The USAF uses that scheme mainly for historical reasons. At one point the Strategic Air Command held most of the power in the USAF. Because heavy bombers had large fuel tanks the boom was a better choice because you could fill them up more quickly. But it is harder to use than the probe and drogue.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VI
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The USAF uses that scheme mainly for historical reasons. At one point the Strategic Air Command held most of the power in the USAF. Because heavy bombers had large fuel tanks the boom was a better choice because you could fill them up more quickly. But it is harder to use than the probe and drogue.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Accurate,
Boom also is risky for a stealth as the boom is more likely to damnage the stealthy coatings and skins of a Stealth like the J20 and FC31.
F-35A uses the boom, F-35B/C use hose and drogue.
There is neither a logical explanation nor reason for expectation to shift their Aerial Refueling Infrastructure to a 'not-so-efficient' Flying Boom system. F-35A uses it because the main operator and contractor for F-35A is the USAF.
USAF Air Refueling Assets largely consist of Boom due to their strategic assets such as Bombers, Transport Aircrafts and Maritime Patrol Aircrafts (MPA) and at this point it became more of a tradition for USAF. In practice, when it comes to large aircrafts such as these, Boom is quite useful but it's not so efficient when it comes to refueling some Fighters such as F-15, F-16 & F-35A and prone to cause partial damage due to the location of the refueling port on such small aircrafts.
F-35B & F-35C are using Drogue-Probe method due to its' requirement of less of a space, it's less prone to damage the leeching aircraft and more flexible when it comes to long range flight missions. Furthermore, the Allied Forces such as France and UK to field probe-drogue which makes it even more desirable for USN & USMC due to the nature of their overseas deployment.
So no, J-20 shall stick with the current method for the time being until a new method surfaces. Can't speak for the 'yet-to-be-seen' Stealth Bombers of PLAAF though.
"J20 does not equip cannon" according to "yankeesama" who is one of the most credible chinese military observers.
Indeed, however resolution is still not fine enough to read this number, which should be the construction number.
thanks for sharing. We have new RCS analysis of the J-20? From a journalistic point of view, there are only old news and much biased (too western view) that do not take into account the changes made on the airframe of the aircraft. Thank you all. The photos of the details are extraordinary. But the rivets handmade by the operator? The distances are not identical.
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