J-10 Thread IV

tamsen_ikard

Junior Member
Registered Member
Does J-10 have conformal fuel tanks? I notice that they don't have much range and pretty much always carry external tanks. Conformal fuel tanks should help.
 

by78

General
Does J-10 have conformal fuel tanks? I notice that they don't have much range and pretty much always carry external tanks. Conformal fuel tanks should help.

I doesn't and likely never will. I read an interview with a Chengdu designer where this question was posed, and he said the canards make the addition of F-16 style conformal fuel tanks very tricky aerodynamically. Drop tanks will have to do, and that's why you see so many J-10s carry them.
 
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siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
I doesn't and likely never will. I read an interview with a Chengdu designer where this question was posed, and he said the canards make the addition of F-16 style conformal fuel tanks very tricky aerodynamically. Drop tanks will have to do, and that's why you see so many J-10s carry them.

I think it probably has to do with the vortices generated by the canards. Conformal tanks probably would interfere with the airflow on the back of the aircraft.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
That gun camera footage really brings home the realities facing Chinese fighter pilots in trouble. There are buildings everywhere!

Can you imagine the devastation if a fighter jet ploughed into a high rise residential or commercial building? It can lead to hundreds or even thousands of civilian casualties potentially on a similar scale to 911.

In that context, you can somewhat understand why Chinese fighter pilots tend not to bail out at the first signs of irrecoverable damage to their jets as western pilots tend to do; because the population density means both the likelihood and potential impact of civilian casualties is massively higher in China.

Rather than being a sign of poor training and/or discipline as some have tried to suggest in the past, I think it is a sign of supreme dedication and skill, not to mention courage, that they stay with doomed birds for as long as possible to ensure they hit unpopulated areas before bailing out themselves.
 

stannislas

Junior Member
Registered Member
It is set in central China. What are they supposed to defend? Birds?
Still, You are flying j-7 and able to join the gold helmet competition, while your old classmate can’t join for a different reason as he is enjoying the j-20 and gave other 4th gen a 17:0...

i don’t know, just metal picture the some cases like this, I feel sorry for the pilots there... being in a ....4?5 tier troop must not feel so well, right?
 
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