kyuryu said:

Looks like the Chinese hacked the American's F-35 program (if the US is to be believed), and used the concepts and technologies gleaned from these efforts to create the FC-31, then Korean's hacked the Chinese (SAC), for their KF-X design which they're sharing with the Indonesian's who'll call it IF-X, which leverages US power plants...

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

OR

...there are only so many practical aircraft design layouts for stealthy combat fighter / attack aircraft that don't need optimal F-22 style stealth-at-any-expense after the initial opening stages of a conflict and which don't blow the budget.

Kyuryu

Click to expand...

If Lockmart has the same basic security for their highly classified files (like most big companies do) they can physically isolate their classified information from the internet. It is pretty much nonsense to think that hackers can just stroll in and steal core information with impunity.

Chinese spies working within Lockmart, on the otherhand...

A few more high-resolution (2700 x 1800) photos of the J-31 performing at Zhuhai:

One thing I noticed about the J-31 demonstrator: its wing actuators are very small.

If you look at the wings there seems to be thick threads beneath the surface going from near the wing root to where the flaps are. I wonder if they are actually some sort of hydraulic system to move the wing flaps (rather than surface sensors as previously suggested). Also the J-31's flaps seems kind of simple, with only one flap per wings, whereas J-21 and many other fighter planes has two per wing.