China Flanker Thread II
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Keeping it alive if they need a stop gap fighter before they have enough J-20 ?
lcloo
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Continuous development and testing of J11D is to ensure the "D" warfare (aka Electronic counter measure) equipment is progressively improved. Ideally the best choice of platform for the "D" equipment would be the future twin seats variant of J20(B?) but for cost reason they might be using a flanker as the platform, this we have to wait and see.
The key point to watch is not the aircraft (J11D) but the "D" technology that is being developed. Type of aircraft is important but secondary to the electronic warfare equipment.
"D" refers to "Dian (zi) 电子“ meaning Electronic, as in Electronic warfare, similar to the prefix "E" in EA-18G Growler.
The key point to watch is not the aircraft (J11D) but the "D" technology that is being developed. Type of aircraft is important but secondary to the electronic warfare equipment.
"D" refers to "Dian (zi) 电子“ meaning Electronic, as in Electronic warfare, similar to the prefix "E" in EA-18G Growler.
Pretty sure the PLA are addressing their EW needs with the J-16D and J-15D for carrier operations?
AFAIK the J-11D will be upgrading PLA Flankers with 21st century 4.5 generation technology (AESA radar, TVC engines, advanced BVR missiles, enhanced EW jamming, possibly Distributed Aperture System.... etc) to the point they surpass the latest Russian Su-35 Flankers... Consensus amongst the PLA watching community was that the J-11D was a testbed for such advanced technology, and that up till today we thought the project was abandoned since technology would be brought across to existing J-11Bs as a block upgrade. Someone correct me if I'm wrong (happily to be corrected
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This seems like a mistake unless Shenyang can’t get the naval fighter out in time. Otherwise their plate should be full.
Keeping the aircraft flying is not a mistake -- there are a handful of J-11D airframes, and they're obviously configured for testing already, and given they already exist, and given the PLA has domestic Flanker types (J-11B, J-16, J-15) to develop MLUs for as well as many fighter types that will be requiring avionics and datalinks upgrades in general, keeping the J-11Ds flying for that purpose makes a lot of sense.
Just look at the sheer number of unique airframes various US aerospace companies have for tinkering and developing things with. Let alone the various X planes the US has. Doesn't mean continued flight testing means they're going to go into production, it just means that they're useful flying airframes that is a no brainer to continue testing for.
@huitong, do you mind clarifying if the continued flight testing of J-11D is a reflection of J-11D testing being done in pursuit of eventual procurement/production, or is it just flight testing for the general purposes of aerospace/industry/development and testing purposes?
Because IMO just because an aircraft is "still flying" doesn't mean it is being tested in pursuit of eventual procurement/production.
I think there is a strong possibility J-11D can be mass produced. Depending on J-20 price and required number of airframes PLAAF envision in 2030s, continued J-11 production can be an option. Especially, if they are not planning significant upgrades with the current J-11 airframes.
Agreed - getting a bit off topic thread, but definitely can see the PLAAF answering the air superiority mission with a mix of enhanced J-11BGs and J-20s, much like how the USAF are doing the same with Raptors and F-15EXs.
The PLA will certainly continue producing and procuring modern Flankers between now and the mid to late 2020s -- but I'm not sure whether they need to buy J-11Ds.
I expect that they will likely just continue buying J-16s instead, as well as of course using some Flanker slots to buy advanced J-15 variants, and both J-16D and J-15D.
The J-11D as an aircraft logically shouldn't offer any particularly unique capabilities that cannot be integrated into continued new batch J-16 production or J-11BG MLUs, going into 2030s.
By the time 2030 comes around, I would be surprised if they were still needing to build Flankers -- by 2030 I would expect the PLA's new build fighter aircraft would all be 5th generation, a combination of J-20, carrier based J-XY, and perhaps a land based J-XY option.
The USAF benefits from buying a bunch of F-15EXs for their own unique reasons and because many of their original F-15s are so old, but the PLA doesn't really have that issue because the airframe life of J-11B aircraft are still quite young, most of them only turning 10 years old now, and because the PLA's equivalent of F-15EX is J-16 which remains in active production today.
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