J-15 carrier-borne fighter thread

crash8pilot

Junior Member
Registered Member
Plenty of missiles So the noise about J15 has limited payload therefore inferior to Catobar launched plane is nothing but BS. We have proof I assume this is real missile and not dummy judging by detail of the photo
Honestly just seemed like something military "experts" would throw around to discredit the PLAN's carrier program - case and point the USN "suffers" from the same "problem" where they can't launch their fighters with full fuel and payload... by CATOBAR too no less.

What happens is their Super Hornets launch with whatever munitions they need for the mission as well as just enough fuel to return to the carrier if something went wrong, and they'd then join formation with another Super Hornet that orbits overhead the carrier where it is charged with the sole mission of refueling freshly launched aircraft from the carrier. Once the fighter gets the fuel they need, they'd proceed with their mission objective. Recent footage of J-15 carrier operations would suggest they're following a similar strategy, so I honestly don't get what the fuss from these "experts" is all about when their own carrier air wing programs "suffer" from the same "problem".
 

daifo

Captain
Registered Member
Plenty of missiles So the noise about J15 has limited payload therefore inferior to Catobar launched plane is nothing but BS. We have proof I assume this is real missile and not dummy judging by detail of the photo

The problem is that we either have never or rarely seen any J-15 with more than 4 missles (reall or dummy) in flight, hence the idea that there are issues with the J-15/Stobar
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
The problem is that we either have never or rarely seen any J-15 with more than 4 missles (reall or dummy) in flight, hence the idea that there are issues with the J-15/Stobar


One reason why a fighter should not carry more than 4 missiles, is that excess drag the missiles create, which reduces range and hinders your ability in ACM. That's regardless of whatever take off method you use. The balanced load out between performance and having enough stuff is about two Fox 2 and two Fox 3.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
The problem is that we either have never or rarely seen any J-15 with more than 4 missles (reall or dummy) in flight, hence the idea that there are issues with the J-15/Stobar
But we seen the above posting with 8 real missiles That is why I called it a proof I don't think that is for phot op only
 

H2O

Junior Member
Registered Member
Is there a video of the J-15 launching with 8 real missiles? Forgive me if there is as I don't recall seeing one. Photos don't count.
 

Atomicfrog

Major
Registered Member
The problem is that we either have never or rarely seen any J-15 with more than 4 missles (reall or dummy) in flight, hence the idea that there are issues with the J-15/Stobar
Load is a big thing when landing on a carrier. Enough that heavy ammunition can be tossed at sea before landing if they are not used on a mission. Why stressing the airframe just to look nice ?
 

Richard Santos

Captain
Registered Member
The question isn’t whether J-15 can take off from a ski ramp with 8 or even 12 AAMs. It undoubtedly could.

The question is how many missiles it can carry without having to trade off internal fuel weight for missile weight.

But I suspect it really has no problems taking off with full internal fuel and 12 AAM under war comditions.

In war condition it is acceptable to take off with reduced safety margin if condition requires it.

in peace conditions there is probably an additional consideration. That is the aircraft must be light enough to safely take off if one engine fails After the aircraft has passed point of no return on its take off run.

So That I suspect is why j-15 does not routinely take off with a heavy load.
 

ougoah

Brigadier
Registered Member
That's why the STOBAR J-15s rely on buddy refueling after take off. They may still require buddy refueling even with CATOBAR carriers if even superhornets often require that depending on payload.

I doubt the optimal perfect A2A payload and performance trade off is at 2x fox 3 and 2x fox 2. I'd say for heavier fighters like Flanker series, it should easily be stretched to at least 4x fox 3s. Two high thrust class turbofan engines and all that lift and fuel. The flanker series are capable of carrying 10x fox 3s and 2x fox 2s... obviously with significant range and performance penalties. The biggest advantage is it doesn't require fuel tanks to still retain best in class range. What a fantastic bird. It doesn't matter how it's measured but the flanker has far better overall range and energy along with payload capacity than superhornet and F-35. CATOBAR will improve its energy and potentially reduce the need for buddy refueling.

J-15 has been shown on video to take off from 001 with four medium range missiles and two short ranges iirc. There were also photos of take offs with two YJ-83 and two dummy short range missiles.

The problem with such heavy fighters carrying only 2 fox 3s is that both are very likely to miss and not do much more than A2AD for a short margin of time. The difference between equipping them with 4 over 2 could be the difference between scoring absolutely no kills and scoring 1 kill for every four fox 3s, you gotta defend approaching missiles which demand fuel and performance from your aircraft and not firing anything at adversary aircraft really is just giving them too much advantage. It actually is very important how many missiles your fighter can carry with reasonable performance. I'd say with flankers, part of the great appeal is that it retains so much range and performance while carrying more missiles than lighter fighters and even peer heavy weight fighters. It can probably take off from CATOBARs and then refuel with 8x Fox 3s and 2x Fox 2s.

This is partly why China clearly intends to upgrade J-15 for CATOBAR carriers of the future and I suspect has desire to "replace" them with J-35. They will fly alongside because J-35 simply have a different set of skills and nowhere near as much payload and energy as the J-15. They want a modern day equivalent of the F-14 with overlapping roles but far better agility and maneuverability than the Tomcat.
 
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