Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator

Pmichael

Junior Member
Actually it does, you're not likely to get a "lock on" from 100 or even 50 nautical,, you're of necessity going to be a lot closer, and that is true whether your own aircraft is stealthy or 4Gen,,, so smoke is a very bad thing, real fighter pilots look for smoke, if the other guy engages burner and starts leaving a "plume" that's bad for him....

Real L/O aircraft are doing very well, in very real, dead serious Red Flags etc.. so stealth is indeed a game changer,,, to my knowledge, no one has claimed a kill on the F-22, or the F-35 at ANY significant distance, its always up close and by chance!

50 till 100 nautical miles aren't realistic distances anyway. The armament doesn't support that.

Also American stealth aircraft doesn't fly against non aircraft in maneuvers anymore. So that's a rather pointless argument.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Exactly, that's why the Air Force Brat bought and built a 2006 Pinarello Prince SL frame up as a flat bar road bike,,, I look at it more than ride it, its in our bedroom! LOL on the other side of the room from my Craftsman roll-cab tool box.

I actually had to have the bicycle Dr. chase the threads for the bottom bracket, and ream the seat post tube for the seat post, Italian stuff though beautiful, almost always needs a little "tweaking".

that frame hung on the wall of my bicycle shop for 10 years as "eye candy", priced at over 3000 bucks,,, the shop came under new management, and my buddy called me and shot me a deal, I "low balled" them but ended up paying 700 bucks, and Bontrager Race Lite XL wheels,,, she is a "stunner"!
Glad to hear that from you and BIB :) but when you do a ride in a car you are the Army Brat ;)
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
True true.unfortunately I have zip knowledge or appreciation on how to judge a aircraft's stealthness orr whether it flies well.

Exactly, I never comment on Naval vessels, their speeds or performance, NEVER! However, I do have some reliable and real world performance parameters about aircraft...

the J-20 with similar size and weight to a Flanker, and the exact same engines will have very similar performance to the Flanker, the FC-31 with the same engines and approximate size of the Mig-29 will also have very similar performance to the Mig-29!

that's why people are so excited about the WS-15 for the J-20, it will give a very significant increase in thrust primarily and push your performance up at least a notch or two?? that's also the reason people continue to be hopeful about the FC-31 and the WS-13,, though as posters have noted, we're not as certain about what possible increase in performance that might bring.

to conclude, a 4 passenger Cessna 172 with 160 horsepower, will perform nearly identically to a Piper Warrior with 160 horsepower, even though 1 is a high wing aircraft, and the other is a low wing aircraft.

every professional aircraft designer/engineer will be able to make performance projections by "eyeballing" the type of aircraft he is familiar with designing. In fact he will use those projections, and his proposed "improvements" to sell his design to management/customers.

China does not have a stealthy Mig-29 class aircraft, and that is the class of aircraft that Shenyang has aimed to replicate with L/O and light weight construction as the "performance enhancers" that they are selling! simple as that.

if you get a 5 or 10 percent performance increase over the Mig-29 or F-16 that is significant!
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Considering the difficulties of taking this type of pictures, one can only conclude these are from insiders, who knows the exact time and location the flight tests take place, and have cameras and steady hands.

you're exactly right, these are professional quality, probably official, or at least close to it, govt's leak pictures and info all the time! makes life a lot more fun,,, think of it as a "govt selfie", LOL.

no one in China has access to this kind of stuff unless its officially sanctioned, not under President Xi,, why I humorously refer to him as Emperor XI!
 

B.I.B.

Captain
Exactly, that's why the Air Force Brat bought and built a 2006 Pinarello Prince SL frame up as a flat bar road bike,,, I look at it more than ride it, its in our bedroom! LOL on the other side of the room from my Craftsman roll-cab tool box.

I actually had to have the bicycle Dr. chase the threads for the bottom bracket, and ream the seat post tube for the seat post, Italian stuff though beautiful, almost always needs a little "tweaking".

that frame hung on the wall of my bicycle shop for 10 years as "eye candy", priced at over 3000 bucks,,, the shop came under new management, and my buddy called me and shot me a deal, I "low balled" them but ended up paying 700 bucks, and Bontrager Race Lite XL wheels,,, she is a "stunner"!
Remember the days when we would put racing stripes on our cars to make it look as if it could go fast?
Well if they gave the fighter jets a good paint job that might scare the living bejesus from your opponent who would then become a easy picking.
 

vesicles

Colonel
Remember the days when we would put racing stripes on our cars to make it look as if it could go fast?
Well if they gave the fighter jets a good paint job that might scare the living bejesus from your opponent who would then become a easy picking.

In this day and age of so much video violence, most people have been desensitized. I don't think you can scare a lot of people with some images.

One thing you can do though is to put some XXX-level cartoons/photos on your plane. That might distract your opponent more effectively... Just imagine... you are flying your fancy fighter. All of a sudden, you see a female/male body part coming at you... You might be confused... then bam! You are hit...
 

B.I.B.

Captain
In this day and age of so much video violence, most people have been desensitized. I don't think you can scare a lot of people with some images.

One thing you can do though is to put some XXX-level cartoons/photos on your plane. That might distract your opponent more effectively... Just imagine... you are flying your fancy fighter. All of a sudden, you see a female/male body part coming at you... You might be confused... then bam! You are hit...
It looks like some US Navy types took your suggestion to heart
However they used their planes to paint big penises in the sky.

After a barrage of horrified complaints the Navy apologised by saying the Navy hold their Crew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable,of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable.

I found this story in the USA today.com
 
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