It is more about that China haven't build an actual variable geometry plane that goes into service. The US (F-14), Russia (Mig-23), and EU (Panavia tornado) all have those experience, China doesn't.
PLA 6th generation fighter thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
It is more about that China haven't build an actual variable geometry plane that goes into service. The US (F-14), Russia (Mig-23), and EU (Panavia tornado) all have those experience, China doesn't.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Because it is bad and terrible concept and everybody is ditching it. To begin it add weight and complexity to the plane Other is concept of low level penetration is outdated with the proliferation of SAM!
If you look at recent trends in aviation, adaptive geometry (i.e, variable geometry v2) is a new thing, with the entire wing intended to be morphed around. Moreover, improvements in actuator technology (remember that China has the rare earth monopoly) could make it so that the effective weight costs of swept wings could be reduced.
It's an incredibly interesting direction, but one that China currently lacks technological maturity in.
It's an incredibly interesting direction, but one that China currently lacks technological maturity in.
Not necessarily true. If you need your aircraft to fly efficiently at sufficiently disparate operating conditions, variable geometry is still the gold standard solution, though costly. As you mention, for various reasons such requirements have currently diminished in importance, but that's not to say they can't come back if circumstances change. In WWI maneuverability was the top priority in a similar manner to the current situation, but in the meantime there were phases where it was markedly deprecated in favour of speed.
If the Pacific does become the dominant theatre of operations as many expect it to, the tyranny of distance could usher in a renaissance of speed.
And range I suppose.
by78
General
Two academic papers of interest. They are beyond my ability to translate adequately. It'd be great if our Chinese speakers can summarize the important/interesting points.
First, a paper on a new structural load testing system for a "next generation fighter".
Here's the English abstract:
The second paper is authored by Yang Wei, the chief designer of J-10 and J-20. He sketches out ideas and requirements of a 6th-generation fighter.
Below is the abstract:
First, a paper on a new structural load testing system for a "next generation fighter".
Here's the English abstract:
The second paper is authored by Yang Wei, the chief designer of J-10 and J-20. He sketches out ideas and requirements of a 6th-generation fighter.
Below is the abstract:
Basically, most of the papers published in this latest issue of Chinese Journal of Aeronautics are related to J-20's research and development, including the first paper you quoted.
on the second paper, i noticed the following key points:
1, OODA 3.0 is mainly about adding AI elements in each of the phases, but
2, given current technology maturity level, 6 gen fighter will be AI-assisted manned aircraft. Unmanned a/c will not be dominant
3, wrt the "Mosaic Warfare" concept, the author argues that in future combat, highly capable platforms are very critical, and they will not be replace by swarms of low-end, low-cost platforms
4, new procurement process and agile development methodology, will result in quick development and deployment of 6 gen fighter. The dev-to-initial-deployment cycle could be as short as five years.
by78
General
Not sure if this belongs to this thread, but it seems like a good candidate. The first image appears to be an illustration from an academic paper that I cannot locate. It shows a design concept of what looks like a supersonic platform with canards and wings on the same plane (thus the edge alignment). It features no vertical tails. The second image doesn't appear to be from the same paper; it's probably a fan-made 3D model based on the illustration.
