Chengdu next gen combat aircraft (?J-36) thread

[sunnymaxi]

Well, the top intake issue is entirely connected with the engine imo. There wasn't an engine powerful enough to ensure the required power from only two of them at the time of design. The question is, are they working on such an engine that can be fitted to future J-36 variants alleviating the need for the third engine? Such an engine, preferably VCE, needs to be at least 20,000 but preferably 22,000 kgf of thrust as the lower end.

On the other hand my understanding was that the Lockheed high end NGAD proposal was supposed to have 4 engines (!). Now whether such a configuration was studied by CAC with say 4 WS-19 engines and why was it rejected would be interesting to know.

But yeah i have to say that top intake has been rubbing me the wrong way too lately.

Three Engines layout is the final design.

J-36 designed around variable cycle Engines.. its designated engine currently is in development.

 

[AndrewS]

On the other hand my understanding was that the Lockheed high end NGAD proposal was supposed to have 4 engines (!). Now whether such a configuration was studied by CAC with say 4 WS-19 engines and why was it rejected would be interesting to know.

Think about it.

3 engines on the J-36 gets a 3000km+ combat radius (from Mainland China to the 2IC)

After the 2IC, it's 7000km+ from mainland China to the next set of bases in the 3IC
So you can see that a 4-engine J-36 equivalent isn't enough.

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So in all likelihood, the 4-engine version of NGAD just didn't have the range to operate 7000km+ from the 3IC to Mainland China.
Plus remember that this is 14+ hours of flight time.

 

[MeiouHades]

Frankly I think the top intake doesn't look good. It kinda makes the plane look ugly from the front. And also not sure how much impact it will have rcs wise to have such a huge dsi intake. I would love to see it improved. This top intake is my only complaint about the plane aesthetic wise.

At this stage it doesn't seem like they will make that drastic of a change. But we have seen massive changes from FC-31 to J-35.

Those "top intakes" are in fact one of the stealthiest intake designs for an engine on a hopeless diamond/flying wing type aircraft, that's why the B-2, B-21 and even the RQ-170 drone use them. It also makes sense when you look at the altitude these things will operate at. At 60,000 feet, no ground based radar or even AWACS will be able to get a reflection off of the protruding intake which makes it stealthier than if it had 3 "conventional" intakes.

 

[GiantCanofWater]

The only wish I have for aesthetics is if they could make the canopy a bit more streamlined with the rest of the airframe instead of bulging out like it is currently. It just looks strange at certain angles in my opinion.