Zhuhai Air Show 2018

First participation of Saudi Air Force aerobatic team...



According to the Chinese News agency Xinhua website, Saudi Arabia has signed a deal with AirShow China 2018 to participate at the event with the Saudi Hawks, the Royal Saudi Air Force aerobatic team. The Saudi Hawks are a BAE Hawk-equipped Royal Saudi Air Force aerobatic team.

The executive board of China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China) in Zhuhai, inked the deal with Saudi air force to put on a joint aerobatic performance during the event.

The Saudi Hawks debuted in January 1999 at Riyadh, the Saudi kingdom's capital, as part of Saudi Arabia's 100th anniversary celebrations. Six smoke-capable BAE Hawk Mk.65A and three Mk.65s-all modified by BAE Systems are assigned to the team and now wear the team's striking green and white demonstration colors.

In February 2000, the Hawks first appeared outside their homeland-in Bahrain, flying out of Dhahran. Soon afterward, the team and the various RSAF Hawk squadrons moved to King Faisal Air Base (Tabuk) in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

At AirShow Chian 2018, the Saudi air force acrobatic team's display will have two demonstrations, the first part will see the team's seven planes flying in close formation and end with their signature move of creating the Kingdom's emblem, and the second part will show pilots demonstrating difficult skills and maneuvers.

It there any further info on this engine? It is certainly not any Su-35 engine that I know of. So it should either be a Chinese engine or at least a Chinese TVC nozzle.

If this actually enters production and has a decent lifetime it might make a lot of Western aligned countries rethink their military procurement programs. Already I thought that the F-35 was a step backwards in terms of aerobatic performance and airplanes like the Su-35 and this J-10 prototype only make that more evident.

gelgoog said:

It there any further info on this engine? It is certainly not any Su-35 engine that I know of. So it should either be a Chinese engine or at least a Chinese TVC nozzle.

If this actually enters production and has a decent lifetime it might make a lot of Western aligned countries rethink their military procurement programs. Already I thought that the F-35 was a step backwards in terms of aerobatic performance and airplanes like the Su-35 and this J-10 prototype only make that more evident.

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Why do you still question its designation? From all we know it is a certain variant of the WS-10 family eventually called B3 and the fact that the Chinese authorities allowed in to attend the show should us tell a lot about its maturity and the designer's confidence.

I just want to see it bend down................... if you get my meaning

@Deino , how are you preparing for your journey?

Interstellar said:

@Deino , how are you preparing for your journey?

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Pardon, You like to get a description on how I prepare or want to know how my preparations proceeds?

To admit, a length description would surely be boring and probably - o.k. most likely - I forget a lot. However one thing I must confess: I'm more an analyst than a reporter "in situ" or even less a traveller. Preparing such a journey is so much exciting, ... for me a bit too much, especially since I made a stupid mistake (I don't want to speak about it ) concerning my visa and it was all much more difficult to solve than that I imagined.

Anyway, now everything seems to be fine ... and I will arrive on Monday. However given the program my publisher prepared and especially the online restrictions he issued due to security concerns I'm not sure how much I can post directly from Zhuhai.

Best,
Deino

and more UCAVs ...

The smaller one (below) is allegedly called 天鹰 or Skyhawk

gelgoog said:

It there any further info on this engine? It is certainly not any Su-35 engine that I know of. So it should either be a Chinese engine or at least a Chinese TVC nozzle.

If this actually enters production and has a decent lifetime it might make a lot of Western aligned countries rethink their military procurement programs. Already I thought that the F-35 was a step backwards in terms of aerobatic performance and airplanes like the Su-35 and this J-10 prototype only make that more evident.

Click to expand...

By the hue of the afterburner, with its particular structural outline of the flame holder, it certainly points to a variant of the WS-10x.

Compare it to that of the J-20.

Deino said:

Pardon, You like to get a description on how I prepare or want to know how my preparations proceeds?

To admit, a length description would surely be boring and probably - o.k. most likely - I forget a lot. However one thing I must confess: I'm more an analyst than a reporter "in situ" or even less a traveller. Preparing such a journey is so much exciting, ... for me a bit too much, especially since I made a stupid mistake (I don't want to speak about it ) concerning my visa and it was all much more difficult to solve than that I imagined.

Anyway, now everything seems to be fine ... and I will arrive on Monday. However given the program my publisher prepared and especially the online restrictions he issued due to security concerns I'm not sure how much I can post directly from Zhuhai.

Best,
Deino

Click to expand...

I just want to know whether you have run into any problem.