They said that the J20s have arrived to an airport close to Zhu Hai and they will have a shocking performance in Zhu Hai Air Show.
Zhuhai Air Show 2018
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
They said that the J20s have arrived to an airport close to Zhu Hai and they will have a shocking performance in Zhu Hai Air Show.
Both say the J-20s performing for the airshow have arrived around the Zhuhai area (specifically “a certain airport in the Southern Theater Command”). The first comment also says that not only will the performance be longer but the planes will do something stunning, while the second comment directly refutes the first comment by saying the choreography hasn’t been finalized yet and no one knows what the performance will look like until it is.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
There is a rumor that the J-20s will be executing the Cobra maneuver during their demonstration at the airshow.
Are they really risking the plane doing something so fancy? I wonder if they've practiced it before hand.
Might be a reflection of how confident they are with the plane? Wouldn’t be surprised if these rumors are just fantasy wish lists though.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
What would they be risking, exactly, assuming that the delivered aircraft would've undergone all sorts of testing?
There’s always an inherent, if small, risk in doing these kinds of extensive post stall maneuvers at a low enough altitude where people can see them. One need only browse through a few air show accidents to see what that looks like. I think to siege’s point given that the J-20 just started production and there are only a small number of units even a tail risk of losing one may be something the PLAAF shouldn’t be flirting with. Of course at the end of the day it’s the operators, not the bystanders, who know best. We’ll see what happens.
Not to mention the embarrassment if China's premiere fighter crashes. Can you imagine the sheer schadenfreude in the Western press if that were to happen? Better to leave the fancy manoeuvres to a Flanker, preferably one with TVC. It's also better opsec not to clue observers into the J-20's capabilities.
There are a lot of reasons both for and against doing a demonstration. You really could argue this one both ways.
as far as risk of these kind of performances go, I think doing one at this stage of the programme isn't actually too early. Compared to say, when PAK FA first made their airshow appearances or F-22 I think J-20 would be in line with those past trends.
As far as the risk of an accident goes I think if they still feel like there are significant issues then there is something wrong with the programme. If the concern is "revealing too much" of the aircraft's performance, I suspect that what few crowd pleasing maneuvers that an aircraft can perform at an airshow won't be that useful to foreign military forces anyhow