Shenyang next gen combat aircraft thread
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
With the size of the nose on this thing, radar aperture on it will be something to behold!
LOL I didn't need to calculate it, it was mentioned on the pic
I'm not sure what to say about that. What is the apparent door on the side of the intake, with a bulge on it as well? It must be there for a very good reason. For CUDA like small AAMs? Gun?
High five!!
Expected. The strains the wingtps need to endure will be insane.
Actually I'm not too sure. 人畜无害遥感星 claimed in a reply (under a now-deleted Weibo) that a HOBS missile is inserted diagonally to reduce the SWIB door length (think the F-22).
Rocket pods, take it or leave it
On a more serious note the hatch and its bulge is imo the biggest mystery on the J-XDS rn. It can be just a service hatch like the one on the J-35 with a bulge for ECM antenna maybe, or it can be a bay for small CUDA-like AAMs, or something even fancier. I for one want to wait and see before deciding on what I think it is, since currently there is so little information to go off of.
as to diagonally inserting SRAAMs in there, I feel like that will eat away space for the main landing gear and intake, making it really awkward in terms of internal space usage. Also if they really wanted a side weapon bay they could have just designed a longer intake manifold to accommodate a full-size door akin to J20’s design, instead of making a very complicated attempt at reducing bay door length
There's no reason for a service hatch to be thinner instead of taller though, and that's reflected on the J-35.
Edit: a gun port would be on the dorsal side.
True, if it’s indeed a service hatch maybe it’s for ease of access? The J-XDS is much bigger than the J-35 and I won’t be surprised if it sits higher on the ground, and this thin and long-ish hatch is just so that all the panels, ports and such within are positioned at a comfortable height for the ground crew
Well, i wouldn't think they'd put a bulge on a VLO design unless they really, really think it's necessary, so whatever it is they thought it's necessary. ECM these days is handled by either conformal antennas or the radar itself, so probably not that. But yeah intriguing.