Oh, interesting theory or explanation! Thanks.
J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread VIII
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Oh, interesting theory or explanation! Thanks.
That’s really interesting. Not really unexpected since the engine longevity took a hit to achieve the performance boost.
it make more sense now. first J-20 batch entered in service in 2017 with AL-31 Engines. most likely all those Engines have already completed their service life.
If this is about the WS-10C I wouldn't be so sure tbh, whether it heavily sacrificed lifespan for performance was always widely contested. In any case I'd still expect the AL-31F-99M1 to be inferior (if not significantly so) in terms of lifespan.
I think he's saying the Al-31s were uprated for a performance boost, reducing their lifespans which is why they may be getting replaced with WS-10s.
That’s likely because the WS-15’s nozzle wasn’t fully constricted in the right hand photo.
Apparently we have a third confirmed J-20A unit: the 41st Air Brigade at Wuyishan seems to have replaced its regular J-20 with the improved J-20A.
In that way it follows the already confirmed 5th AB at Guilin and rumourwise, likely the 9th at Wuhu & 1st AB at Anshan are also getting them. The first unit confirmed to operate J-20A was the 172nd FTTB Brigade at Cangzhou-Cangxian.
Will be interesting to see, which unit(s) will get these "old" vanilla J-20s then, when now established units receive the improved variant?
(Via @太湖军I名 & @欧阳振我86468)
@huitong, it is a J-20A!
In that way it follows the already confirmed 5th AB at Guilin and rumourwise, likely the 9th at Wuhu & 1st AB at Anshan are also getting them. The first unit confirmed to operate J-20A was the 172nd FTTB Brigade at Cangzhou-Cangxian.
Will be interesting to see, which unit(s) will get these "old" vanilla J-20s then, when now established units receive the improved variant?
(Via @太湖军I名 & @欧阳振我86468)
@huitong, it is a J-20A!
Maybe. The "not really expected" threw me off a bit.
Hmm he wrote "not really unexpected" which I interpret to mean that it's not a surprise that Al-31 longevity took a bit to achieve a performance boost.
But not a huge deal
Oh my days I'm actually so dyslexic
