Where the hell did that incredibly strange rumor that Chinese pilots communicate in english come from "for clairity", was it from a OPFOR exercise?
Ask anything Thread (Air Force)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Theoretical question,
If specific air combat situations are dependent on awacs then why not just mount the awacs unit with LR missiles? Why have several fighters/interceptors guarding the awacs; why not just have one large cargo ac loaded with dozens of missiles?
I'm talking specifically those scenarios in which friendly interceptors/fighters stay within it's awacs radar envelope.
If specific air combat situations are dependent on awacs then why not just mount the awacs unit with LR missiles? Why have several fighters/interceptors guarding the awacs; why not just have one large cargo ac loaded with dozens of missiles?
I'm talking specifically those scenarios in which friendly interceptors/fighters stay within it's awacs radar envelope.
Because an AWAc doesn’t have the kinematic performance of fighter aircraft. It sucks at evading enemy missiles as well as going fast and high to impart enough starting energy to the missile so it could operate at the optimal flight envelope.
Also, if you really think about it J-36 is kind of an AWAC/Fighter hybrid.
Adding on to Siege's comments, with CEC networking you don't need the launch platform to be an AWACS. It's more beneficial to launch closer to the target so why risk an AWACS flying closer unless it's for the radar coverage. ULRAAM is exactly the type of weapon that should be deployed by something like a JH-xx, GJ-x and H-20. Sure the JH-xx is hypothetical but the GJ-x and H-20 could utilise their stealth to get closer and make greater use of a ULRAAM's energy provided there is enough guidance at those extremes. JH-xx would be able to utilise launch platform's energy (assuming the JH-xx is supersonic).
No point using an AWACS when you have much better platforms to carry and launch bulky and heavy ULRAAMs. As for LRAAMs like PL-17, even fighters can launch them and fighters impart far greater energy compared to subsonic heavy aircraft.
This is precisely why 6th gen fighter like J-36 dominates the current understanding of air combat. Supersonic and ULO stealth packing PL-17 sized LRAAMs. It's two leaps ahead of something like an F-22 packing AIM-120Ds which are already outranged by the now superseded PL-15s. The US is trying to fit the AIM-260 onto F-35 and maybe F-22s and that's just an equivalent to the PL-15/16.
That's Xining Intl Airport in Qinghai Province. No idea of any significant PLA related stuff nearby other than the JLSC. Maybe they just visited the city and the nearby Qinghai Lake for the May Day holidays (“走了走了” is more of a "I'm leaving I'm leaving" phrase when spoken and the May Day holidays wrapped up yesterday)
Alright I'll try the question here. Are any of you guys aware of a fairly recent documentary made on Chinese flankers? It actually went into some history of other PLAAF fighters as well, and even had some interesting critiques of the flanker that I had not ever heard about before. If any of you guys know the name of this documentary or of a documentary like this I would be very thankful.