J-20 5th Generation Fighter VII

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stannislas

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I mean preproduction/first production run planes are commonly used as trainers/non-combat layout since they might not have all the features ready yet. What's your source that there were 200 of them?
ok, so it has been a while, but to the best of my memory is that sometime in 2018? the F-35 Joint Program Office announced that they are going to do an update to all the F-35 in the production line and in the future, so their software and airframe are going to be ready for block 3F and above. And because it's not only the software update but like ~150 hardware updates as well, so all the F-35 produced before will not be upgraded.

And if my memory is not wrong, Block 3i and block 2B were the first block f-35A and F-35B are able to fire AMRAAM and JDAM respectively, and that was around 2016/2017? by 2015, ~150 F-35 were produced, and ~200 by 2016.
 

siegecrossbow

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I'm not sure but if these are recent images, but eventually these are the first images of a PLAAF grey-coloured J-20A powered by WS-10C engines.

Also it appears to have a serial number applied. ;)

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(gifs & video via @斯图卡98 from Weibo)

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How could you tell that it is WS-10?
 

Deino

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How could you tell that it is WS-10?


I cannot, but if it is indeed a recent video and assuming it is not a regular already delivered J-20 it is highly likely a new production one which are all WS-10C powered! Or am I wrong?
 

SpicySichuan

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WS-10 is an evolutionary design, I seriously doubt it will be massive improvement. I agree on the importance of domestic engines.
Plus the J-20 as of now could literally jump almost any adversarial fighter planes with the exception of F-22 and F-35. Neither Taiwan nor India have F-35 or F-22. Also, I think the J-20 and F-35 - given their stealth characters - would not detect each other until they are near dogfight ranges. Without the F-22's TVC, the F-35 should be at roughly the same level as the J-20 in terms of maneuverability during dogfights. The only aircraft that could ruin a J-20's day would be the F-22.
 

Hendrik_2000

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The only aircraft that could ruin a J-20's day would be the F-22.

I am not so sure about that. It was never mano o mano. It is complete system warfare. J20 with the cooperation of J16 firing PLXX can launched devastating attack on the AEW, Refuelling plane making F-22 blind sided . With situation awareness compromise it is much easieer for J 20 to kill F-22 with much longer reach PL15. So having advantage in engine is only one side of equation.
 

crash8pilot

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Plus the J-20 as of now could literally jump almost any adversarial fighter planes with the exception of F-22 and F-35. Neither Taiwan nor India have F-35 or F-22. Also, I think the J-20 and F-35 - given their stealth characters - would not detect each other until they are near dogfight ranges. Without the F-22's TVC, the F-35 should be at roughly the same level as the J-20 in terms of maneuverability during dogfights. The only aircraft that could ruin a J-20's day would be the F-22.
F-22 struggles with range though - Unless they're based out in India or if the One-China policy is disregarded and the USAF stages Raptors in Taiwan, all the J-20s need to do is to take out USAF tankers and they'd cripple their Raptors in the process. The Raptor is better suited in the European theater rather than the Pacific.

While TVC would be a major breakthrough for the J-20, I'm skeptical about the practical advantage it'd give in a dogfight. TVC maneuvering looks cool in airshows, but the pilot only has one opportunity to use TVC before bleeding off airspeed and becoming a sitting duck if he/she fails to kill the opposition the first time round (a heavy J-20 would struggle to recover speed in that case too). Rather TVC would reduce the deflection of flight controls when the J-20 maneuvers, which in turn further reduces the RCS of the J-20. More importantly, I think supercruise is something undervalued in the BVR game. If the J-20 is able to sit at 40,000ft doing Mach 2 without afterburner (reducing it's IR signature) firing off PL-15/future PL-XX (missile comes off the rail and further accelerates when fired, making it damn near impossible for the enemy to evade), it will make it invincible at BVR.

Based on theoretical figures of AL-31 equipped J-20s, it technically should have the thrust-to-weight advantage over F-35s (1.12 for the J-20 compared to 1.07 for the F-35, both at loaded weight with 50% fuel). Although western media constantly poop on the J-20's canards, the reduced wing loading provided by the canards might give it the edge on sustained turning performance. The delta-wing design should also give it high AoA performance, so in essence giving the J-20 good nose authority. Basically what I'm saying is that the J-20 has the tools to succeed both in the rate or radius fight should it ever enter the visual merge with the opposition. So while the J-20 might be a heavy beast, I'd like to think it sneakily has a lot going for it should it ever come up against American fifth-generation platforms in the visual range fight.
 
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