J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VI

Maybe something else. J-15 had markers during testing but this J-20 artists impression has no tail-hook. There is a J-10B with markings during weapons test IIRC.

They might be testing a new set of weapons both internal and especially external? There are 4 external hard points. Maybe it is needed for external weapons store tests? Air to surface, Anti-ship, anti-awacs and who knows, maybe even anti-satellite...

ZeEa5KPul said:

True, but we haven't seen that with the WS-10. There's no reason to believe we'd see it with the WS-15, especially in the atmosphere of increased secrecy of the Xi Administration.

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Actually WS-10 was tested aboard the Il-76 engine testbed (the one now being used to test WS-20) in the mid 2000s, from what I remember. That said I'm not sure if it sets in stone a precedent that WS-15 should be expected to be tested aboard it as well

tons of good photos on weibo

lllchairmanlll said:

tons of good photos on weibo
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lllchairmanlll said:

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lllchairmanlll said:

View attachment 49569 View attachment 49570 View attachment 49571 View attachment 49572 View attachment 49573 View attachment 49574

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Given their serial numbers, they are from the 172nd Brigade FTTB at Canzhou. ... or am I wrong ?

Deino said:

Given their serial numbers, they are from the 172nd Brigade FTTB at Canzhou. ... or am I wrong ?

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At the very least, assuming no renumbering, we now know there are at least two more birds added to our tally, which makes 9 production planes. Given that we never saw these planes leaving Chengdu this lends itself to the possibility that production has actually been continuous and we just haven’t been getting any confirmation.